5/5 ★ – satchelthegamecritic's review of Persona 3 Reload.

I’m just gonna cut right to the chase and keep this completely spoiler free; Persona 3 Reload is an absolute masterpiece, and is easily my favorite Persona game, and maybe my favorite game of all time (I do NOT say this lightly). I think this is gonna go down as one of the best remakes of all time due to how beautifully it walks this game design tightrope of maintaining what made the original game so beloved, while also feeling like a true follow up to Persona 5. As far as I am concerned, Persona 3 Reload is the ultimate way to experience the Persona 3 story. Even without The Answer Epilogue, (likely to be DLC later due to how much it needs to be worked on), and the Female Protagonist Route, Reload manages to make the core story the best it’s ever been from both a design perspective, and a narrative one. All the new story content that was added significantly improves the story in quite literally every way, and it VASTLY outweighs not having FEMC and the answer in the game. Characters that were underwritten have been given MUCH more. The social systems have been completely reworked to be more engaging and rewarding, while also giving you more time to hangout with your friends. Add all this to the fact that nearly EVERY social event is now fully voiced, and you get a much more enriching, potent, and immersive narrative that makes the original game obsolete by comparison. Every single design flaw of the original game, (of which there were too many to list), has either been reworked to be more fun and engaging, or been removed completely. Every quality of life thing you could want in a remake of this game, it’s here. All the new combat mechanics are so damn good that it's gonna make going back to older Persona games REALLY hard (Yes, even Persona 5). The combat strikes this perfect balance of maintaining the difficulty and challenge of the original Persona 3, while adapting the more aggressive combat style of Persona 5. Reload also adds new gameplay mechanics that are a first for the series, and these new mechanics give the player so much more control over the battles compared to previous entries. All this together makes my favorite combat system in the Persona series. Add this amazing combat to an EXTREMELY addicting reworked dungeon crawling system, and you have an incredibly engaging gameplay loop that left me struggling to put the game down. So, take all this amazing new stuff I’ve mentioned, and add it on top of everything that was already beloved from the original. The realistically flawed characters, the universally relatable and existential themes, the darker tone, the unique atmosphere and mythology, etc. All of it is here, and it’s here without feeling like Persona 5 with a Persona 3 coat of paint. It feels like Persona 3, while also feeling like a new modern Persona entry, and it’s because of all this that this is easily one of my favorite pieces of art… period. Reload is an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and one that I cannot recommend enough. 10/10 A Must Play Masterpiece