Persona 3 Reload Review (PS5)

We’re not even one month into 2024 and two stellar remasters are available for players. A few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on The Last of Us Part II Remastered on the PS5. This week, Persona 3 Reload will hit your consoles for current Persona fans and new players to enjoy. It’s been a long time coming and it’s been so worth the wait.

I will admit that I was surprised to see the Persona 3 Reload announcement trailer so soon after Persona 3 Portable was released to the public. Heck, I reviewed Portable last January – it earned an 8.8/10 from me. Despite enjoying its fantastic RPG gameplay, aesthetic, and music, I recognized that the game felt flat. While navigating menus is efficient, the overall 2D experience didn’t feel like my PS5 was being used to its fullest extent. Perhaps remastering Portable was ATLUS’ way of testing the waters while Reload was being developed, or perhaps it wasn’t. Regardless, I was excited to see the game that I admittedly wanted to play all along announced in 2023 and made available so soon. Persona 3 Portable (P3P) gave me the smallest taste of the delight that is the Persona 3 Reload experience.

There are going to be some fair criticism about Persona 3’s content. The game’s main premise involves high school students using pistols to shoot themselves in the head to conjure personas. There are also some questionable themes involving teachers dating high school students as well as side characters discussing dating in fashions that would skew pervy. Sure, you could argue that some of this content is reminiscent of an earlier time of storytelling where these themes are meant to satirize the ways in which high schoolers talk and view the world. However, some viewers may feel uncomfortable, especially in today’s climate.

Before I proceed any further, I want to drive home the fact that my experience playing Reload may have been impacted by recency bias to a significant degree thanks to reviewing Portable literally one year ago (plus or minus one week). There were times where I thought Reload felt easier than I remembered as well as several key moments where I thought I was progressing quicker than I should have been. I’ll flag some examples when I get there as well as discuss how a P3P player might consider this game. Without further ado, let’s get to the review:

Right from the jump, Persona 3 Reload hit me right in the feels. From its new fully animated cutscenes to its redesigned menus to its music, the entire vibe felt familiar yet still modern. The UI and menus in particular really struck me because of how well it highlighted information while also looking very clean. It was as though ATLUS picked up the original Persona 3, washed off all of its original faded colors, and tailor made every single menu and environment to feel like it was closer to an RPG from 2020 rather than its original 2006 release. Instead of adhering to its original visual novel/comicbook-esque designs, it takes a cleaner approach to highlighting characters using negative space.

Despite the nostalgia bomb, the visuals alone were a sign that things had been seriously refreshed rather than just slightly updated.

Persona 3 Reload plays just like 2023’s Persona 3 Portable and 2006’s Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. Well, more like the latter. Portable involved menu navigation that was assumedly chosen because of the PlayStation Portable’s hardware, whereas the original Persona 3 allowed the player to explore beyond Tartarus and walk through the halls of Gekkoukan High School, Paulownia Mall, and Iwatodai.

Iwatodai and Tartarus have never looked better thanks to ATLUS’ reimagining of the world of Persona 3. Being able to walk around Iwatodai and Paulownia Mall is what I really hoped to do in Persona 3 Portable despite knowing full well that the game was a remake of the PSP title, barebones and all. Ethereal NPCs walk throughout the mall and school hallways, some having conversations with each other and allowing the player to eavesdrop on what’s being said. Birds flutter away from the ground when the player approaches. Things feel slightly more alive without treading into an area of level design full of empty space.

But, the game is the same. The story is the same. The turn-based battles are more-or-less the same. As a high school protagonist, you’re to build relationships with your classmates and neighbors while moonlighting as an agent of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES). SEES seeks to defeating shadows that plague citizens’ minds during the hidden hour that occurs at midnight.

You should feel comfort in ATLUS preserving the core elements of Persona 3 in Reload. Despite being nearly two decades old, the story and gameplay are fantastic. Its turn-based battles stick to tried-and-true RPG staples without attempting to change the formula for the sake of innovation. Persona 3 Reload just takes the original great game to a visually impressive level.

