At long last, Persona 3 Reload (2024) dropped a bombshell onto the JRPG landscape. This Persona 3 Reload review aims to dive deep into what makes this remake one of the best in the genre.
This game contains mature content and themes, including violence and self-harm. You have been warned. If you or a loved one is suffering from depression and/or self harm, please reach out for help or call the Suicide and Crisis Hotline (988).
The History Behind Persona 3 Reload
The original Persona 3 (2006) was a turning point in the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off series. The new social links and turn-based JRPG mechanics served to make this title feel special, eventually sprouting its own independent product. The risk of making a new system paid off, turning Persona into a staple of Atlus’ library that is considered one of their greatest hits to date.
Persona 3 as a series would sprout two more renditions that added new content to the story, Persona 3 FES (2007) and Persona 3 Portable (2009). Although these would gain a cult following, the popularity of the franchise grew significantly more overtime. The overwhelming positive evolution following Persona 4 Golden (2012), Persona 5 (2016) and Persona 5 Royal (2019) prompted close followers of the franchise to request a fresh take on the third story they held close to their hearts. After many full moons, S.E.E.S. fans were finally able to appreciate the close-to-monthly new information following the announcement of the remake in June 2023, and the eventual release on February 2nd, 2024.
With the sprinkles of new gameplay upgrades, music tracks, and amazing art, fans can at long last get their hands on this spectacle of a video game. New art, voices, story segments, battle mechanics, and a plethora of quality-of-life improvements shows that this title has proven to be one for the history books. Not only is it a great retelling of the story in a solidified, unfragmented way, but it’s an amazing remake that pushed the boundaries of what the Persona series has to offer. Has it lived up to its hype and praise?
Life Simulation
The social simulation side of Persona 3 Reload is by far the most improved, with so many little quality of life upgrades, new pastimes, and amazing new interactions with the protagonist’s friends. Not only is there a new, expressive user interface to compliment each story, but the sprites also sync with the language of the voiceover.
Each and every line of a social link is voiced over by the amazing cast, some of the stand-out voice actors being Shelby Young as Yuko, Alejandro Saab as Akihiko, and Allegra Clark as Mitsuru really putting a new spin on these characters throughout the entire game. Every single character’s voice, especially those in S.E.E.S., encapsulates the feeling of a complicated teenage life, bouncing between mature and immature when need be. Although there’s only a few picked out in this article, everyone in the cast nailed their roles perfectly, and gave much more life to characters that may have been overlooked in the original renditions. It’s even more impressive when taking the fact that every single line of dialogue during a social link is voiced over into account.
If anything, the dialogue in this game feels much more full of life. Still with that nostalgic 2000’s feel, Persona 3 Reload is able to really immerse the audience with the small pieces of slang and subtly comedic one-liners; even if they’re spearheaded by Shuji Ikutski’s dad jokes.
The tutorial felt much more efficient, letting you free into Iwatodai much sooner than in other Persona titles. The world this time around looks astonishing, with a new engine, dynamic camera angles, ray tracing, and so many subtle art improvements that make the entire experience much more cinematic. What was previously a smaller location meant to connect one event and the next now serves as eye candy, feeling much more full of life.
Yet it doesn’t just look lush, the hub spaces (Iwatodai Station, Paulownia Mall, etc.) have been injected with little side conversations and collectables that reward exploration outside of Tartarus. Aside from the new NPC models walking around, the glowing Twilight Fragments add another dimension to exploring each area. Not only can players get hints to possible social links from the surrounding conversations (including before and after classes), but the small Twilight Fragments make sure to show off all the locations in a neat and rewarding way that helps to connect both halves of the game. The small things really stack up to make this game shine.
Traveling is also much easier, with menus now presenting available links, requests, fast travel locations, and character interactions in a much more concise manner. Especially with the new email functionality, players can effectively jump to the next event without hesitation. Even if one screws up and accepts the wrong invite, the new Rewind option makes it easy to reappropriate time used in game. It’s nice and goes under many radars. Even then, though, rewinding a very situational addition.
And that was only touching the surface. The social stats are much more condensed, just like in the original, and make each day the player spends in-game feel much more rewarding. There’s so much more to do this time around, most evident in the dorms during the evening. From using the community computer, studying with fellow shadow hunters, planting foods on the roof, to cooking and training with your teammates, Persona 3 Reload made the school life section much more enjoyable.
The most beneficial inclusion to the social sim is the inclusion of link episodes. Link episodes help to fill the void of social links that were missing from the original, and provide benefits to scaling Tartarus later on. Be it a little stat increase here and there or making shifts more effective, it’s more than worth hanging out with Junpei, Akihiko, or other party members when the chance presents itself.
And that only taps the surface. There are new, creative ways to increase social stats fast, which in turn presents players with more confidants, opportunities, events, and general benefits than ever before. And to top it all off, female social links can finally be platonic.
