mehhhhh but yessss but.... I'm so incredibly mixed on this game.
I have a lot of positives, big positives, negatives, and big negatives that are all from the same criteria, so oh boy. For context; I've played P3 FES & Portable & watched the movies before this game.

Let's start with what I liked.
The new songs are BEAUTIFUL. Color Your Night went straight in my playlist, and the new Changing Seasons is such a feel-good upgrade. Sometimes I'd just stop playing and spin the protag in circle to the rhythm of the song. Possibly my favorite element of the game, since I love music so much.

Almost all of upgraded environments are gorgeous. The whole city is beautiful, the areas before the bosses were done with justice, and each were done in a way that makes them slightly more unique than FES did. I think this was in the color scheme or filters they put; but nonetheless each felt much more distinct and cool. (Let me forewarn that this upgrade doesn't apply to all of them though)

Tartarus is SO SO SO pretty now. The movement in the background of the tower shifting is genius and something that couldn't be done on older engines; I think it was such a good visual decision to add. The level with all the black and neon colors gave me a little headache so I worry about other players, but it was still really distinct and cool.

The pacing feels a little better in this game; I think it's cause there's more to go/do at nighttime now.

The UI... do I need to say anything on how perfect it is? My favorite bit. It's perfect, we already knew that; such a visual feast and a concise/ingenius layout that's simple for players to navigate. PERFECT.

One of my favorite openings in all of Persona- beat only by 2 or 3 others. Banger song btw, I don't need to go into depth how good this opening was. Go watch it yourself and you'll know.

Ok... Now let me talk about why this game is a mixed bag for me.
I was very limited on what I can see with full honesty was good; because in these same elements had some real kicks that worsened them.

For example, I'm of the people who LOVED the new music, but the remasters/remixes of a lot of songs... were definitely worse than the og. I'm sure a person more experienced in music can explain the differences but I'll summarize my thoughts Iwatodai Dorm theme is weird and slower. Mass Destruction is little off in tone with the new singer. Burn my Dread... dear lord is it one of the worse songs to come out of Persona. That was the most disappointing one. If it's your first experience with P3; you'll probably love the soundtrack nonetheless. However, if you've listened to these songs before you'll take notice in how they've been butchered in this remake.

Gameplay...
I already did NOT like gameplay in Portable or FES; Tartarus was just: an enemy runs into you, somehow find their weakness, all out attack, repeat. And that's for EVERY single battle as you tower up.
So I was excited for Reload; I couldn't wait to see how they make Tartarus enjoyable. But they made it so... brainless. No matter the difficulty you choose; theurgys are SO overpowered, physical skills are BROKEN, and it's incredibly EASY to accidentally overgrind and boom; bosses are killed in seconds.
There's a theurgy that literally oneshots anything for the cost of all your sp & hp, but with Yukari's RIDICULOUSLY cheap healing and how EASY it is to get SP items, it's essentially a free xp grinder for the reaper. I got to level 96 after figuring this out and stopped because I realized the final boss was gonna be shit if I went to 99.
They also removed and worsened all the tactics in the original that made the game challenging and actually thematically immersive. The removed the tiredness system- which like, was a really good reoccurring reference to your final day and is not super challenging to get rid of. It's so easy to combat tiredness if you care for it, so I have no idea why they didn't just keep it. It also makes scenes like you randomly catching a cold from a typhoon make more sense than just a random time-event.
They WORSENED the AI to let party members act freely so much; it's useless and ACTIVELY PUNISHES THE PLAYER NOW. That was also one of my favorite bits of immersive storytelling; It's not like P5 where the characters are all united after joining the Thieves. These characters acting freely ESTABLISHES them as independent entities and their ongoing personal struggles. It made them more human and added to their characters, imo. I've seen people like it but most of them have not played the originals. So I don't know; I just don't like how they're using the P5 formula for their other games now.

I think the P5 formula is the biggest hinderance to this game. Whilst the upgraded graphics are beautiful; a LOT of the art and gameplay direction is missing the identity of the original.
The final battle was incredibly disappointing in both its difficulty and how it had the SAME visual elements as all the other bosses. Nyx in every other version has been darker; I don't even mind if they keep the damn green they love if they just made the fight more UNIQUE than every other boss.

