Persona 3 Reload shows there's still a novelty to balancing normal life and relationships with the duties of defeating shadows in the Dark Hour – a mysterious 25th hour where time stops as monstrous forces come out, humans turn into coffins, and your school transforms into a deranged 250-floor tower.

For me, the most potentially exciting changes to life outside of hunting Shadows were made inside the dorm that make it feel like the main character actually co-exists there with a half-dozen classmates. The rooftop, the kitchen, Fuuka's DVD player, and the bookshelf are all now available to use in one's free time for gardening, cooking, or watching movies, or reading with a friend or reading to improve your three character traits.

A physical collector's edition, dubbed the "Aigis Edition", comes with unique packaging, physical versions of the artbook and soundtrack, a large bust of the character Aigis, and vouchers for the DLC pack.[45] The PlayStation 4 version of the game offers a free upgrade path to the PlayStation 5 version, and the physical Xbox release supports the Smart Delivery function between Xbox One and Xbox Series X depending on where the game is installed.[46][47]

Reload removes the ability for the player to completely break Social Links with supporting characters as was possible in both Persona 3 and Persona 4 (2008), although the player is still able to reverse them through choosing the protagonist's dismissive responses to interactions.[7] A new social element will be introduced, that exists separately from Social Links. It is meant to contextualize supporting characters who weren't as prominent in previous iterations of Persona 3, through the inclusion of side-story arcs that will deepen the protagonist's relationship with them, which will also extend to the male party members due to the lack of dedicated Social Link stories for them.[oito][9][10]

Persona 3 was the first game in the Persona series to adopt this unorthodox gameplay formula, and sadly, some of it hasn’t aged well compared to its sequels or its PlayStation Portable counterpart, Persona 3 Portable.

This power is called a Persona, a manifestation of a person’s inner psyche that their user can command to perform devastating attacks or heal wounds. As a newly appointed member of S.E.E.S., your job is to destroy Shadows, rescue any ordinary humans who have been pulled into the Dark Hour, and explore the tower of Tartarus to discover why the Dark Hour and Shadows exist in the first place.

Also, thanks to all the quality-of-life improvements and new combat mechanics, Persona 3 Reload’s difficulty is much more lenient than the original game, even when played on the harder difficulty modes. While old-school fans of Persona 3 may be disappointed by this, I didn’t mind it as Persona 3 was only as difficult as it was because of the aforementioned Fatigue system and that you couldn’t control your AI-driven party, which tended to do inane things like waste healing items or attack enemies resistant to their special moves.

If my main character goes down and the other party members are still alive, then why should I not be given the option to revive them? After Soul Hackers 2 and Persona 5 Tactica ditched this rule and incorporated smarter and more logical penalties for not keeping the main character alive, I thought Atlus had finally decided to remove it from future mainline Persona titles.

Azusa Shimada serves as Persona 3 Reload's main character designer, with original artist Shigenori Soejima taking on a supervisory role. The two collaborated to refine the existing designs, as well as update the S.E.E.S. equipment when entering Tartarus. This includes a new armband, which was teased by game director Takuya Yamaguchi to have ties to a new mechanic during Shadow encounters, and a combat attire unique to every party member.

is an epic Wuxia open-world action–adventure RPG set in ancient China at the tenth century during the tumultuous era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom. Players will assume the role of a young sword master as they embark on a journey to uncover the mysteries of their own identity.

The character models are richly detailed, and the cutscenes and battle special effects animations are well-done and flashy, with vibrant and eye-catching environments. Tartarus, in particular, received the most significant visual enhancement, as each major section of the dungeon is now richly detailed with unique architecture, map layouts, and art styles to make them look more distinct, alleviating repetition while exploring them.

In the input field, type a question that could be answered with "yes" or "pelo." You can ask up to 20 questions before the game is over

All in all, my doubts about diving back into Persona 3 territory were shattered from this demo. Persona 3 Reload isn't a remake with a few alterations here and there; it's a sincerely thought-through updated game that can seemingly stand on its own two legs in the competitive Persona lineup.

Even the side characters you interact with through the game’s Social Link events get this treatment, as every major persona 3 reload gameplay Social Link event is now fully voiced for the first time in the Persona series.