Dungeon Crawling
Combat in this game feels much more rewarding. Everything about the Dark Hour and Tartarus feels comfortable, slick, and fluid, with new mechanics and quick voice lines to compliment the much more detailed landscapes. The music pumps up the mood, while still remaining true to the eerie feeling provided in the original. The bottom level of Tartarus remains true, serving the same purpose, yet feels much more expansive with the new background animations and generally rich art style that make this dungeon really feel deep, cavernous, and never ending.
Though there are a lot of benefits, the beginning still feels relatively the same. It takes a few treks through Tartarus to really see the new mechanics in play. Though it starts out in a much more one-track tutorial, pushing through it ends up presenting a rewarding loop. With new locked chests, destructables, and level generation, Tartarus ends up feeling much more lively and infested than ever before. Sacrificing twilight fragments, distributing healing items and equipment, and the awesome new implementation of Arcana Bursts all make the gameplay loop more lively and less repetitive.
Smaller additions such as autorecover and Persona 4’s selectable shuffle time make traversal a lot easier to pick up on. Though SP is still the most valuable thing while scaling the expanding tower, these mechanics are more welcoming to new players, and can make something that would usually take forever more efficient. Overall, the quality of Tartarus has drastically improved since the last time fans have seen it.
The Dark Hour reaps many of the same visual upgrades as the world surrounding it. Tartarus looks beautiful, with much more color and intrigue thanks to the art design. It’s genuinely just beautiful to look at. Especially with a tighter camera angle, the exploration tends to feel both tense and curious.
The random treasures spread about the unpredictable levels make traversing them a little more interactive, something that Persona 3 Portable really needed. Especially with the new focus on looting and mystery, the entire scaling aspect of the game feels deservingly improved. It’s rewarding to be given a Twilight Fragment, scale a section boss, and then be presented with many different rewards depending on how much the player wants to spend. From special cosmetics and upper-leveled equipment, to valuable items that players will not want to miss, each locked, common, and rare chest present incentives to explore an entire floor instead of rushing to the next as fast as possible. It’s these little improvements that made the dungeon crawl much less repetitive.
Combat is debatably the best it has ever been in the Persona series to date. With multiple physical types, progressively interesting character builds, and a new shift mechanic that loads the player’s metaphorical gun with much more ammo, there’s not a single thing that makes an average battle feel like a drag. Especially when complimented by new UI and a pumped-up array of musical tracks, the combat keeps the prowess of the Persona series alive. Not to mention just how creatively expressive the Weak! cutaways and shift transitions feel.
Every character feels useful in their respective roles, with more moves and Persona abilities that feel rewarding. Movesets have been polished, placing each character into a role, while not truly setting said role in stone. This allows the player to adapt to and experiment with each new party member as they’re introduced, testing party dynamics along the way.
The only downside is the fact that inactive party members don’t gain experience points. Though it doesn’t allow as much party customization along the way, the Shuffle Time rewards don’t make it hard to grind a character up to the rest of the party’s level. It is a little annoying to go back and spend a day or two of your precious time, but it does promote picking and maximizing a core party. Especially when every character is viable up to the final boss, it proves to add some replayability.
Theurgy attacks, introduced later on to freshen up combat, feel like Showtime attacks from Persona 5 Royal, but more controlled and readily available. It really helps when trying to maximize damage, especially when there’s no option to attack a weakness. They’re fun cutscenes that deal solid damage with the personality of each party member. It even gives an excuse to give the cast fresh new costume designs.
The Velvet Room also had a bit of an overhaul, with some aspects taken from titles after Persona 3. It’s super nice to be able to search by result again, but even better when the player can decide what abilities carry over. It’s much easier to craft personas to an individual’s liking, which turns out to be one of the most valuable assets as the player progresses. Igor and Elizabeth, with their impressive new menu animations, aren’t holding any punches!
Story Review
Trying to describe it with as few spoilers as possible, the story reorganizes the plot in a fashion that doesn’t take away from the charm of the original, while shining a light on characters that truly needed it.
Strega, a later group of miscreants, felt somewhat basic in the original, but are given more light in Reload. With such a significance to the story, they needed a much deeper reasoning to their actions then originally presented. This remake delivers a satisfying justification for them, and makes the final acts much more intense and suspenseful.
Especially with some subtle foreshadowing to future party members alongside the events leading up to Fuuka’s introduction, each character was given just a little bit more screen time. The longer a player spends with a particular character, the closer they feel to them, and this is a perfect example of how to smoothly restructure a story to do that.
The story also wouldn’t have been as powerful without the 2D and 3D cutscenes, accompanied by the truly emotional voice acting that makes each scene so much better. It’s easy to hear the amazing actors like Aleks Le, Heather Gonzales, Suzie Young, and especially Xeno Robinson pour their hearts into their performances. Especially when their voices are over great animation from WIT studio and the Persona 3 Reload team, each beat ends up hitting like a truck. It’s much easier to feel for these characters that are thrown into a dark world full of deep, undertonal themes.
