Persona 3 Reload is the reimagined version of Persona 3 and tells the tale of a young boy and his year at Gekkoukan High. This island school is host to many different characters he can interact with as he spends a year growing and evolving. He quickly meets and joins a group called S.E.E.S or Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.
This group of students can survive in the special midnight hour, an hour where other humans become coffins. They must traverse the tower of Tartarus, and head to its highest floor to remove it from the land. This tower is split up into a variety of different groupings of floors. Each floor has its fair share of bosses, and enemies. Players will encounter a variety of different enemies with different weaknesses and it’s good to mix and match depending on what foes are up ahead. Luckily there are teleporters before bosses, and they can take the player back to adjust the party for the battle to come.
The tower of Tartarus is an arduous climb, filled with a wide variety of enemies. Players will run the halls, fighting enemies, opening chests, and managing their health and SP. It’s a good idea to pay attention to their MP, and to use it sparingly. Health is far easier to regain as generally magic healing items are few and far between.
Twilight Shards are magic items that the player will find in the world outside Tartarus and in it as well. These can be found randomly within the dungeon if the player spends time grinding them out. They are useful for opening special chests and for activating special clocks. The clocks are found randomly within the dungeon and at key places, such as the beginning of the dungeon and near bosses. These clocks will take 7 twilight shards to restore the players health and MP to max. While it’s a better idea to save the shards for special chests, this is a way to heal up that might be necessary at some point in the player’s journey.
The main character is definitely a blank canvas even if he’s very recognizable. Players can play him however they want and still get a meaningful experience. Players will take classes, make friends, fight shadows, and round him out in whatever way they see fit. It’s definitely part of the charm of the Persona series, delving into a person’s life at an integral moment and helping them.
The Persona series at its core is an exploration of youth. The protagonist is always someone thrust into a new school, ready to experience life, who makes new friends and discovers way more about themselves than they would have if they hadn’t come to this new school. Players will definitely want to answer questions right and work to develop his personal stats. These stats do lock the player out of events and interactions, so it’s necessary to keep leveling them up as they progress through the game. It definitely will take a while to upgrade all of them, especially intelligence, so start early and endeavor on.
There are all sorts of characters in this game, and they all have their ways. The protagonist might be pretty basic character wise as he’s supposed to be a foil for the player. The other characters, even the teachers provide good character work, and help make the island feel alive.
Now it’s always important to interact with people, as they help to increase the player’s social links. These social links help to give the player new abilities and make them more well rounded too. Often adding to the end of the game in some way too. It’s fulfilling to see how the characters’ arcs end as well at the end of the social link.
The S.E.E.S students are all rather eccentric and interesting in their ways. There’s the genius leader Mitsuru, who while she will invite you to join the team will only get close to the player if they prove they are intelligent. There’s Junpei who is rather idiotic and joins early, along with Yukari who the player saves to join S.E.E.S. Then you have a boxer named Akihiko, a small boy named Ken, a dog called Koromaru, and an android named Aigis.
The S.E.E.S characters are definitely ones to get to know but it’s always good to know everyone that’s associated with an arcana. There’s the old married couple, a young girl who loves to play, the members of various clubs the player can join, and other odd members of the school community. The characters are of various ages and it definitely helps to show that the player can have a broad range of support.
The old married couple Bunkichi and Mitsuko run the book store, and lead the player through a tale of loss and age. Maiko, a young girl, loves to snack and play, and is dealing with her parents divorce and her life changing. Hidetoshi is on the school board and is a little too gungho with rules. Chihiro is another member who seems to despise men even if she’s aiming to work on it. There are a number of others but the player will discover them as they live through this wild year.
The S.E.E.S members are all Persona users and can use a single Persona within the game. As usual, the protagonist can use any of the Persona in the game. This allows them to be a jack of all trades, and it’s fun to experiment and change things up at the drop of a hat. It’s always great to be able to have all the weaknesses in check, and to find the best Persona is always fun.
The Persona also help with the social links and it’s important to try to have a Persona of the arcana the player is hoping to level up, to give them the edge in that. It’s interesting to see the different Persona, as sometimes there are even slight variations between them over the course of time.
Combat in the game is standard turn based combat. Players will use spells and attacks to defeat enemies. They can chain attacks by attacking the weaknesses, and dispatch foes with an all out attack. It’s possible to start battles early by striking the foes in the over world. If the enemy is weak enough they will be instantly taken out which is helpful.
It’s possible to also speed up the battles which is good for grinding. Players can auto attack the enemies causing their characters to simply keep attacking without using SP. This is helpful when the player is grinding for money and experience. This game may definitely require some grinding at some point, as climbing the tower is definitely going to take a lot of time, and spending a long time in one day is better as it gives the player more time to enjoy the other facets of the game.
There are also extremely strong enemies that roam the tower. Players can dodge them or take them on but it’s not for the faint of heart. These enemies will always be far stronger than anything on the floor, and if the player isn’t ready for it, they will face defeat.
The music is wonderful, and the game has fantastic battle music. Walking around the different areas and hearing such wonderful music brings smiles to the face. It’s not exactly the same as the original but it’s still just as good, which is all it really needs to be.
The artwork is updated from the original game, and has its own flair. While it may not be completely the same as the original I do think that it has its merits. A nearly 20 year old game definitely needs some updating when it comes to art, and the developers know that. The characters look lively, and show a broad range of emotion.
Having played the game on the PS5 and PS4 it definitely plays just as well on Switch 2. Switch 2 is definitely a robust system and even in handheld the game is buttery smooth. It’s great to be able to play this out and about and on the bigger screen. I’m blown away with the jump from Switch 1 to 2 honestly still.
The voice acting is also recast, and while yes it may upset fans of the original, it’s always necessary to eventually replace voice actors. Older actors may not have the same voice as they did when it came out and having a mixture of new and old may not be fair.
Persona 3 Reload is a very good remake, and it brings the game to the modern era. While of course the game is perfectly playable in its earlier forms, it’s always fun seeing what different minds can do with a game and its world. Tartarus is always going to be a trial in and of itself, and it will always take gumption to take it down, but will the player help S.E.E.S to do so?
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
