Persona 3 Reload might make a big change to romances

Persona 3 Reload will seemingly make romances optional.

As first reported by Noisy Pixel, the Singaporean government recently posted a bunch of information about Persona 3 Reload, for the purpose of classifying Atlus's remake. Among the information was a sentence that suggests the remake will make a big difference to romances.

"When the player sufficiently builds up the male protagonist’s bonds with certain female characters, it can culminate in optional depictions of characters hugging and kissing, and textual descriptions implying sexual intimacy," the government classification for Persona 3 Reload reads.

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The key word here is "can." The original Persona 3 automatically initiated romances with Mitsuru, Yukari, and Fuuka if the male protagonist reached the maximum Social Link level with them. You weren't given the option of turning down a potential romance, as you could do later in Persona 4 and Persona 5.

According to the wording of the classification, romances will be entirely optional, and the player will be given the chance to turn someone down. This makes a lot of sense, considering it's something that Atlus itself changed for basically every future Persona game after 3 released.

Persona 3 Reload is set to launch next year on February 2 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. You can check out our brand new Persona 3 Reload preview for what we made of the Atlus remake when we played it for ourselves.

Persona 3 Reload's also changing Social Links so you can't break them, effectively doing away with one of the more punishing aspects of the original game.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.