Persona 4 Revival Will Not Include Original’s Abandoned Gay Romance, Leaving Fans Disheartened

Persona 4 Revival is set to reintroduce a beloved PS2 RPG to a fresh audience, and Atlus is making some adjustments to certain characters to ensure they resonate better with modern sensibilities. Notably, Yosuke Hanamura, the protagonist’s humorous best friend, is receiving updates in the remake. One significant change will likely address his previous homophobic remarks aimed at fellow party member Kanji Tatsumi. However, fans are left wondering if this could pave the way for the return of the previously scrapped gay romance option between Yosuke and the player character. Unfortunately, it seems that won’t be happening, although Atlus did consider it.

In a recent interview, the producer of Revival, Kazuhisa Wada, mentioned that while the idea of reinstating the Yosuke romance was discussed, the team ultimately decided against it. They felt that if they included Yosuke, they would also need to create romance arcs for all the other male characters, which would significantly increase the workload. “We were thinking if we did Yosuke, we kinda have to add all the other male characters as well,” Wada explained. “And if we did that, like that’s a lot of work. I don’t know if we could handle that.”

The Persona series has had a mixed track record with LGBTQ+ representation, but it has been making strides to improve with recent remakes, such as removing a notably transphobic scene in Persona 3 Reload and making some gay storylines more explicit. The question remains: did Atlus really need to create romance arcs for all the male characters to bring back the one they were considering? Many believe that just one gay romance would have been a step forward, especially since Yosuke’s internalized homophobia could have provided a compelling narrative arc for character development.

Persona 4 Revival has a lot to navigate regarding its approach to queer themes, especially given some of its more controversial storylines. It will be interesting to see how Atlus addresses these issues, but it appears that any same-sex relationship options may not materialize until Persona 6.

For those eager to explore the Yosuke romance, fans have found ways to mod the remaining files from Persona 4 Golden into the PC version.