When Persona 3 Reload was announced, it made a tremendous amount of sense. Persona 3 was in many ways the foundation of the franchise as players know it today. Given the massive popularity of Persona 5 and the attention it brought to the series, bringing older entries up to modern consoles felt like a no-brainer. Persona 4 Golden, while less known than 5, was already beloved, and it also made sense to simply port it to more systems. While remakes of Revelations: Persona and the Persona 2 duology are highly requested, remaking them would prove a greater challenge than Persona 3 Reload.

Persona found its humble beginnings as a franchise in the mid-90s as a spin-off to the Megami Tensei series. Revelations: Persona has a lot more in common with mainline Shin Megami Tensei games than it does modern Persona titles, and similar things can be said about Persona 2. The popular social simulation mechanics weren't really fleshed out until the third entry of the franchise and only came to be what fans now expect from the series in 4. Furthermore, the earliest titles in the series are much darker tonally and in presentation. While they focus on young people confronting a warped reality, not much else remains the same in modern Persona games.

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Persona 1 and 2 Remakes Raise Many Questions

While remakes of the early Persona titles are often requested by fans, what they would actually be like is a massive mystery. These initial titles feature different gameplay systems, lack social simulation mechanics, have wildly different art styles, and lack the influence of the early to mid-2000s moe boom that permeated Japanese Otaku culture around the launches of Persona 3 and 4. While modern Persona games are equally about hanging out with the party and defeating antagonists, previous entries were much more serious. The big question around a remake of these games is how faithful would they be.

A fully faithful remake of Revelations: Persona or the Persona 2 duology would likely go against the taste of modern Persona fans. On the other hand, taking Persona 2, a title that features Hitler as an antagonist, and adding cozy slice-of-life anime tropes to it would cheapen the tonal seriousness of the original. Persona 2 especially raises questions about how the adaptation would work since it was originally released as two separate titles with different protagonists. Remaking the first two Persona games would be a challenge, but a worthwhile one.

What Might Persona 1 And 2 Remakes Be Like?

Remakes of the first 2 Persona games, in order to please new and old fans, would likely have to split the difference between old-school and modern Persona. An ideal remake of these first two titles would likely hold on to the horror aesthetic that influenced them and their more serious tones. Social links could be added to flesh out characters, but dialogue would have to remain more serious than the social interactions in later entries. The remakes could borrow from Persona 5's genre-defining combat system and incorporate unique elements that pay homage to the combat of the original releases. However, the art style would need to be more in line with the original titles.

By splitting the difference between classic and modern Persona titles, and using the framework of modern Persona to tell a much darker story, Atlus will be able to please most of the fan base. If Persona 3 Reload performs well, these remakes will become more likely than ever and leaks already suggest that Atlus may remake Persona and Persona 2. How the company handles Persona 3 Reload may provide some insights into how remakes of the first two titles could play out. Regardless of how it happens, Revelations: Persona and the Persona 2 duology deserve to be available on modern platforms and more accessible to fans of the series.

Persona 3 Reload is coming in early 2024 to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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