Copyright futurefive
Even though the Persona series has been going on since 1996, the first Persona game I was introduced to was the original release of Persona 5 back in 2017. The story and characters were so great; it easily became my favourite PS4 video game of all time! Due to my fondness for Persona 5, I went back and played Persona 4 Golden on the PS Vita. While the game's story and characters were just as good as Persona 5, the latter game is still my favourite of the series so far. Thanks to the popularity of Persona 5, it seems as if publisher Atlus is listening to the huge demand for more Persona games. While we still have to wait for Persona 6, we now have a remake of Persona 3 called Persona 3 Reload. Let's dive in and see what the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Persona 3 Reload has to offer. Since Persona 3 was released on the PS2 back in 2006, the visuals have not held up too well in 2025. The game only ran at 30fps, and maxed out at 480p. The game was released prior to the HD era, so the game looks bad running on modern TVs. Thankfully, Persona 3 Reload is a full remake, making the graphics more in line with today's era. The character models are much clearer now, and the environments are more beautiful compared to the original version. However, the sad part about Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 is that it's visually inferior to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions that came out in 2024. While the PS5 and Xbox versions of the game run at 60fps, the Switch 2 version only maxes out at 30fps. Some users have noted frame rate drops for the Switch 2 version as well. Hopefully, these performance issues can be improved with future game patches in the near future. Not to mention, the Switch 2 version lacks the reflective ray-tracing graphics of the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions. If you own a PS5 or Xbox, it's better to play the game on these versions if you want the best visual quality. New features Aside from the new 3D visuals and improved UI, there are other new features that make this remake much better than the versions released for the PS2 and PSP back in the day. One of the better improvements is that more scenes in the game have fully voiced dialogue now. You can now hear more characters speak for the first time in either English or Japanese. Persona 3 Reload also adds newer story scenes and animated cutscenes to further flesh out the game's world and characters. Lastly, the music has been rerecorded and remixed, with some new tracks added to the soundtrack as well. Improved gameplay mechanics Some quality-of-life features from Persona 5 have been added to Persona 3 Reload to make the game less frustrating. The best part is that the remake now allows you to control all your party members. In the original game, the AI would make the choices for you. Speaking of combat, the entire action takes place in a strange, demonic world called 'Tartarus'. In the original game, there was an annoying mechanic where your characters get tired and fatigued while exploring this area. This would affect their performance during battles. Thankfully, the fatigue system has been removed in Persona 3 Reload, so you can explore the area as long as you want. Characters can also attack more than once if they exploit a weakness in an enemy, too. The remake also adds fast travel both in the real world and inside of Tartarus. This saves you a lot of time walking to the area manually, like you did in the original versions of the game. Some flaws Aside from the performance issues on Switch 2, Persona 3 Reload does have some flaws of its own. For one thing, I can be really repetitive exploring the world of 'Tartarus'. All of the floors look the same, and there are a total of 260 floors to explore! Persona 3 Portable allowed players to pick a female main character, but this feature has been removed in Persona 3 Reload for some reason. You can only play as a male character in the remake. Players who don't like turn-based combat systems might not like this game either. There is no dodge mechanic to avoid enemy attacks, and sometimes battles can feel unfair. For example, some enemies attack at random times even though the whole hero team hasn't had their turn yet. Overall conclusion Persona 3 Reload is still an excellent game, but the performance issues on Switch 2 might entice some players to play the game on other systems instead. Still, it's an excellent remake even though the gameplay can get repetitive at times. Verdict: 8.0/10
