Familiar RPG mechanics are made all the more enjoyable by some challenging new enemies that test your mastery and ask you to engage with Reloads combat systems creatively. As you ascend the randomly generated floors of Tartarus, where all of Persona 3's dungeon crawling takes place, minibosses will meet you at a steady pace. Sometimes these foes don't even have weaknesses, so you need to create your own openings with buffs, debuffs, and status effects that can turn the tide in your favor.

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 second-year who transferred to Gekkoukan High School in the spring, returning to the island he used to live on as a child.

This was the first entry in the Persona series to use the school calendar system and social sim elements as a foundation to move through its story, planning activities during the day and going dungeon crawling at night.

Interacting with the Great Clock will allow two of your party members, currently not in your active party, to level up to the main character’s current level, severely cutting down the time required to level grind back-up party members.

My biggest and most personal gripe with Persona 3 Reload is that if the main character falls in battle, it's game over, and you have to begin again from your last save point or restart the battle you died in from the beginning. This ‘game over’ condition has been a mainstay in the Persona series (and its big brother franchise, Shin Megami Tensei) and I’m disappointed to see it is still here as it’s a nonsensical and cheap way to artificially increase the difficulty. It goes against the ‘power of friendship’ message the Persona series is based on.

I had only just played Persona 3 Portable in the last few years, so that hundred-hour saga felt relatively fresh in my mind going into my demo of Persona 3 Reload. I was excited to hang out with all my old pals, but a bit skeptical that it would be different enough to warrant the time investment all over again.

You will earn 5 points per note (15 points for 3 notes) depending on the action you take, and to rank up, you need to earn a certain amount of points. If you have a Persona in your deck with the same arcana the Social Link is, you will get a 1.51 multiplier to any points you earn. It is highly suggested to take advantage of this to rank up as fast as possible.

Next up we have the addition of new combat mechanics such as Shift, which functions like the Baton Pass from Persona 5 Royal. After landing a critical hit or hitting an enemy’s weaknesses, you can activate the Shift mechanic to swap to another party member even if their turn has already passed to allow them to attack again.

Persona 3 Reload has an emotionally gripping tale that will pull on your heartstrings and a cast of complex heroes you will love and villains you will love to hate.

Additionally, for those who are looking for fearsome adversaries to reach an even greater glory, they persona 3 reload gameplay can also look forward to player-versus-player battles that will go down in the history books if they so choose to wage them.

Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn more

Returning tracks have been rearranged with new singer Azumi Takahashi and I’ve grown to love her renditions. At the same time, there’s something comforting in hearing the deep vocals and distinct flow of rapper Lotus Juice again. For Reload, the brand-new songs not only fit wonderfully alongside the originals, they’ve quickly become some of the series’ best tunes, which I don’t say lightly given its track record.

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