I had initially missed out on Persona 3 Reload, the remake of the first, uh “modern-styled” Persona, initially released a whopping NINETEEN years ago. I’ve been wanting to give it a go, despite my reservations with the most recent game in the franchise, Persona 5. If Atlus wanted to Persona 5-ify an older game in the franchise, would that impact its pacing? I’ve always felt like Persona 5 took way too long to let me actually play the game, holding my hand for way too long, with the damn cat telling me to go to bed instead of letting me explore Tokyo in my free time. Is that the same with Persona 3 Reload, annoying cat no withstanding? And how well does the game run on the brand new Switch 2?

Stylish, lighthearted, and painfully edgelordish at the same time.

We’ve reviewed another version (as in, non-remade) of Persona 3 in the past. For the uninitiated, the extremely summarised version of the plot goes as follows: you play as one of a handful of high school students who live together in a dorm. They all study during the day, and partake in an extracurricular activity at night, one of being slayers of monsters that show up during the “Dark Hour”, a mysterious period after midnight, in each almost everyone is locked inside a coffin, unaware of what’s happening. You are not one of those people, and as a result, monsters want to attack you. Those who get attacked by monsters develop a maddening depression called “Apathy Syndrome”.

Again, you are not one of those helpless people. Since Igor (the Uncle Fester-looking son of a gun who shows in all Persona games) greets you right from the getgo, you realize you are someone who can summon and tame Personas, just like your dorm mates. And how do you summon said Personas, you might be asking? Oh, no biggie, you just aim a special pistol to your head and pull the trigger. C’mon guys, it was the height of emo popularity back when this game was originally released. Edgelord imagery like that was all the rage back then. You had to be there.

Same. I hope they made a turn-based JRPG out of it. Could you imagine?

One thing that was a unique point in the original versions of Persona 3, and still is in Persona 3 Reload, is the fact that basically all monster-hunting and combat-related stuff is centered around a single dungeon, Tartarus. A single, 250+ floor dungeon, by the way, with randomly generated rooms and floors, always ensuring that you will never experience the same Dark Hour session twice. That is one of the things that surprised me the most about Persona 3 (and Persona 3 Reload for that matter): the fact that I didn’t feel disappointed with the fact there is just one dungeon to explore. Furthermore, the way the game is designed, giving me time to both explore and do my social simulation activities without ever clashing my schedules.

It almost feels like Persona 3 Reload is the opposite of Persona 5 in terms of its gameplay-story balance. It doesn’t take long for you to be allowed to explore Tartarus for the first couple dozen floors (there will always be story-based roadblocks), and schedule up to two social activities per day, way before the plot even properly begins. For the first month or so, there was literally no plot whatsoever – there was a premise, but the only objective was to explore what little of Tartarus was available. If I wanted to make bank by doing part-time jobs at a café, studying like your average Japanese student, or woo the ladies at my school, I’d be able to do so, and still have time to grind my way through this nightmarish dungeon with ease.

Sure, congrats on being able to use ray tracing on a portable game… but not at the cost of the framerate.

I won’t lie – at first, I was a bit annoyed with how the plot was unfolding, or better yet, not unfolding. But to be fair, once I got hooked on the gameplay loop, I started caring less and less about it. Persona 3 Reload would always introduce me to a new activity, character, or date-specific event even when there was no plot-related stuff going on. A new social link, a new place to explore, a new activity, and so on. Everything always accompanied by some excellent voice acting, impeccable writing, and each and every area (be it at school, during combat, or just when exploring Tartarus) featuring some of the catchiest music this franchise has ever seen. And if you know Persona, you know that’s a monumentally high bar.

Once the plot picks up, things become intense and always exciting to unveil. There is always the interest balance between having to deal with your student life during the day and saving the world during the evening, and Persona 3 Reload does a good job at always giving characters some time to shine with their development, introduction of new people to interact with, and so on. A lot better than Persona 5, for sure.

I wish the game had more anime cutscenes.

As for the combat, it’s basic Persona: you’ve played one, you’ve played them all. I still have my gripes regarding the pure nonsense that is trying to find for an enemy’s weakness (I legit think that Digimon Story: Time Stranger does a VASTLY better and more logical job in this regard), but once you figure them out, once you are beefed up enough, mowing down enemies with ease whilst listening to the equally catchy battle and victory tunes won’t ever feel repetitive.

Now, the final question is: does Persona 3 Reload run well on the Switch 2? Why did Atlus even decide for an exclusive Switch 2 port when, say, Persona 5 Royal is readily available for its predecessor? That part might actually be the most disappointing aspect of it, because, sure, Persona 3 Reload is great, and it runs well enough on this system, but I honestly feel it could have been so much better.

Yes fellas, it is THAT easy!

By that, I meant that the Switch 2 port of Persona 3 Reload suffers from the same issue as the Switch 2 port of Star Wars Outlaws: it only has one visual setting, and said setting mandates the usage of ray tracing. While I still think it’s impressive that a portable as thin as my pinky has enough horsepower to perform such visual operations, let’s be honest, was it even necessary? Better yet, was it necessary for it to be mandatory? Persona 3 Reload is a pretty good-looking game, but this is not the kind of game that needs realistic lighting effects. It’s meant to look like an anime, any semblance of realistic post-processing effects just mess with my sense of immersion, to be honest.

Of course, the mandatory ray tracing directly impacts the game’s performance. It’s set to a maximum of 30 frames per second, but when exploring Tartarus, a place full of lighting effects and reflections, the framerate can drop a bit more as well. It’s not the worst thing in the world in the sense that, gameplay-wise, Persona 3 Reload isn’t a game that requires 60 frames per second, but those drops are really annoying, and the overall lack of an option for a performance mode for those who simply don’t care about ray tracing (myself included) is a serious disappointment. I don’t want for ray tracing to be a mandatory option in games on a portable. At the most, make it optional. Give me sexy framerates over those effects any day of the week.

Hey, when did my anime JRPG get transported into an HR Giger fever dream?

Annoying visual issues aside, which I hope can be patched with a future update, I had a great time playing Persona 3 Reload on the Switch 2. It’s an odd case of a Persona game where the gameplay kicks off right away, but the plot takes a while to show up. Once it does, you’re in for a ride. Not even the fact it basically has a single dungeon bored me. I had enough time to explore dungeons, grind stats, fuse spirits, and partake on my daily school activities, in a gameplay loop that felt perfect for a portable. Add in the great characters, writing, and music, and what you have here is yet another banger from Atlus, one that will please both fans and newcomers to the series alike.

Persona 3 Reload is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Switch 2.

A copy of Persona 3 Reload was provided by the publisher.