REVIEW: ‘Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer’ Is A Fun But Jarring Epilogue (PC)

Atlus‘ remake of Persona 3 was released earlier this year to great critical success. While without its flaws, it’s hard to refute that the remake elevated the original game’s experience in many ways. Now, months later, the Episode Aigis – The Answer expansion seeks to do the same. However, while the DLC has much to offer, it doesn’t include many of the great aspects that make the Persona series so inviting to fans.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis picks up after the events of the main game, exploring the aftermath of what happened at the end of the narrative. Due to said events, the story now centers on the titular Aigis, the robotic anti-Shadow weapon who’s since become an important member of the SEES (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad), as she grapples with what happened the weeks before.

At the start of the game, a mysterious character named Metis, who claims to be Aigis’ sister, appears at the dorm and meets the remaining members of SEES, who are all preparing to depart from the dorm. She warns them that they are trapped in a time loop, endlessly repeating the same day, March 31st. A giant chasm known as the Abyss of Time also appears beneath the dorm, and it’s up to the cast to traverse the strange location and discover the cause of this mysterious occurrence.

Episode Aigis‘s narrative is noticeably more segmented, leading it to, unfortunately, be less impactful overall. The story focuses more on the central cast without the presence of the protagonist and delves into their growth since the events of the base game, along with their relationships, pasts, and why they are the way they are. This is almost objectively a good thing as the base game, while highlighting several characters, did not go so in-depth with each of the characters’ stories. Players learn more about the group’s current dynamic and expand on their relationship through the several bond scenes seen between dungeon exploration and the narrative scenes provided at the end of each section.

However, while the story provides a darker and more philosophical exploration of grief, fate, and the consequences of the main game’s events, it lacks the emotional depth and nuance that made Persona 3 so captivating due to how incredibly limited the writing is and how hollow the overarching narrative feels. There are no social links or new side characters outside Metis, and no time progression system that makes the Persona experience so engaging. Aside from the limited narrative scenes provided by the game, the cast is mostly sidelined in favor of combat and dungeon crawling. As such, for players hoping for an epilogue that delves further into the emotional dynamics of SEES, Episode Aigis may come across as underwhelming.

However, the lack of narrative focus gives way to a unique experience for Persona 3, which is a significant focus on its gameplay. The DLC is now essentially a traditional dungeon crawling game, as the Abyss of Time provides new elements that are similar but different from the base game. This includes Aigis’ new set of skills and tools that players acquire through progression, such as dashing into and shooting shadows from afar to ambush them and destroying breakable objects with her bullets without needing to get too close to them.

There’s also the inclusion of Metis as a playable character who sports a cool Theurgy ability that essentially makes her go berserk, leading to an explosive and well-animated finishing move affecting multiple enemies with her weapon.

Exploring the Abyss of Time is much like Tartarus, but movement between sections is significantly faster and more engaging. Due to the new structure, there are fewer distractions while exploring dungeons, and the central focus on combat makes it easier to get more immersed in the gameplay. The procedurally generated structure makes a return with smaller areas and some boss rooms through Monad doors that offer challenges of varying difficulty, and it’s up to you as the player to choose which challenges you take on.

As the new protagonist, Aigis gains the ability of the Wild Card and access to the Velvet Room, where, like the previous protagonist, she can fuse personas, accept Elizabeth’s quests, and manage the persona compendium. Unfortunately, due to the limited nature of the DLC, these elements have significant limitations. As there are no longer social links, players can no longer get the Bonus EXP or special traits when fusing personas gained from forming relationships with characters. Additionally, while you can carry over your compendium from the base game, Aigis cannot summon personas higher than her level.

This is especially worth noting as players start out significantly weaker compared to the end game of the base game, so they’ll have to grind to gain levels again. Furthermore, Elizabeth’s requests are now limited to dungeon-focused quests such as fusing specific personas, slaying specific shadows, gathering items, and more. Despite this, players can still explore Paulownia Mall in an elaborate way to acquire critical items such as weapons and armor, crafting materials, consumable items, and more.

To enhance these dungeon-crawling elements, Episode Aigis provides new elements, such as the return of the Reaper, a major and difficult series recurring boss. It also notably includes Joker, the protagonist of Persona 5, who appears as another tough-as-nails optional boss to defeat. Lastly, the DLC comes with the new Heartless difficulty mode, which kicks things up with greater combat difficulty and the inability to carry over the compendium and summon higher-level personas.

Outside of this, like the base game, the DLC sports great visuals, new animations and cutscenes, and a great soundtrack filled with updated songs that are new to the game. Performance-wise, the DLC runs smoothly on PC, save for a few frame rate drops here and there. The majority of the game runs quite smoothly.

All in all, Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer serves as a challenging, combat-heavy epilogue to Persona 3, that can be a divisive experience. While it, at the very least, provides closure for the characters and story and includes some new and fun elements, its focus on grinding and dungeon crawling at the expense of the series’ beloved social elements leaves it feeling incomplete. However, hardcore fans of the series who enjoy the base game’s combat and are seeking more challenging battles may find it worthwhile, but for those who adored the original game for its balance of life simulation and JRPG mechanics, the DLC may feel disappointed.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store.