Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis -The Answer- review

2024 has been a wonderful year for video games, and for me that wonder began with Persona 3 Reload. Finally getting to play through the one modern Persona game that got away was an absolute blast, and all the fancy modernisations brought it right in line with my beloved Persona 5 Royal. It’s safe to say that after over fifty hours of that delightful RPG I’d had my fill of flashy turn-based combat and school life management for a while, but that didn’t last long. Rumblings of the release of new DLC based on the PS2 release Persona 3 FES got me excited to jump back to Port Island, but could Episode Aigis -The Answer- hit the same heights as the core game. “The Answer” is more complicated than you think.

Now before this DLC review gets going I must warn you that it is strictly post game content, which takes place after the final twists and turns of the Persona 3 Reload story. I will aim to keep all key plot points to a minimum and spoil as little as humanly possible, but consider this a warning if you haven’t made it to the end of Reload yet.

Following a particularly hectic year at Gekkoukan High School, Junpei, Yukari and all the rest of the SEES gang are preparing to move out of the dormitory where they spent so many hours in the main game. Now obviously our main character is absent from the gang following the finale of Persona 3 Reload’s story, and everyone is handling that differently. Everyone’s favourite blonde android in particular is struggling with how the group functions without his presence, and considering she’s the protagonist of this story you’d better believe her role is prominent.

This is in part due to the new character in Episode Aigis -The Answer-, Aigis’ sister Metis. With no idea other androids like her still existed, Aigis is pretty shocked when her brunette sibling shows up and starts attacking her friends. It turns out that Metis was merely trying to help the group though, as they are mysteriously trapped in a time loop in the dorms and can’t leave. A new massive dungeon in the basement could be the key to escaping their time locked nightmare, so you’d better believe there’s a whole lot of shadow fighting and Persona summoning in your future.

Getting to indulge in more of that delicious weakness pressing Persona 3 Reload combat was a particularly exciting prospect, and as you’d expect in Episode Aigis it’s just as compelling and stylish as ever. Despite being set after the main game though, your characters aren’t the god-like demon summoners they once were due to various important narrative reasons. This means everyone you take with you into battle will have a fairly early game moveset and need levelling up all over again. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed about this at first, but it doesn’t take too long to power everyone up and start the dungeon crawling.

The bizarre dormitory dungeon where you’ll spend most of your time in Episode Aigis -The Answer- is very similar to Tartarus. Split into a whole load of floors and full of treasure, shadows and loot, you’ll be aiming to get as deep as you can with the SP you have at your disposal and will fight a ton of devious bosses along the way.

Now dungeon crawling is fun of course, but one of the main reasons I play Persona games is to hang around with my school friends and make social links. Well unfortunately for me (and I imagine many others) the socialising and time management parts of the series are entirely missing from Episode Aigis. I can’t pretend this wasn’t disappointing after the main game blended these two sides of Persona perfectly, and the DLC felt like a little more of a drag to play because of this.

As much as Episode Aigis -The Answer- didn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations, it’s still more Persona at the end of the day. The additional story (while not particularly needed) fleshes out the world and characters rather a lot, and the combat is still at the pinnacle of the genre. Not to mention the sensational soundtrack, gorgeous visuals and flashy menus, that just make this series untouchable.

Despite Persona 3 Reload’s Episode Aigis -The Answer- not bringing any of the social side of Persona to this extra content, it is still undeniably a compelling experience that fans will enjoy. As long as you prepare yourself for a lot of dungeon crawling you’ll still get that wonderful hit of Persona, and will even meet some cracking new characters and fight some nasty bosses along the way.