Persona 3 Reload doesn’t just make visual changes, however.

The Persona series has been critiqued as being a stressful series of RPG; it prides itself on positioning players decision-makers in and outside of battles. Turn-based battles aside, being reminded of “don’t waste time!” is tough to swallow when each decision matters and has drawbacks. Should I “study” and boost my character’s academics or should I go and grind enemy shadows to gain experience? Should I become closer with one classmate or should I attempt to build a relationship with the kind bookstore owners?

Persona 3 Reload is stressful. Even though I didn’t describe Persona 3 Portable as such less than a year ago, I’m sure you could pick up on the potential of stress emerging from its time management. After one “month” of in-game time, I had multiple decisions to make on most days, often unsure of what to prioritize. Thankfully, Persona 3 Reload eases some of that decision-making pain with a new tool.

By pressing the DualSense’s touchpad, I could bring up a Network Menu that showed me a breakdown of most decisions that other players had made on the current day. It also included the “average level” of players’ parties and the highest floor they’ve visited in Tartarus. Sometimes, it would hint at a day-specific event, reminding me that some social links are only available to be strengthened on that day. I loved this addition and began to use it every other day because of how it grounded me in understanding the game’s boundaries as well as level-setting my expectations for how I should make “better” decisions despite so many choices being available for me to consider.

I know some players won’t find this menu to be necessary in the slightest because of your own experiences with Persona 3 and wanting to speedrun the title to maximize your playthrough. This feature is not for you, and that’s okay. I see a world where unfamiliar and/or younger players are torn on what to do and utilizing that menu to make informed decisions. Since Persona 3 treats time as such a finite resource, Persona 3 Reload’s Network features are an incredibly welcome addition. More RPGs should take note and implement something similar.

Speaking of speedrunning, I can admit that I remembered quite a bit of my original Persona 3 Portable playthrough last year. Picking up Reload, I expected the exact same playthrough but with a new coat of paint. As mentioned at the start of this review, the core elements of Persona 3 were there, but several differences emerged that prevented me from phoning it in and just doing what I’ve done before. Enemy patterns, exam questions, and dialogue options have been shifted/changed altogether.

Completing side quests, obtaining experience, and building social links felt even less grindy than ever before. Perhaps it’s the recency bias speaking, but I was gaining post-battle experience at a level where I could complete a new block of Tartarus in a single night without needing to go back. My relationships with my social links grew in single interactions rather than needing two or sometimes three afternoons to boost to the next level. Specific asks from Elizabeth could be completed at any time rather than being restricted to single days.

On the RPG/battle front, Reload has introduced several smaller features. First, Tartarus now has small destructible objects that occasionally hold valuables that can be sold for very easy money. On the flip side, Reload has added new locked chests that can only be opened by spending Twilight Fragments – currency that can be found when exploring the world, occasionally gifted by Elizabeth, and from the remains of the destructible objects in Tartarus. At the start of the game, I wasn’t receiving that many Twilight Fragments, meaning that I had to leave some chests behind. It felt bad to leave those chests behind, especially the ones after a boss, but they were waiting for me upon my return to Tartarus. Oh yeah, remember my complaints about P3P’s default setting that puts the player in control of the protagonist rather than the entire battle party? That’s gone. I was controlling the entire party right from the start.

Another new addition in Reload is the Theurgy mechanic. Think of it like a cinematic attack that can be executed when specific in-battle conditions are met, like successfully landing a critical hit or healing an ally. Each member of SEES has their own Theurgy conditions and attacks, giving them access to super-powerful moves that can be utilized in a pinch and turn the tides of battle. They get introduced well into the game, meaning that I wasn’t fully sold on their usefulness until I was up against a Full Moon boss that lacked weaknesses.

