What’s old is new again; turn-based JRPG Persona 3 Reload — a ground up remake of Persona 3 — has just launched for the Nintendo Switch 2, and finally the full game is available on portable consoles.
The original Persona 3 launched on the PS2 in 2007 (in the west) and a few years later was remastered for the PlayStation Portable. However, Persona 3 Portable was heavily abridged and altered mechanically to fit onto the smaller UMD’s for the PSP; before Reload, you couldn’t play the full version of the game on the go.
READ MORE: Why Persona 3 Reload Should Be Your First JRPG
As someone who loves long JRPGs, it can be hard to fit 70 – 100 hour games into a busy schedule. But with handheld consoles like the Switch, I’m able to use my commute to work to chip away at them. The increased hardware power of the Switch 2 opens it up to bigger games that require more processing power, meaning I can play more of the games I love without too much of a compromise on graphics and performance.
If you’re unfamiliar, Persona 3 Reload follows a group of high school students, as they unravel the secret of the 25th hour of the day, the ‘Dark hour’… Classic Persona stuff. They battle shadow monsters with powerful entities of their own called Personas, summoning them by putting a gun to their head and pulling the trigger! It’s a bit more confronting than tearing off your mask in Persona 5 or even ripping out your own heart in Metaphor: ReFantazio!
READ MORE: Review | Metaphor: ReFantazio ‘A Game Of Thrones’ (PS5)
When you’re not kicking shadow butt, you’re attending school, improving your attributes through classes and activities, and developing deep bonds with NPCs around the city. Strong bonds help create stronger new personas when fusing two existing personas together.
Graphically, Reload brings Persona 3 in line with Persona 5, adds various quality-of-life upgrades, and revamps mechanics from the original. There’s also exquisite anime cutscenes, a fantastic voice cast, and a soundtrack full of hip-hop, jazz and J-pop.
READ MORE: Review | Absolum: ‘Run It Back’ (PS5)
I’ve been relatively impressed with the performance of Persona 3 Reload. Whether playing docked or handheld, the game looks great. While I’ve had a couple of fps drops in handheld mode, mostly it’s been running at a smooth 30fps, which is plenty for a turn-based game. Atlus have also confirmed that they’re working on a patch to improve framerate issues.
Persona 3 Reload is out now on Nintendo Switch 2.
Quest Daily was supplied with a copy of Persona 3 Reload thanks to the publisher.
