Persona 3 Reload (PS4)

Wunderschöne Optik, perfekt geremixter Soundtrack, ein verbessertes Kampfsystem und ein endlich aktualisierter, wenn auch immer noch in Teilen dröger, Trip durch den Tartarus lassen wirklich wenig Wünsche offen, den Trip an die Gekkoukan-Schule anzutreten. Schade bleibt nur weiterhin das Fehlen der weiblichen Protagonistin und des Zusatzkapitels „The Answer“.

Persona 3 Reload is a good game. Its gameplay changes help make it accessible to a newer audience. The combat’s genuinely a blast and helps dungeon-crawling be less of a slog. It just comes with the baggage of leaving behind incredible inclusions and not updating certain areas that needed it most or not going far enough with updates. It’s odd to say, but I felt sad playing Reload. Not for anything occurring within it. Rather, it reminded me that I had fallen out of love with Atlus. If anything, it’s fitting that Persona 3 Reload helped me realize that. Much of it is about learning to move on, and I’m going to do just that.

Persona 3 Reload succeeds in elevating an unforgettable story with smart combat changes and drastically improved visuals.

Persona 3 Reload is a dream come true for Persona fans. With far more than just a visual uplift, this is very much the best possible edition of the game, even if it can’t quite be called ‘definitive’.

Even with some outdated and repetitive elements inherited through the 18-year-old structure of the original, Persona 3 Reload is one of the best entries in one of the most acclaimed modern role-playing franchises in video games.

Reload adds welcome modernisations to the wonderfully deadly coming-of-age story that captured hearts in 2006, though visual tweaks undermine the thematic coherence.

Despite the occasional stumble, though, Persona 3 is oftentimes tragic and heavy, but also earnest and hopeful. And it’s these little moments of brightness and warmth that make it feel special. Persona 3 Reload is an outstanding and worthy remake of a game that’s proven it can withstand the test of time. Welcome back to the dorm.