In 2024, I revisited Tatsumi Port Island after a 10-year break since I’d last rolled credits in Persona 3 Portable… for the fourth or fifth time, I couldn’t say. I reviewed Persona 3 Reload for Twinfinite and thought it was a fantastic remake of one of the best (and most formative for me) JRPGs I’d ever played, despite some of the changes Atlus made that weren’t necessarily for the better. The only drawback? It wasn’t portable.
When Atlus announced and released the Persona 3 Reload Switch 2 port late last year, it was widely regarded as a generally acceptable port, if a bit lazy. The game was locked to 30fps, even while docked, and the framerate itself could be a little inconsistent regardless of whether you were playing handheld or docked. Atlus has since released a patch to address those issues though, and I can now say with confidence that this is the definitive way to experience Persona 3 Reload.
Let’s start with the good stuff. The game now features a Performance Mode when docked, allowing you to enjoy 60fps on your television screen. It’s still locked to 30fps in handheld — which is how I primarily play — but it’s at least consistent, with no visible frame drops. Add in the fact that it runs at 1080p even in handheld mode, and you’ve got a seriously good-looking 100-hour JRPG on your hands. With all these technical specs in place, playing Persona 3 Reload on the Switch 2 is a dream, and I’ve got no complaints on that front.
I kid you not, I spent a good hour just shuffling my way through the redone menus, marveling at how smooth everything felt. I spent time walking through the environments, studying the character models, entering and exiting instanced areas, the works. I talked to everyone and scrutinized the character art. I timed how long it took to open up the save menu and save my game. From a technical perspective, Persona 3 Reload is pretty much flawless.
The Switch 2’s handheld battery life is still pretty abysmal, and I found I was able to squeeze a little three hours of playtime on a 90% charge. Not great, but not a deal-breaker either. For my purposes, I loved being able to hop in and out of the game as I pleased. Maybe play through a couple of school days before putting the Switch 2 down to do something else.
But what about the rest of it? If this is your first foray into Atlus’ Persona series, is Persona 3 Reload a good place to start? Or should you think about playing Persona 5 Royal first? Or maybe you should just wait for Persona 4 Revival to come out instead?
As someone who strongly believes Persona 5 is the series’ weakest showing since its move towards the daily calendar/social sim system, you really can’t go wrong with Persona 3 Reload. There are some changes here that won’t sit well with some fans, but newcomers should feel right at home. The most egregious change involves the exclusion of the female playable character who was introduced in Persona 3 Portable, with her route bringing new Social Links with characters you couldn’t bond with before. It’s a shame that this couldn’t be included in Reload, but in all honesty, unless you really love the male party members like Junpei and Akihiko, you’re not missing all that much.
Besides, Persona 3 Reload does introduce new Linked Episodes — small social events and cutscenes centered around said male party members — to help soothe troubled waters. Some may say that this isn’t the definitive way to experience Persona 3, but I’d argue otherwise. Combined the Linked Episodes (and other small changes and additions to help enhance the dorm life aspect) with the improved battle system and souped up graphics, and Reload becomes pretty difficult to beat in my view.
So, back to the newcomers. If you don’t already know, Persona 3 Reload puts you in the shoes of a teenage boy who’s just transferred to Gekkoukan High on Tatsumi Port Island. Soon after he arrives, he notices a bunch of strange things, like people mysteriously transforming into coffins at midnight and monsters (called Shadows) start to show up.
In true JRPG fashion, he isn’t alone, and is soon joined by fellow high schoolers to form an after-school club called SEES to take down these Shadows and explore a mysterious tower called Tartarus that shows up during the Midnight Hour. Battles are conducted via turn-based affairs, with each party member able to make use of Personas to utilize special skills and abilities. When you’re not exploring Tartarus, you’ll be spending your days in school and around town, interacting with NPCs and bonding with them, which also yields battle-related benefits. And yes, there is romance.
Persona 3 popularized this style of dungeon-crawling/social sim RPG, and Reload polishes that formula to a shine. The party members are genuinely well-written, and the story strikes a fine balance between its darker themes (think teen bullying, suicide, just to name a couple) and its more lighthearted, slice-of-life moments, resulting in one of the most moving JRPGs I’ve ever played. With the Switch 2 port, fans can finally experience Persona 3 Reload the way it was meant to be played — under the sheets during the Dark Hour, jabbing away at your screen and blearily wiping your eyes as you save the world with the power of friendship.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on Switch 2.
