Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3 Reload Logo owned by Atlus

The Persona series is one that I keep close to my heart, even though I haven't played all of them. My first Persona game was Persona 4 for the PS2, and the first one I have beaten is Persona 4 Golden. I bring this up to let you know that I went into Persona 3 Reload completely blind, without the nostalgia I hold for Persona 4. I didn't play Persona 3 growing up because its heavier themes of suicide were too much for my teenage brain to handle at the time. But now, as I have gotten older, those themes bother me a lot less. There are times it does, but Persona 3 Reload doesn't trigger me like some other media has. That being said, before the review begins, bear in mind that this game has themes of violence, bullying, and suicide. The game does warn you every time you turn it on. If any of these trigger you, I recommend giving this game a pass. For the rest of you, let me give you my honest thoughts on Persona 3 Reload.

So, what is Persona 3 Reload? It's a remake of the original Persona 3, a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) where you play as a high school boy whose official name is Makoto Yuki, but you can name your boy whatever you want. You enjoy going to Gekkoukan High School, going through school life by day, and then being a monster slayer going up a wacky tower by night. You see, in this world, there is a hidden hour known as The Dark Hour where all the normal people turn into coffins for some reason and monsters known as Shadows run amok. It's up to you and your trauma-riddled friends to go into the Shadows nest known as Tartarus, make your way to the top, and stop The Dark Hour once and for all using the power of Persona. Personas are avatars of the mind that those with the potential can use to fight the Shadows, and naturally, as the protagonist, you can use multiple, uniquely designed Personas while everyone else only uses one. This story is filled with fun moments, sad moments, and "What the hecky is that?" moments. It's quite the wild ride!

I can not express how much I love Persona 3 Reload's combat. It's turn-based combat, but with its own style. For starters, every button does something different, so you don't have to go up and down menus a lot. Another fun aspect of the combat is Shifting, it's a mechanic where if you knock down an enemy, you can give your extra turn to another party member. If you do this right, the enemy barely gets a turn, and it's so satisfying to get it right. The main thing you will be doing, wisely, is collecting Personas and fusing them together to make better Personas. All the Personas are based on a variety of mythologies, and it's really cool to see this game's depiction of them. But there is more to this game than just collecting and fighting.

Now we get to my favorite part of all the Persona games, the Social Links! Social Links are characters that you get to know throughout the main story, and the more you get to know the characters, the higher their rank will be. This rank links back into Persona fusing, where the higher the rank, the more of an experience boost the Persona will get to make them stronger. This game strongly encourages making close friends, and so do I. I won't spoil any of them here as I highly recommend experiencing them for yourself, but please note that there are 22 Social Links, and it is very likely you aren't going to get them all in your first playthrough, and that's ok. I didn't get all of them either. I only got 13 out of them all, but New Game+ is a thing, and it will make getting the ones you missed a lot easier.

Social Link Rank

Other things I enjoyed about this game are just how stylish it all is. From the menus to the art, to the music, and so on, this game screams "Cool, chill, and badass." I especially love the music. It makes me wanna dance every time I jam to it, and it's been an earworm for months. The voicing acting is also very well done, and almost everything is voiced, which is a very nice touch. Everyone in this production did an amazing job. There wasn't a single voice where I sat there and went "Eww.." I also enjoyed this feature where at your student dorm you can hang out with your friends by watching movies, planting crops, and cooking, and they get special abilities by doing this as well!

Honestly, there are only a couple of things I did not enjoy about this game, and the big one is that not all your party members have Social Links. Instead, they have premade events to advance the friendship, and I thought that was a real shame because I wanted to learn more about all my party members, but the events you do with them aren't bad at all. They are still fun stories to experience with them, but I just wish I had had more, is all. The other two issues I have involve spoilers, so I won't say them here.

Overall, I very much enjoyed my 60-plus hours of this title, and I can't wait to dive into the DLC, Episode Aigis, and see what that is all about! I was lucky enough to get this game on a sale but, I highly say it is worth your time and money if you love RPGs like I do. This game is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. I finished it on the PlayStation 5.