Persona 3 Reload – Review

This 2024 is a truly incredible year for all lovers of role-playing games, thanks to the arrival of many very interesting unreleased titles and the return of some sagas that have managed to build a very solid fan base over the years. And this is precisely the case with ATLUS which starts the year on a high note thanks to the release of Persona 3 Reload, the highly anticipated remake of one of the most beloved chapters of the franchise. The company has maintained the solid narrative base of the game, while expanding it with some new scenes, and has rebuilt everything else from scratch, creating a technical sector more in line with the current generation of consoles.

Not only are the graphics totally new, but for the occasion the game system has also been greatly improved, smoothing out a series of gameplay mechanics that nowadays would perhaps have been a little too cumbersome and retrograde. After spending a little more than 70 hours hunting Shadows in the company of SEES the time has come tell you about my experience with the remake. Let's start the adventure with the review of Persona 3 Reload!

The tranquility of Tatsumi Port Island is in serious danger. The beautiful artificial island that houses the academy Gekkoukan High Schoolconnected to the mainland by a monorail that passes over the sea, is in fact experiencing many cases of a mysterious disease that leaves its victims in a catatonic state, the apathetic syndrome. No one is able to understand what the causes of this malaise are, much less what a possible cure is, so much so that some think it is a sort of curse. But the truth is much darker than one might believe.

Humanity is in fact unaware that every day, at the stroke of midnight, the city enters the so-called Dark Houran additional hour that ordinary humans cannot perceive in which terrifying Shadows they wander in search of prey. The building which during the day is a place of learning for many students, at night transforms into a terrifying endless tower: the Tartar. Investigating incidents related to this phenomenon are: SEESa group of students gifted with the ability to summon a Person. But it will only be thanks to the arrival of a new recruit that the team will be able to discover the truth behind all these mysteries…

Gun to my head

From a gameplay perspective Persona 3 Reload has been improved radically, while maintaining that mix between RPG and real life simulator that the franchise is famous for. The player will find himself immersed in the life of a teenager divided between school lessons, new friendships and the exploration of the mysterious Tartarus. Time management will therefore be a truly fundamental elementit will be up to us to decide what to do throughout our days and what to prioritize among the different activities within the game, but without forgetting the deadlines to be respected. Fortunately, the game will remind us several times when we are about to approach a crucial point, thus giving us the opportunity to prepare properly for any eventuality.

In this remake i Social Links they will have a less predominant function in terms of gameplay compared to what has been seen in the most recent chapters of the franchise, but by bringing them to the maximum level we will unlock new Personæ Fusions inside the Velvet Room. And speaking of the velvet room here we will meet not only the inevitable Igor, but also his assistant Elizabeth that as we proceed with the adventure he will have requests for us. These are secondary missions that vary from finding a certain object to the creation of a specific Persona, and which will guarantee us some really useful rewards.

One of the things I appreciated most about this remake is how much the software house does has strived to offer players a familiar yet new experience. For example, the questions for quizzes and school exams will be totally new, and even Elizabeth's missions have been modified to better adapt to the other innovations made within the game. I remember well how some of them in the original were a little too tedious to complete, whereas now they are challenging but well balanced.

Monday Blues

Even the combat system of Persona 3 Reload it has been improved a lot, and it has been rendered much more dynamic than the original. Now by hitting the weakness of an enemy we will have the opportunity to switch to another character thanks to the Exchange system, thus allowing us to quickly annihilate even the fiercest adversary teams. The remake also sees the debut of a particular mechanic, the Theurgy. These are very powerful techniques capable of hitting the enemy regardless of his resistance which we will be able to unleash only after filling a specific bar. The way in which it will charge varies based on each character's personal aptitude, for example with Yukari it will fill up faster if we heal our allies. The Protagonist will have several of these attacks at his disposal based on the Personæ that we will have recorded within the Compendium of the Velvet Room.

Another important innovation of the remake is the presence of Doors of the Monad he was born in Monad Passage. The first will be gaps that will appear randomly during our exploration of Tartarus and which will host enemies that are more difficult than normal. Once completed, we will obtain valuable materials for creating equipment and the current and next floors will be revealed in the mini-map. The Monad Passage instead it works a little differently, given that they will only be available in some very specific points of Tartarus. Inside them we will meet groups of enemies that act in a much more collaborative manner than normal ones, and which will be more difficult to counterattack. As a reward for their defeat we will be able to obtain documents that will shed light on some points of the plot, but also additional costumes, very particular weapons and new Tarot cards that will appear during the Shuffle Time.

And it is precisely this last mechanic that I really loved during my adventures in Tartarus. Thanks to the new features introduced, Shuffle Time will be even more interesting, and will allow us to obtain both team upgrades and new Personæ more easily. It was a mechanic that I missed a bit, that sense of adrenaline in discovering which cards I can choose from after a fight makes the fights even more exciting.

Shadow Heart

From a technical point of view Persona 3 Reload it has undergone a real complete restyling, adapting perfectly to current generation platforms. The graphics of the game were improved in every way, while maintaining the essence of the original. The environments will be much more lively thanks to the presence of a greater number of NPCs, which will reflect what happens in the main plot. During my test I didn't notice any graphical issues, and the frame rate always remained stable at 60fps. Honorable mention to the user interface, which was also completely redesigned in one way visually very appealing.

The audio sector has also undergone major improvements, starting from lots of new lines of dialogue which were recorded for the occasion. Within the title we will be able to choose between the Japanese dubbing, with the cast of the original returning for the remake, and the English one made up of an almost completely new cast but whose work is truly excellent. In the soundtrack we will find both new songs and some unreleased arrangements of the original trackswhich will also be embellished by the presence of the vocalist Azumi Takahashi.

Narratively the title is truly stunning, albeit with some small flaws. The main plot remained largely unchanged, but they were added a series of secondary events that go deeper both the role of the male co-protagonists and the Strega group. Personally I would have appreciated some small tweaks to the Social Links too, given that very often we will find ourselves faced with dialogues that are a little too hasty and synthetic. However, the localization in Italian is excellent, even if with some small errors in the translation. Luckily after reporting it to ATLUSthe company assured me of already working on a patch to fix them.

Who do we recommend Persona 3 Reload to?

Whether you're a fan of the original or not, Persona 3 Reload It's one of those games that you just can't miss. Every RPG lover should have played this chapter of the saga at least once in their life, and what better opportunity to do so than with this splendid remake which smooths out all the problems found in the original? Even having already played it you will find yourself faced with a familiar yet new experience thanks to the many new features introduced. In short, not to be missed!