Review: Persona 3 Reload Is the Best Version of Persona 3

You sort of think that once the second and third versions of a game appear, one of those is probably the “best” version of it. Yet somehow, that isn’t the case here. I feel like Persona 3 Reload is the best version of Persona 3 so far. (Though yes, I do still have issues with Tartarus and the erasure of the female protagonist Kotone.)

There’s a hidden hour of every day. Most people don’t realize it, but a select few can actually sense and take part during this 25th hour that comes just between 11:59pm and 12:00am. Players follow a young man who is a newcomer to Tatsumi Port Island and transfer student. He ends up arriving during said Dark Hour, in a dorm with other students who share his potential and fight during it, and eventually joining their Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES) group to fight the hostile Shadow enemies and hopefully end the Dark Hour and Apathy Syndrome spreading throughout the town. This is done while also going through a year of ordinary high school life, complete with classes and tests, interacting with other students, and activities like gardening, using computer software, and taking on part-time jobs.

There’s a great balance between school life and dungeon diving in Persona 3 Reload, just as there was in past entries. Every full moon, you know there will be a major Shadow boss fight. Shortly after, another blockade in the dungeon Tartarus will open allowing access to a block of floors. So during the day, you attend classes, socialize, visit shops, and take part in activities. At night, you can go with SEES to the tower to tackle some floors or rescue folks that wandered in or, well, also socialize and visit a few locations that are open. It’s very well balanced, and I never felt any sort of pressure like there wasn’t enough time to get through the latest block of floors in Tartarus or manage my schedule. Though of course, there is the whole thing still that you probably won’t get through every social link in your first run unless you’re very smart. Especially since there are new side-stories.

Said side stories feel like a means of adding new insight into members of SEES and some other characters you’ll meet in the second half of the game. It isn’t like they’re the exact Persona 3 Portable Kotone route stories somehow awkwardly adapted for Makoto, the male protagonist, either. They’re genuinely interesting storylines you can choose to pursue, and I appreciated their inclusion. It really makes up for the fact that certain people didn’t have social links with the male protagonist and feel like they filled a gap. I mean, we’re all living together and we’re supposedly friends. So of course there’d be times when we’d hang out together and bond, and Persona 3 Reload is good at showing how these quieter, homier moments might look.

This also applies to the new dorm activities. While things like browsing the computer and using software are a solo affair, others are or can be social. After planting items in the rooftop garden, you can tend them with a SEES ally. You can cook with someone. You can watch TV together. There’s a chance to read together. Doing all this helps boost your social stats like Charm, Courage, and Academics, just like other daily life activities like studying, choosing certain options during classes, taking on part time jobs, or spending time at the arcade, karaoke, or movies. Which helps with gaining access to certain features or social links and scoring well on tests. But it also means earning skills for characters and seeing insight into who they are.

As for the dungeon crawling, running through Tartarus is the same as usual. Floors are mostly randomly generated, though a few do have the same determined layout each time. There are Monad Passages you can access, taking you to stronger than usual enemies and special rewards at the end. This is essentially the integration of the Monad concept from Persona 3 FES, and I like its execution better here. You can end up getting Twilight Fragments to unlock special chests with better rewards and equipment, both from finding them around town or being social during the daytime hours. There are also mechanics like floors that are entirely dark, enemies behaving unusually, and items you can smash in dungeons to get more materials or Twilight Fragments. 

All battles are turn-based, as usual. Your goal is to hit enemies’ weaknesses while protecting your own, so you can knock opponents down, get an extra turn, and perhaps even knock everyone down for an all out attack. You can directly control allies or assign them roles. We can shift to allies after hitting a weakness or landing a critical hit, to take advantage of their skillset, and people gradually fill a gauge that allows them to perform Theurgy limit breaks against foes. Also, as is typical in a Persona title, you can get more Personas after each fight, then fuse them in the Velvet Room to equip on the main character to extend his ability reach, alter stats, and build up resistances. 

However, there are times when I felt this remake missed the mark. One of the big ones is the exclusion of the female protagonist, especially given Atlus’ refusal to offer that option since the original Persona 3 Portable. More importantly is this could have been a chance to help improve the execution and design of Tartarus itself. Given the number of floors here, I found it a tedious chore by the time I reached November. I can tell there are design decisions here to try and mitigate that. The Occasional Monad opportunities and floor experience variations due to certain events and enemy types do feel designed to make it feel more diverse. Still, there’s only so much that can be done when that’s how the dungeon always is and was and the existing nature of the often brief, repetitive floors. It feels designed to emphasize that the dungeon is “big,” and that can be to its deteriment. By the time I got to the last fourth of it, especially since played I Persona 3 Portable again not long ago, I was just done.

Also, while I appreciate the Great Clock as a chance to help characters we aren’t using catch up in terms of levels, maybe now we’re at a point when developers ditch the whole “if someone isn’t in your immediate party, they don’t gain any experience” thing. Especially since here we have situations where someone could be forced to sit things out for a while due to the story. I appreciate that this new function is here and that it exists is a step in the right direction, but come on and just give those people waiting on the first floor EXP too, Atlus.

But if there’s one way in which it is unquestionably unfailing, it is the artistic direction and execution. Persona 3 Reload looks as stylish as ever. Especially with the new Theurgy attacks and animated segments that happen at major moments in battle and throughout the story. Everyone looks great, locations are faithfully resurrected, and I loved exploring different parts of town and school. 

Not to mention the rewind function is surprisingly useful! You get five time periods you can “roll back” to, in case you change your mind about scheduling or realize you missed something. I do wish it went back a bit further in time — perhaps offering one slot for each day for the last five days — instead of going to the last few “free roaming” periods, but it is still quite a welcome addition.

While I miss the female protagonist and the dungeon-crawling element may feel a bit dated once you’re in the home stretch, Persona 3 Reload is a joy to play and offers everything I could want from it. The new features are implemented seamlessly and perfectly, while also capturing some elements from FES and Portable. I appreciated the opportunity to return to Tatsumi Port Island again.

Persona 3 Reload will come to the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on February 2, 2024.