Persona 3 Reload (Switch 2) Review

Since the widespread success of Persona 5, many fans have waited eagerly for the remake of this 2006 game and after its release on other platforms last year it’s now finally out on the Switch 2. Persona 3 Reload is an impressive remake of a beloved RPG that sticks very faithfully to the original game and its structure – high‑school life simulation during the day and dungeon crawling by night – but brings with it a whole host of improvements in visuals, music and voice acting, gameplay, and general quality of life additions. 

From a purely visual standpoint, Persona 3 Reload is remarkable, using the Unreal Engine 4 to deliver high‑definition character models, smooth, clear lighting, and a UI that is distinctly modern and clearly inspired by Persona 5. The original chibi-style characters were overhauled and now feature more realistic proportions, sharper features, and a deliciously crispy cel‑shaded look. But the stand out for me is the animations, they are absolutely beautiful. 

Throughout the game there are many 2D animated cutscenes that are extremely high quality, and there are also animated elements during battles that, combined with the 3D animation and special effects, completely blew me away. It is clear that great care was taken during this part of the production and it pays off tremendously — I never got tired of watching the characters summon their persona or go all in for a team attack. 

Unfortunately, the visuals in Tartarus – this game’s dungeon, similar to Palaces and Mementos in P5 – are a huge letdown, they are very flat, repetitive and overall lack the detail and depth seen in the rest of the game. Considering you spend a decent amount of time in Tartarus, I wish they had refreshed it a little more as it does feel comparatively neglected.

Here’s where the game becomes a more mixed experience: the gameplay loop. In Persona 3 Reload the gameplay loop consists of 3 main sections: School, Afterschool activities, and Tartarus. There are many ways to switch things up in the afterschool activities — you have school clubs, shopping, people to meet and friends to hang out with, and these are great. I genuinely enjoyed the wide variety of things I could do outside of school. 

However, the story is very slow paced, almost painfully so in some sections, which is deliberate and I can appreciate why these decisions were made. My issue is mainly that I often finished Tartarus in a night or two which then left me with only afterschool activities to do. There are multiple night activities to do instead of going to Tartarus but usually you can’t do any social links at night. I was left essentially grinding my stats at night or levelling up my team and personas in Tartarus instead of actually enjoying the activities. 

I think having the option to increase some social links at night would have solved this issue for me and made things feel less dull and repetitive. Quality of life improvements like fast travelling, being able to clearly see who wants to spend time with you or where your social links are, do improve the daily life section and make it less frustrating to navigate. 

Speaking of the slow story, strap yourself in for the long haul with this one. If you’re familiar with RPGs you’ll know that they’re often very long games that require tens of hours to complete and Persona 3 Reload is no different. It takes quite a while before the story really gets going — for me it was over 20 hours before things got really interesting. That’s not to say that the beginning was disinteresting, I was very intrigued by the story and events that happened, there was just very little of it for so many hours of play time. 

The early game feels more like an after-school simulator with the occasional monster to fight and a mystery that’s brought up sometimes. The pace intends to let the player ease into the world, appreciate the breathing room between large events or story beats, and slowly build the threat and challenges the characters face. For me, it fell short of those intentions in the beginning, but as the story progressed and more characters were introduced it felt much better paced — I just had to be very patient to get to that. I also think this game would be great for newcomers to the series as the pacing does allow you to really grasp all the facets of the game before you need to be good at them.

Persona 3 Reload is a visually impressive remake that honours the original in many ways and enhances it in presentation. The graphics and animation are among the best the series has delivered so far, giving new life to a classic. However, if you’re someone who values brisk pacing, rapid story progression, or immediate action, you may find yourself frustrated with how slowly things progress early on. The payoff was worth it for me as an enjoyer of the series and the genre, and I had a great time playing Persona 3 for the first time. I definitely recommend it to fans of Persona 5 who may not have played earlier entries in the series.

Rating: 3.5/5