Persona 3 Reload review: Close to perfect RPG remake

For such an impressive game, personality 3 Its release history is a bit complicated. It first launched on the PS2 in 2006 and ushered in a whole new era for the franchise, mixing an RPG with a life sim, allowing players to live the days of a normal high school student. Was tasked with balancing dungeon crawling with daily. That release was followed by a special edition – called FES – which added an epilogue that ran for 30 hours. Then, the game was remade for the PSP. persona 3 portableWhich was re-released last year on PC and modern consoles.

While the base game is great, there are slight compromises in each version. FES has the most complete story, but it is missing streamlined gameplay and the option to play as a female character. portable, portableIt, meanwhile, adds a playable character but limits world exploration to a series of menus and removes most of the beautifully animated cutscenes. and now we have persona 3 reloadwhich is a complete remake so close To be the definitive version of the game.

First, let’s back up a bit. personality 3 It takes place in a world called the Dark Hour, a time after midnight where monsters called Shadows roam and most people sleep blissfully unaware in coffins. But certain special people not only remain awake during this time but also have the ability to summon beings called Personas to help them fight in battle. The game follows a group of high school students who use this power to traverse a never-ending tower called Tartarus in order to learn more about the Dark Hour and the spreading pain known as Depression Syndrome. To know more about its relation.

It’s a dark, grim game – did I mention that teenagers shoot themselves in the head with magical guns to summon personas? – but it also balances it with the mundanity of regular life. Your evenings are spent avoiding the shadows in Tartarus, but during the day, you go to school, hang out with friends, work part-time jobs, and more. These two sides nourish each other. Eating mystery burgers will boost your courage, while getting close to your MMO guild mates can strengthen your personality in battle.

It’s a strange and fascinating mix that turned Persona In a beloved franchise. reload Don’t mess with it; It refines things. The graphics and menus have been updated to resemble the incredibly slick personality 5 (albeit with significantly darker edges), and things like combat have been streamlined to be faster and more intuitive. I particularly like the new “shift” mechanic that lets you switch characters after attacking at the right moment, adding an extra layer of strategy and speeding you through regular battles. reload One of the game’s more questionable sequences has also been reworked, and – thankfully – more things to do and see inside Tartarus have been added so that dungeon crawling doesn’t become so dull.

In short: It takes the original game and makes it better. But the key there is the word “original”. reload Only the original PS2 version is included personality 3, meaning no FES expansion and no playable female lead. In every other way, it’s an improvement portable, especially because having 3D space to explore is an important part of the game’s worldbuilding, giving it a real sense of place. But it’s disappointing that this isn’t quite the final version. personality 3 It may seem so at first glance – even if it is the best overall.

persona 3 reload Available on Xbox, PlayStation and PC.