Style
If there’s a single thing that Persona is known for, it’s the impeccable sense of style. Persona 3 Reload takes inspiration from Persona 3, but with a much more impressive design reminiscent of Persona 5’s user interface. With the idea of being lost in a sea of relationships, the flowing blue and white color scheme helps to compliment the entire game.
The user interface, though at first glance may seem almost irrelevant, is one of the best parts of this game. From the flowing time in the top right to the living 3D-animated pause menus, there is not a single screen in this game that doesn’t shout out the themes of this game. Even if there’s only three shapes and two colors on the screen! It’s super smooth, and makes even the grindier aspects of the game flourish without feeling detached from the original.
The best part comes during the dark hour. The new mechanics and battle interfaces are introduced smoothly, all indicative of moon imagery. It’s strange to think that simple circles can pay off in such a way, but in the middle of combat, the bold font meshes well with some simpler shapes. The team behind graphic design had a great idea, and executed it perfectly.
Again, everything feels much more cinematic, with many great choices in cinematography during some of the most menial moments. The all-out attack screens, the smooth shift cutscenes, and even the effectively concise and stylish battle review screen all feel new and fresh, while maintaining every ounce of the nostalgic feeling the original game had.
Especially with such saturated and bright colors at the center, there’s enough contrast to feel powerful while still remaining smooth. There’s no doubt that each game in the Persona series steps its style up, but Persona 3 Reload really took a leap in being simple but stylish at the same time. It really teaches the PlayStation 2’s style some Unreal-Engine-y tricks.
Music
If the Persona series is known for anything, it’s the music. Persona 3 has an early 2000s feel that couldn’t be found in any other RPG of its time, which is why so many fans listen to songs from the first soundtrack to this day. With Yumi Kawamura and Lotus Juice working together with Shoji Meguro, the Persona 3 soundtrack soared to popularity.
Persona 3 Reload aimed to tackle the same semi-nostalgic feeling of the original, with a more modern electronic flare to match today’s advancements in music technology. Bringing back Lotus Juice with Azumi Takahashi as the new female lead vocalist, as well as Atsushi Kitajoh to compose, this new soundtrack keeps the spirit of the old one, with some new stylistic choices still reminiscent of the game’s themes.
While most of the original vibe is kept intact, some fan favorite songs do seem to stray a little too far from the original. Not to put down the amazing voice work, but Mass Destruction and Iwatodai Dorm both felt a little off, and jumped the gun with how modern many fans were expecting. The same effect of each track still remains, but the style seems to have faded just a little on first listen. It may take a little while longer to warm up to these songs, but nonetheless the new arrangements do end up fitting the tone of the game.
The new renditions of Changing Seasons, Want to Be Close, When the Moon’s Reaching Out Stars, and Joy on the other hand, are ideal remasters that add new life to the beloved soundtrack that many fans hold dear. The new vocals really reach into the life of what Persona 3 had to offer, then adds the new generation’s flair to it. Though it may feel melancholy to say goodbye to the French solo in Changing Seasons, the new vocals really accentuate the quality of this remake, and make the track much, much better overall.
Although it may take some repetition to get used to the remastered tracks, the expansive list of entirely new music soars to new heights. The stylish opening Full Moon Full Life, the amazing new battle track It’s Going Down Now, and the jazzy Color Your Night exemplify why it was so valuable to put trust into the sound team. It’s the freedom to express the same story under a new light of modern music that helped these compositions shine. There’s a reason fans trust the Persona series for great songs, and Persona 3 Reload’s original soundtrack proves no exception.
Closing Statements
Persona 3 Reload is the perfect example of a truly magical ground-up remake. There is no doubt that fans across the world have quickly fallen in love with this rendition of Persona 3.
Everything feels drastically better than any of the games before it, but doesn’t detach itself too far from its predecessors. The game as a whole feels like it has a huge new sense of style, without losing the charm of its older generation PS2 days. If anything, this game has made players feel comfortably curious all throughout the game.
Even though there are a few bumps along the way, and some mechanics, choices, or minor inconveniences, they are quickly overshadowed by the brevity and commitment to improving this experience. Persona 3 Reload is without a doubt the definitive way to experience this story.
Prospective players are in for a tremendously polished experience, fans who started with Persona 3 will feel a well-deserved rush of nostalgia, and those who started with Persona 4 and 5 will feel at home in this new, darker journey into Iwatodai. Persona 3 Reload stands as one of the most heartfelt remakes amidst a sea of redone titles. And I still find it hard to believe that it’s finally here.
If the game had to be given a number rating, it stands at a proud 9.5/10.
Where to find Persona 3 Reload
Persona 3 Reload is available across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam, with additional DLC skins and background tracks as day one cosmetic add-ons. Seal your fate, scale Tartarus, and find out what the dark hour has to offer today!
Leave a Reply