Persona 3 Reload will take you through a rollercoaster of emotions over its 100-plus hours of playtime. The characters all have their ups and downs, experience hardship and loss, and eventually reach a satisfying conclusion. But having said that, the story doesn’t end well for everyone.
How does Persona 3 Reload end?
The ending of Persona 3 Reload is bittersweet. Everything mentioned from this point on includes heavy spoilers for the end of the game, so proceed at your own risk.
When you reach the top of Tartarus and defeat all the Guardian bosses, you come across your arch-nemesis group: Strega. Takaya and Jin will make their last stand against you in an attempt to stop you from reaching the top of the tower, but to no avail, as SEES powers their way through Strega in a final battle.
Once Strega is taken care of, you’re given a final prompt before making it to the top. After you prepare yourself, head to the final floor of Tartarus and you will find yourself on the roof. This is where you encounter the avatar of Nyx, which bears a similar resemblance to Ryoji, who will challenge you to a battle with their overwhelming power.
The battle is long and will take you through 13 different stages, with each stage representing an Arcana, from Fool to Hanged Man. Finally, Nyx will switch to its true form, the Death Arcana. Defeating this stage will take you to a final one-on-one battle with the core of Nyx that you have to endure for a few turns.
Once you make it through the first few turns, you’re granted a new option: Great Seal. Use this to finally defeat Nyx and end the battle. Congratulations, you just saved the world from Nyx and brought about peace, making it to the game’s True Ending. But is this really it?
Aftermath of Persona 3 Reload
After a seemingly successful battle and subsequent celebration, the scene switches to the end of the school year where everyone is graduating. Throughout the day, you’re given the option to walk around school and talk to all of your Social Links, with the protagonist mentioning how he isn’t feeling his best. Explore the scene and talk to everyone, then head to the rooftop.
This is where you meet Aigis who inherently understands that the protagonist isn’t long for this world. Ever since Nyx was defeated, the protagonist feels like his health has been steadily declining. This is because the Great Seal utilized the protagonist’s soul to act as a barrier between humanity’s desires and the reprisal of Nyx, effectively killing him in the process.
The only reason the protagonist is even alive at this point is because of the promise he made to his friends, which entailed that he would make it to the end of the school year with them. Once he made it to graduation day, the protagonist’s promise was fulfilled and whatever was left of his soul was slowly starting to slip away from his body.
Following this scene, we see Aigis, who has made peace with what is about to happen, trying to comfort the protagonist in his final moments. The protagonist’s eyes grow heavy as he feels his soul slip away in Aigis’ arms. During the last few seconds, you see the rest of SEES making their way to the rooftop to congratulate the protagonist.
By the time SEES makes it to the rooftop, you get the option to close the protagonist’s eyes. As soon as you make this decision, SEES bursts through the door with smiles on their face, and the scene fades away, leaving their reactions up to our imagination as the credits roll.
Beyond the Persona 3 Reload ending
Even though Persona 3 Reload ends here, the main story continues in the original game’s expansion Persona 3 FES: The Answer. This short expansion continues the story beyond the death of the protagonist while the rest of SEES copes with his loss and comes to terms with their mortality. The expansion introduces a new Shadow Assault Robot, Metis, with a new darker ending.
If you want to know what happens after Persona 3 comes to an end, we recommend playing The Answer, because it brings the entire plot to a true conclusion. That said, there’s no ending in Persona 3 Reload where the protagonist survives, leaving many players feeling a little empty when the game concludes.
