If you’ve played Persona 4 Golden, you know the drill. You spend a hundred hours building the perfect team, fusing God-tier Personas, and hoarding enough healing items to supply a small army. Then you hit February 13th. Suddenly, everything you spent months working for is gone. No items. Basic weapons. And your SP? Yeah, say goodbye to that after every single fight.
The Hollow Forest, or what most people just call the Marie dungeon, is the ultimate "love it or hate it" moment in the game. Honestly, most people hate it the first time through. It’s a total gear check that doesn't care about your level as much as it cares about your patience. If you're looking to unlock the Golden ending or just want to see Marie’s story actually resolve, you have to slog through it.
How to Actually Unlock the Hollow Forest
Missing this dungeon is surprisingly easy if you aren't paying attention to the calendar. To even see the Hollow Forest, you have to max out Marie's Social Link (the Aeon Arcana) to Rank 10 before you finish the December dungeon. The absolute hard deadline is December 23rd.
If you clear the Magatsu Inaba dungeon too early, the game fast-forwards, and you might lose precious days to hang out with her.
But wait, there's more. Just maxing her out isn't enough. On January 2nd, when you're going around town giving New Year's greetings, you must visit the Velvet Room. Margaret will tell you Marie is missing. You have to explicitly tell Margaret to search for her. If you tell her it's too dangerous or you don't care, Margaret basically says "okay" and the dungeon never happens. You’ll just skip straight to the end of the game and miss the best epilogue.
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The Gimmick That Ruins Your Day
The Hollow Forest isn't like Heaven or Magatsu Mandala. It’s a specialized challenge. As soon as you step inside, the game strips you of every item and piece of equipment you own. You start with "Old School" gear that has stats so low they’re basically decorative.
The real kicker? SP Drain. Every time a battle ends, your current SP is cut in half. If you finish a fight with 200 SP, you start the next one with 100. Then 50. Then 25. Before you know it, your mages are standing there hitting Shadows with paper fans and sticks because they can't even cast a basic Agi.
Why the Fox is Your Only Friend
Normally, the Hermit Social Link (the Fox) is just a way to save time. In the Hollow Forest, he’s a lifeline. You can still use the Fox at the entrance to heal, but it costs a fortune.
Surviving the 10 Floors of Memories
The dungeon is split into floors named after "Memories"—Grief, Sorrow, Anger, etc. Some floors, like 1F, 4F, and 7F, don't even have Shadows roaming around. Instead, you get "door encounters." You walk through a door, and boom, a fight starts. It’s annoying because you can’t avoid them like you can with a regular Shadow on the map.
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You need to hunt for chests. In this dungeon, chests contain the only gear and items you can use. You’re looking for two specific things:
- SP-Restoring Accessories: These are things like the "Soul Food" or "Energy Cup" equivalents that give you SP back every turn.
- Elemental Breaks: This is crucial. Almost every mini-boss and the final boss in here has massive resistances or repels. If you don't have "Fire Break" or "Ice Break" items, you aren't doing damage.
Boss Strategies: Marie and Kusumi-no-Okami
The boss fight is a two-parter. First, you fight Marie. She isn't actually that hard, but she uses Alienation Wall and Shell of Denial to reflect everything. Don't waste your best moves here. Once her HP drops low enough, the fight ends automatically.
Then comes Kusumi-no-Okami.
This thing is a tank. It repels every single element. If you didn't hoard those "Break" items from the chests on the lower floors, you’re going to be sitting there for forty minutes doing 10 damage per turn.
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- Use Naoto: Her Almighty damage (Megidolaon) is one of the few things that bypasses some of the nonsense, though even Almighty is resisted here.
- Yukiko is Key: Give her a Fire Break item, then use Mind Charge and Burning Petals. It’s the fastest way to chunk the boss's health.
- Rise’s Support: If you maxed Rise, she’ll occasionally restore SP after battle, which helps mitigate the "halving" effect.
What Most People Get Wrong
A lot of players think they need to grind to level 99 for this. Honestly? You don't. The enemies aren't actually that strong; it's the attrition that kills you. If you have a Persona with Victory Cry (like Izanagi-no-Okami or a high-level Magician fusion), the SP drain becomes a joke because you refill to full after every fight.
Without Victory Cry, you have to play like it’s a survival horror game. Skip every fight you can. Run away from anything that isn't a golden hand or a boss. Your goal is to reach the stairs with enough SP to actually fight the boss at the end.
Actionable Steps for Your Run
- Prioritize the Fox: Make sure your Hermit Social Link is high before February so the healing doesn't bankrupt you.
- Equip SP-Regen: The moment you find an accessory that grants 3, 5, or 10 SP per turn in battle, put it on your main healer.
- Don't Save over your Main Slot: The Hollow Forest is a one-day dungeon. If you enter unprepared and can't beat the boss, you’re stuck. Keep a backup save from early January just in case.
- Check Every Chest: You need those Break items. Without them, the Kusumi-no-Okami fight is a literal mathematical impossibility for most party setups.
The Hollow Forest is the bridge between the "normal" ending and the "true" Golden ending. It’s meant to feel oppressive and lonely, mirroring Marie’s own headspace. It might be a slog, but seeing the epilogue in March makes every lost SP point worth it.