Riding on the coattails of Persona 3 Reload's success, Atlus has many decisions to make when it comes to the series' future. While the company's work on Persona 6 is already a given, remakes of the franchise's origins have remained highly anticipated, especially by fans in Japan. A survey from 2022 revealed that Persona 3 and the Persona 2 duology were tied for audience interest in remakes, and with Reload's release, it remains likely that the latter will receive similar treatment. Given the length and focus of each of the duology's entries, it remains to be seen whether a rumored Persona 2 remake would be comprised of one game or two.
Though the Persona franchise has become renowned with audiences across the world, the focus has been largely oriented on Persona 3 through 5, at least in its mainline entries. Notably, Revelations: Persona and the first of Persona 2's duology, Innocent Sin, haven't been as easily accessible outside of Japan, though P2: Eternal Punishment did receive a Western localization back in 2000. While the P2 duology does show signs of age, there is much to be said about the compelling nature of its characters, plot premises, and world-building. Between P2: Innocent Sin and P2: Eternal Punishment, however, there's a lot of ground to cover, begging the question of how Atlus might approach a remake.
Upcoming Persona Game Canceled, Leaker Claims
One of the upcoming Persona games that Atlus has been working on for a while has been canceled, according to a prominent leaker.
How Atlus Might Re-Imagine the Persona 2 Duology
A Persona 2 Remake Needs to Decide Whether to Release the Duology as One Game or Two
The Persona 2 duology is an outlier in the franchise for a number of reasons. For starters, the games were conceived before Social Links became a prominent mechanic for the franchise. Moreover, P2: Eternal Punishment featured an adult cast, and the very nature of a duology as part of the franchise's mainline entries remains to be replicated. While content like Persona 3 FES' The Answer and other spin-offs have played with the idea of showing events beyond their respective mainline plots, Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment were intrinsically tied to each other in a way that completed their stories.
Even with the time it takes to complete most modern RPGs, the Persona 2 duology would still be considered quite substantial. While Innocent Sin was shorter than Eternal Punishment, both could take anywhere from 30 to 60 hours to complete story-wise. Combined, their runtimes could hover around the 100-hour mark, and that's without any modern-day updates that Atlus might consider.
Rumors of Persona 2's remake treatment have yet to verify how exactly this might be achieved; to do them justice would mean two separate remakes, though that would cost substantial time, effort, and money to accomplish. With game development timelines becoming longer in recent years, this would be a large risk to consider, but greater risks could yield greater rewards if successful.
How In-Depth the Remake Treatment Could Be
Of course, there's also a question of how in-depth a Persona 2 remake, or remakes, would be. Receiving the same treatment as Persona 3 Reload would require an intensive amount of art, localization, and mechanical upheavals, which would be an even bigger hurdle than P3 Reload given how the duology's gameplay was structured. Going for a more faithful reimagining, on the other hand, would play into the strengths of the duology's nostalgia, though would run the risk of being less acceptable to newer fans of the franchise.
A safer option would be to consider remastering versus remaking, a decision that could end up being more cost-effective, but ultimately disappointing to dedicated Persona fans.
Risks and Rewards of a Persona 2 Remake
With many risks and many rewards to consider, there are a few avenues that Atlus could take concerning Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. Given Persona 5's own runtime, having one title comprised of both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment's plots could technically be viable, at the risk of making things feel slightly rushed.
Having separate remakes for both of the duology's entries could be a better choice overall, and may end up working to Atlus' advantage; as many fans know, the company has no problem bringing its stories/casts back in multiple contexts. Ultimately, the question comes down to how big of a leap Atlus is willing to take, and how much that leap might pay off.
Persona 3 Reload
- Released
- February 2, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17 / Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- P-Studio
- Franchise
- Persona
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
- Genre(s)
- JRPG, RPG, Life Simulation, Strategy
- How Long To Beat
- 65 hours
