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Should You Kill or Spare Ryoji in Persona 3 Reload? Answered

Ryoji Mochizuki is a character in Persona 3 Reload who only shows up in the last act. He offers you a very difficult choice that can affect the ending, and if you’re wondering whether you should kill or spare Ryoji in Persona 3 Reload, here’s what you need to know.

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How to Get the True Ending in Persona 3 Reload

ryoji in persona 3 reload
Screenshot captured by The Escapist

Ryoji’s fate is inextricably linked to the ending you’ll get in Persona 3 Reload. To put things simply, if you want to see the true ending of the game, you should spare Ryoji. If you accept his offer and kill him, you’ll get the bad ending instead.

After defeating the 12 Great Shadows, Ryoji reveals that he’s actually the harbinger of death. He tells you that Nyx will arrive in a month to end the world, and it’s impossible to beat him. If you kill Ryoji, he’ll wipe all your memories of the Dark Hour and the Shadows, allowing you to live in blissful ignorance for one month before the end comes.

You can also reject his offer and try to face Nyx, and this will lead you to the true ending and also unlock the Judgment Social Link. We’ll go into both choices in more detail down below.

What Happens If You Kill Ryoji?

persona 3 reload bad ending
Screenshot captured by The Escapist

If you choose to kill Ryoji in Persona 3 Reload, everyone’s memories get wiped. Time will skip forward to the new year, and everyone seems to be blissfully ignorant of what’s about to happen. Only Aigis retains her memories, and she’ll watch over you from afar.

The game ends with a new scene of the protagonist, Junpei, and Yukari hanging out at karaoke after the credits roll. This is the bad ending of Persona 3 Reload. However, you can still start new game plus after this.

What Happens If You Save Ryoji?

On the other hand, if you spare Ryoji, you get to live out the final month as you normally would. You can still wrap up loose ends like maxing out your remaining Social Links. You also gain access to the Judgment Social Link, which allows you to fuse the powerful Persona Messiah.

Before Nyx arrives, the SEES members will slowly start to come to terms with the fact that they can’t look away from death, and get ready for the tough battle ahead.

Can You Save the Protagonist?

If you choose to go down the path of the true ending, the game will end with the protagonist quietly dying on the rooftop of Gekkoukan High. This is unavoidable, and while there might have been some speculation of a different ending with the release of Persona 3 Reload, that doesn’t seem to be the case after all.

There’s nothing you can do to save the protagonist in Reload, though there are rumors of The Answer chapter being released as DLC later on, which will provide closure to the entire story.

Hopefully this helps you decide whether you should kill or spare Ryoji in Persona 3 Reload.


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Author
Zhiqing Wan
Zhiqing is a History undergrad from the National University of Singapore. She started playing video games in 1996 when her dad introduced her to Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil -- and the rest, as they say, is history. When she's not obsessing over Elden Ring and Dark Souls lore theories, you can find her singing along loudly and badly to Taylor Swift's latest bops. Formerly the Reviews Editor at Twinfinite, she joined the Escapist team in 2024. You can reach her at [email protected].