Persona 4 Arena Ultimax announced for PS4, Switch, and Steam: release date, features, and more

The Persona community went abuzz with speculation last week when Steam updated its franchise page with an additional title.

Shin Megami Tensei V - released just last month for Switch - was chalked out quickly, since this year marks the 25th year of Revelations: Persona's release on the original PlayStation.

Altus teased numerous surprises for "Persona 25th Anniversary Year." From the official Atlus site:

"This September, the Persona series will celebrate its 25th anniversary! We want to thank everyone who has supported the series through all these years. To thank you all, we’re preparing a year-long campaign from September 2021 to Fall 2022, as the “Persona 25th Anniversary Year,” and we can’t wait for you to see everything we’ve got planned for the festivities!''

As it turns out, one of these plans is the much-discussed mystery game coming to Steam. A refurbished port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is coming to PC, Steam, and PS4 on March 17th, 2022, as the final showcase of the TGA 2021 pre-show reveal.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax releases for PS4, Switch, and PC on March 17th 2022

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is the 2013 sequel to Persona 4 Arena, which is itself a fighting game spinoff from Persona 4, the first of its kind in the Persona saga.

The game had an overwhelmingly positive reception for the original Xbox 360 and PS3 release, crowned as the worthy sequel to Persona 4 Arena. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is an improvement over the original from many aspects, adding gameplay mechanics without shedding any of its original charm.

Like Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax also boils down to a series of fighting match-ups between characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4, while allowing for a riskier aggressive playstyle with its "Shadow" versions of all characters.

The campaign's story, told through the familiar visual novel style of Persona, is split into two separate arcs - one for Persona 3 characters, the other for Persona 4.

The new releases will incorporate some quality-of-life improvements like the ability to switch between Japanese and English voiceover, and bonus content like the original Persona 4 Arena story. The Steam release, naturally, also comes with Steam trading cards and achievements.