Persona 3 Reload was a game that I was highly skeptical about. While not my first Persona game, Persona 3 FES is one of my favorite games of all time. It is one of the rare games that instantly became a favorite after my first playthrough. It left that much of an impression on me. As much as I love Atlus, I was worried that they could mess up this remake. This is Modern Atlus we are talking about. A company that makes great games, but there is always some monkey’s paw thing that goes on. I am proud to say that Persona 3 Reload is a fantastic remake and an improvement over Persona 3 FES.

The story seems to be the same as the original Persona 3s (Vanilla Persona 3, FES, Portable) with some minor additions. I already liked the story in Persona 3, so seeing it again with updated visuals was a treat. The graphics, just like many recent Atlus releases, are great. The new English voice acting is good. Everyone did a good job with their performances and some are arguably better than in the original Persona 3 English dub like Fuuka’s new voice in Reload.

The gameplay got major improvements in Reload. You can finally control your party. I know you could do that in Portable, but for non-P3P versions, this was needed. There is no more fatigue mechanic, the shuffle time was changed, the light and dark elements were tweaked, there are ultimate moves called “Theurgy”, the list goes on. It is a completely different game. I appreciate many of the additions in Reload, but Tartarus is still not my favorite place to explore. It is better in Reload thanks to the addition of breakable objects, Nomad doors, Arcana cards giving crazy bonuses, etc., but climbing this never ending tower still gets repetitive.

Music is great, but I am not a fan of Reload’s rendition of Mass Destruction. The “frog croaking” is more prominent in this rendition and it sounds goofy. The rest of the song is still good. I love It’s Going Down Now and I might prefer that over Mass Destruction. Controversial opinion, I know.

Even with all my praises for Reload, the Atlus monkey’s paw curls. This remake is $70 USD. My stance is that remakes and remasters should not be full price. Thankfully, Sega games as of late go on sale quickly and I managed to pick up Reload on the PS5 under $60 USD.

As I am writing this review, The Answer expansion has not been released yet. It will contain Episode Aigis - The Answer, extra story content from FES that takes place after the events of P3’s story. This will be $34.99 USD and it will include extra Persona 5 Royal and Persona 4 Golden music, extra costumes, and The Answer. The extra music and costumes should have been in the base Reload game and I argue The Answer as well. If Reload is the definitive way to play Persona 3, why was this not included in the base game?

Another thing missing is the playable female protagonist from Portable. Kotone, or FeMC as fans call her, was exclusive to Persona 3 Portable and it was an entirely different mode. Admittedly, I never played P3P, but that version and Kotone has its fans, so the lack of Portable content in Reload is disappointing. Once again, if this was the definitive way to play Persona 3, why was this not included? I believe the closest thing we got in Reload were the Linked Episodes for your party and that included the male party members since they do not have social links here.

Of course, this is not a Modern Atlus title without bullshit day one DLC. Music, costumes, and Personas from other Persona games, mainly P4 and P5. Insert joke of Persona 1 and 2 not existing here. The day Atlus stops doing day one DLC is the day we achieve world peace.

Persona 3 Reload is a fantastic remake of the already great Persona 3. The story is one of the best in the Persona games and the updated visuals add more impact. The improvements here makes it worth playing even if you touched a previous version of Persona 3. Charging $70 USD for Reload, locking The Answer in a pointless expansion pass, not adding Kotone, and the day one DLC is an Atlus pulls an Atlus moment. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_tc0hRWEAI4lY6.png
However, I still believe this is a must play game.