I am a big storytelling lover, so this next bit has me tweaking. Except for the Aegis vs Ryoji cutscene (which is peak)... EVERY cutscene has been made worse. It's either:
1.) A 2D cutscene that is so stiff & lifeless; the characters have barely any expression, they can barely move, the original DIRECTION of these cutscenes has been stripped away for a rendition that is ineffective. The opening cutscene is the biggest culprit of this, but it's also in like the ship vacation scene. That new cutscene with them equipping their new outfits is laughably bad. The awkwardness of how slow the characters move with nothing but the music at a mismatch pace. It was a nothingburger of a cutscene that was placed for no reason in the story.
2.) 3D Model replacements of cutscenes. I. Hateee this. Genuinely don't know ANYONE who prefers 3D scenes over the 2D. Shinjiro's death is the biggest culprit of being done dirty by this, but I mean at least the characters are forced to show emotion and movement in 3D modeling so hey that's something. It just looks worse, strips away the simplicity from the original cutscenes that even make it meaningful. The final scene being in 3D also made me pretty ticked, but it wasn't awful or anything. The intent of every frame from the original ending is lost as soon as it's transferred for smooth animation. I've heard it's possibly an animation error, but Aigis being portrayed as human in the final scene made me bawl when I first played through.
The persona 3 Movies are a PERFECT example on how to do a rendition of these cutscenes, and yet Reload butchers them in every way possible.

Now, this game made me hate Atlas as a company. If you don't know anything about how this game released; oh boy.

First off, this is a pretty amazing game, but a terrible remake for many reasons. There are 2 other versions of Persona 3 that have different content in them, and when this was first announced as a Remake; everyone was excited for a DEFINITIVE version of the game. The Femc and social links from Portable; the gameplay systems & The Answer from FES; all these and more coupled with intent to make it as definitive as possible.

Guess what happened? The game is $70 coupled with nonsensically high DLC pricing. Every bit of content from Portable is nonexistent; there is no Femc in Ba Sing Se. The Answer, that was originally part of FES, is now being sold separately as DLC for $35 which makes this an over $100 game with less than half the content it should have had. The DLC package for the Answer is also ridiculous, because to justify the pricing and removal of it from the main game; they include SCRAPS to make it seem like more. They just put music from P4 and P5, and a costume set. That's it. For $35 of something that should've been in the base game. And so much of the content in Portable was an upgrade to the storytelling; the social links were brilliant, and Femc as a whole should've been there. But developers say there was not enough time. This is not the real reason, but that's another rabbit hole to go down. Do a search on people's thoughts if you're curious. If you want a Femc mod; people already have a REALLY good one that they are now just working on editing dialogue/voice lines from portable & adding cutscenes.

If it seems like I'm a negative Nancy; it's because a lot of direction from this game was done better in the originals, and Atlus was a scammer upon releasing this game. However, I still had a lot of fun playing it. I meant every word of good as much as I criticize the game.

I vehemently think its a AMAZING game, but a terrible remake.

Mannnn this game destroyed me.

Let me go over my flaws real quick.
First things first: do NOT play this game for gameplay. The battle system was the most boring shit I've ever played. Besides the UI and BANGER music, you can only handle so much of the repetitive battles. The emotion system have a lottt of potential though and is so conceptually awesome; I just wish the battles were done differently. You'd think they'd rework it a tad after 7 years of work, but I'll give them a pass since development was hell for this game.
The pacing is a little mehhh during Humphrey's arc, but I'm pretty sure it was intentional and I honestly don't mind it that much. This bit is 100% subjective though; you could say it sucks or is genius and I would understand both perspectives.
I also didn't know you could sprint until the end of the final day. So.

Alright, now everything I loved.
Possibly the best storytelling I've ever seen in a videogame. Every bit of the dialogue, sound design, gameplay elements, environment... EVERYTHING is done with intention. It's so brilliant. There is so so much foreshadowing that DOESN'T reveal the twist, but you know there's something. I cannot emphasize how brilliant the storytelling in this game is.
Slowly piecing together the connection of dreamscape & the real world; wondering what happened with Basil and Sunny; What HAPPENED to Mari?? Genius.
The real-world section is done so... realistically? Naturally? I'm not sure how to put it, but from the environment to the characters- every bit of the real world felt like if I went outside this very moment I could experience it. The awkward miscommunication and ghosting of the friend group that spiraled over the years after the incident was very well done. If you go into this game with any experience in grief or loss, this'll hit you very hard. How they managed to make each character of the group represent a different stage of grief- yet also balancing them as complete and complex characters makes every bit of dialogue hit home.