On the dungeon crawling front, the major changes in Reload is that you’re not able to freely disband the party and allow them to explore willy nilly to gain experience and find items on their own. Instead, one team member may volunteer to scout ahead on the next floor up, bringing your team down to one less person. Thankfully, you can gain boosted experience through Arcana Rushes. Unlike Persona 5’s implementation, Reload’s implementation allows you to select a tarot card as a reward during the post-battle Shuffle Time. Accumulating several tarot cards grants you bonuses that last as long as your current Tartarus run. Now that I type this out, Arcana Rush is assuredly one of the reasons why I felt like I was stronger than I felt when I played Portable last year.

The final battle-related change worth mentioning here is the removal of the fatigue system. For those of you familiar, going to Tartarus in Portable fatigued the player the next day, meaning that they dealt less damage and had less health. Not in Persona 3 Reload – you’re not punished for wanting to go to Tartarus two days in a row…not that you really need to, anyway.

Persona excels in its relationship building and storytelling through maintaining friendships. I’ve noticed that the older Persona titles often prioritize opposite-gender friendships to highlight the progression of romantic relationships rather than celebrating relationships of multiple forms. Folks, I’m sure you have a best friend of the same gender as you without it being romantic. Those should be included! ATLUS has allowed the protagonist to better connect with the other male characters in Reload which is a massive win in my book. Junpei, for instance, is a well-written class clown – now I can learn more about him and actually feel like our friendship is becoming cogent!

The music in Reload has been refreshed, too. I’ve always been cautious with remastered music from already fantastic soundtracks, such as the case of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster’s soundtrack. There’s something that can rarely be properly reproduced when trying to capture the essence of the original audio gold. Persona 3’s original soundtrack is one of those examples where the source material is already fantastic, so why bother updating it? Reload’s soundtrack excellently captures the essence that made original soundtrack so catchy, with some slight additions.

Now we’re at the part of the review where we discuss the target audience for Persona 3 Reload, or at least the game’s recommended audience. At the start of this review, I mentioned that the Persona 3 Portable remaster was released last year. So…what gives? Should existing owners consider Reload?

I find it hard to recommend Reload for casual players who already own 2023’s Portable. There. That’s the caveat. There are so many fantastic RPGs that require a massive time investment, upwards of 60 hours, for a quick runthrough. Heck, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will take 45 hours at least, and that came out last week! If you want to pay for Infinite Wealth’s New Game+ (which, honestly, is a very strange thing to pay for), there’s another 40+ hours. I must recognize that the past two years have seen some fantastic RPG releases worth your time, so replaying Persona 3 by playing Reload might not be the best use of your time.

However, if you haven’t yet tried Persona 3 in any form, or if you spent a handful of hours in Persona 3 Portable without it clicking for you…there’s little reason to overlook Persona 3 Reload. If anything, this should be your top-of-mind consideration of 2024 in the RPG department. It’s quite accessible for new players and features so many quality-of-life updates that smooth over the painful edges that come with the RPG territory. Yeah, there’s some grinding involved, but it’s far less than other Persona titles – even less than Persona 3 Portable.

If you’re a Persona fan and struggling between last year’s Portable and this year’s Reload, why not both? If you can only pick one, though, it’s a matter of preference. Portable is more for those wanting the classic game with as little modifications as possible. Reload, on the other hand, is a classic experience made fit for 2024 with a litany of updates, upgrades, and improvements.

Persona 3 Reload is not a carbon-copied remaster of Persona 3 Portable or even Persona 3. It’s a refreshed perspective of Persona 3 that removes a good bunch of pain from older RPGs while retaining the charm and character of the original. It feels like many thoughtful decisions were made to better the game’s flow without compromising on its core experience or watering it down. My only concern is that owners of 2023’s Persona 3 Portable might feel like there aren’t enough changes to warrant a replay. But, if you haven’t yet experienced its source material, Persona 3 Reload is without a doubt the best version of the game to play.

A copy of Persona 3 Reload was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.