Persona 3 Reload

14 of 15 markets; the rest we haven't asked for this title, not markets where it is unavailable.

14 on sale1 answered “not sold”0 we did not ask

The 1 “not sold” market is read from the Steam price pass of Aug 31: that day the store answered for this game elsewhere and gave no price there. The 14 priced markets are the same rows as the table above — each the latest price we hold, dated here when it is older than that pass. The 0 marked “not asked” were not put to this store at all — either it has no storefront there or we do not collect it yet, and neither is a statement about the game. A refusal is a refusal on one day; a store can list a title again tomorrow.

Latest in each market: best JP #11, worst UK #87 · 13 markets collected

US · last 30 days

Matched by title — a reused name can pair the wrong games. * is a critic aggregate. Prices and positions are each store's United States storefront; Epic charts worldwide. Audience and Score too, except Steam's, which is worldwide.

Hours played at review time, across 3.4K reviews with recorded playtime.

positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up

> I can see why they recommend playing this one first ## Why - The first iteration of the Persona we know & love, but shinier - Some standout character moments & solid overall plot - Shadow variety/designs are pretty good - Theurgies are a cool gimmick; especially for the protagonist - No mascot! ## Why Not - I felt much less connected to the team/social links than Royal - Less personal stakes - Very ambiguous ending; explanation locked behind a DLC only purchasable in a bundle - Mostly Persona 5 Royal exists & I played it first ## Impressions Reload is a great game in a vacuum and a good one no matter the context, but it struggles to get out from under Royal's looming shadow. It has the series' signature blend of JRPG dungeon crawling, creature collecting and high school social life; no surprise given this was the first of the modern Persona games. It set the template 4 and 5 followed to great success, which is a fantastic accomplishment but also its biggest weakness. As the 'first' game of the series it misses out on years worth of polish in storytelling, writing compelling characters, dungeon design and additional gameplay systems. While Royal pulled me into every arc with comically evil but realistic villains who were out to get my friends, Reload's "boss of them month" formula provided more nebulous, "lots of people will maybe die" threats. Social Links were uniformly worse than Confidants with pretty basic stories and relatively bland/one-note characters. It's absolutely crazy to me that Royal has basically Tartarus IN ADDITION to per-antagonist palaces reflecting their unique warped desires. And despite shadows offering some visual variety compared to just fighting the same Personas you can use, the loss of negotiations is definitely felt. Rounding out my complaints is the ambiguous ending only clarified by a DLC (only purchasable in a bundle with other stuff you don't want) which removes half the game and sends you on another tens of hours grinding Tartarus with no breaks for regular life. With all these complaints, why is this still a positive review? Because despite the unavoidable comparisons to Royal I had a good time with Reload; the core Persona experience holds up even when reduced to this nascent state. If I'd started here rather than with 5 I'd almost certainly have a much higher opinion of it, and I suggest you do just that if you think you're at all likely to play the whole series. From what I've heard of 4 following release order in your series playthrough should provide a smooth escalation in quality; especially with Revival dropping early next year. Reload is absolutely worth your time, just don't cheapen the experience by splaying Royal first if at all possible.