The sound design and soundtrack are perfect condiments to the storytelling. The final fight could not have had better music. The violin persevering through the overwhelming distortion- and when you 'win'; the final duet is the perfect ending note for Mari and Sunny. Also, Sweetheart's theme is a BANGER btw.
I have infinite amounts of praise to give this game in it's story execution, and I can go second by second to analyze each detail that the developers put into each scene.
If you haven't played this game and read this review; then you need to close this website and install the game and play through it as blind as possible. The horror elements are implemented so well, the cold concepts and handling of grief and death is something I've only seen done as carefully as Persona 3. This is a game that will stay in the back of your mind for years to come; you'll come back to it and there will always be more to think about. You can truly tell this game was a passion project.

So please go play it or experience it however you can with as little information as possible, and make sure you have a box of tissues nearby.

long ass game. I criticize it, but it’s genuinely a 10/10 game.

Fixed the annoying bits of the og and updated the quality of life a lot. Gameplay is pretty easy by palace 4, but it doesn’t matter to me since the game is so long already I don’t want to be blocked by gameplay. The style is still revolutionary, the depth of mythology and parallels is brilliant, and the pacing remains amazing in keeping the hype throughout this 250+ hour long game.

The story is peak: still has some minor problems & contradictions within characters/motivations, but the new stuff they added is crazy.

Sumire plot twist is the best twist in the game; it’s a fundamental twist of her character which is so effective when you look back on her confidant story. They should’ve leaned into the uncanny valley side of her a bit more though, imo.

Akechi is now… one of the best (if not the best) character in the game? His confidant was really good, and now his betrayal actually means something to the player. When he comes back in 3rd semester; genuinely my favorite bits in the entire game. I wish we could choose who our navigator was for the remainder of the palace, because he is so fucking funny. Brilliant.

Maruki is the only competitor to Akechi as the best character in the game. His story, relatable motivations, realistic expression of intentions, all combined with the amazing voice acting of Billy Kametz all make for one of the best Persona antagonists in the franchise.

The 3rd semester is what everyone wanted P5 to lean into more; the gray morality and contemplation on what the Phantom Thieves were actually doing. This arc questions this straight up; how is what Maruki is doing different from the rest of them? If you could get rid of all pain; should you?
These questions are debated brilliantly between 1.) the character foils of Akechi, Maruki, Sumire, and Joker as well as 2.) the Thieve’s reflection upon breaking free from their desired reality.

A bit off topic, but my favorite bit in the game is the slow descent of Maruki’s reality. First it’s just a weird dream, then a vibrant haze in Joker’s vision, then HUMAN MORGANA- all before Joker walks downstairs where the audience can see the back of Wakaba. But we are in disbelief until her character sprite shows up- then everyone says “oh shit ; what?”. We see Akechi (and later Sumire) being the only cognizant people and suddenly this mystery has everyone intrigued. The whole story here is just wham plot twist wham plot twist, one after another, and I love it.

The execution of this palace is also genius. The music is perfect, and I don’t need to expand upon that I think we all know and agree. The research lab setup that is Lovecraftian and cultish at the same time. Then the second half where we see the garden of Eden- and Rumi is the apple’s core of Maruki’s motivations. It’s beautiful; even if that light puzzle made me want to shoot myself.

The ONLY major(ish) complaint I have is that the ending in Vanilla P5 was much better. I liked Maruki showing up as a taxi driver, but he should’ve been more of a passerby instead of the driving force behind Joker leaving. His friends doing that in og ending was much more impactful as a “look how far we’ve come” moment. Also Sumire didn’t offer like anything in that ending; I wish they chose a better last words for their interaction.
That Akechi tease at the end…. I’m mixed on. I think I like that they left it open-ended. My interpretation is that Akechi is 100% dead, and that Joker seeing him was some kind of reminiscence of their relationship & the metaverse, as his Phantom thief persona shows up right after. I don’t think it’s good if they left his character alive without some veryyyy specific interpretations that I think would thematically make sense