Atlus' RPG epic Persona 4: Golden recently released on PC, coming after the success of Persona 5's enhanced version, Persona 5: Royal. This marks the first time that Persona 4: Golden had been available in the United States outside of its original PlayStation Vita release in 2012.
Completing Persona 4: Golden unlocks a New Game Plus mode, allowing fans to replay the story of Persona 4 while retaining some of their unlocks from their original save file. New Game Plus provides plenty of replayability to Persona 4: Golden, allowing the player to go through the game again with some of their stats and unlocks from their original save file. That content will end up being very valuable for the player, as some of the new content introduced in New Game Plus will certainly require some powerful party members.
New Game Plus is a great way for players to experience some of the new content introduced in Persona 4: Golden, as the already expansive game has received plenty of new additions. There are even a few notable changes between the PC port of Persona 4: Golden and the original PlayStation Via release, such as the ability to change the difficulty at any point no longer being restricted to New Game Plus. Players can also now encounter the powerful Reaper Persona at any point in the game, after opening 21 chests.
The content included in New Game Plus can be broken down into two categories: what carries over from a first playthrough, and the new content. The content carried over from a new playthrough is fairly substantial. To start, players can expect to see any gifts they've received from maxing out Social Links to still be unlocked in New Game Plus. Whilst this doesn't include that Arcana's ultimate Persona, it does include the item used to fuse said ultimate Persona.
Speaking of Personas, both the Persona Compendium and the number of storage slots for Personas carry over. While there's no in-game unlock for completing the Persona Compendium, completionists should know that there is an achievement to be earned. Those looking to 100% the game may find New Game Plus a very useful tool for continuing to fill out their collection of Personas.
Completionists will also be glad to hear that weapon, armor and accessory unlocks at Daidara's Metalworks will also carry over into New Game Plus, as will the protagonist's money, any Skill Cards given to Marie and purchased costumes. Though unlocked weapons, armors and accessories carry over, players will still have to re-acquire any equipment that they may have had in their original playthrough. This may help New Game Plus retain the difficulty of an original playthrough.
Another way that New Game Plus keeps the challenge alive in Persona 4: Golden is through what stats it carries over. While the protagonist's Social Stats do carry over, other stats such as levels, Social Link statuses and abilities do not. The player is unable to keep any end-game Personas or the ability to fuse Personas. In addition, any social link items (except for the ones unlocked by maxing out a Social Link) will have to be re-obtained.
As for what's new during New Game Plus, the PC port of Persona 4: Golden includes two main additions. These include the ability to battle Velvet Room attendant Margaret on the final day and the ability to fuse a special Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami, as long as the player is level 91 and has achieved the game's True Ending.