Persona 3 Reload review for Nintendo Switch 2

System: Switch 2
Release date: October 23, 2025
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus

The Persona series has had something of a resurgence on Nintendo consoles in recent years. In 2022, Persona 5 Royal released on Nintendo Switch, and it was eventually followed by Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden in early 2023. Several years later, Atlus has now brought Persona 3 Reload to Nintendo Switch 2. It’s a full remake of the original Persona 3 with graphics, audio, and gameplay more in line with Persona 5. It’s also absolutely excellent – as you might expect, it’s very slightly compromised on Nintendo Switch 2, but it remains perfectly playable and a fantastic JRPG nonetheless.

If you’re reading this review, you probably fit into one of two categories: you’ve already played Persona 3 Reload and are wondering if a double dip is worth it, or you played Persona 5 Royal on Nintendo Switch and are wondering if this one is just as good. To address the first group, Persona 3 Reload runs at 30 frames per second on Nintendo Switch 2. That much isn’t so bad, but some players noticed frame stuttering in the game’s early builds, which is still there in the final release – though it should be patched later. Basically, Persona 3 Reload doesn’t seem to draw its frames at a consistent rate – there aren’t any frame drops, per se, but the pacing is a little bit off. If you play Persona 3 Reload on Nintendo Switch 2 but don’t know it has frame pacing issues, you may very well not notice them at all. But going into it knowing the problem is there, it is a little bit noticeable. That being said, I’m someone who is very particular about resolution and frame rate, and I don’t think this is a terribly big deal – obviously the port could have been done better (Nintendo Switch 2 can certainly run this game at 60 frames per second), but for what it is, it really isn’t too bad. If you’re still unsure, there’s a demo of Persona 3 Reload you can play for free. Check it out, and if the demo’s performance doesn’t bother you, then the full game won’t either.

Performance aside: if you loved Persona 5 Royal, you will absolutely love Persona 3 Reload as well. If you’re even the slightest bit interested in Persona games, I’d highly recommend diving into this one spoiler-free. There’s a ton of content on offer, and with customizable difficulty options, you can choose to sail through the story at your own pace or create tough challenges for yourself. Battles are very similar to Persona 5, as you might expect, and they’re as strategic and addictive as ever. It’s fun to shift between party members to strike enemy weaknesses, and the animations and menus make fights feel like they’re of high quality. Unlike Persona 5, however, winning a battle gives you a chance to activate Shuffle Time, which lets you choose an extra bonus – for example, you can choose to increase the experience you earned from the fight, or you can choose to receive a new Persona or extra money. This makes battles feel much more worthwhile.

Just like all Persona games, there’s also a heavy emphasis on time management. After going to school for the day, you’re given two time slots – after school and the evening – to do pretty much whatever you like. Most of the time, you’ll be hanging out and establishing social links with confidants. Persona 3 Reload has solid confidants across the board – almost all of them have their own character arcs that you’ll see unfold over the course of the game, and spending time with other characters gives Personas you fuse an extra boost. While we’re talking about confidants, Persona 3 Reload also has good voice acting that makes the characters more believable and easier to relate to. If you’re a seasoned Persona player, you’ll have no trouble managing your time and choosing your activities carefully. If you’re still new to the series, you might find it a tad overwhelming to figure out what’s best to do with your time without a guide. That’s true of all Persona games, to an extent.

One thing you’ll notice about Persona 3 Reload right off the bat is its visually appealing menus and art styles. Persona 5 is well-known for its striking menus and art, but I’d actually say Persona 3 Reload is at least on par if not better outright. Even simple things like the item sorting menu is stylish, which helps give the game that high-quality feeling despite its minor performance hiccups on Nintendo Switch 2. The music is excellent, too – for me personally, it’s tough for me to discern the lyrics without looking them up, but that didn’t stop numerous tracks in the game from getting stuck in my head. Color Your Night, the track that plays while you’re out and about during the evening, is particularly catchy – it wasn’t in the original Persona 3, so it’s exclusive to the remake.

Speaking of the original Persona 3, Reload makes many changes to it beyond the obvious graphical and audio upgrades. Characters have new side stories separate from their social links, there are new activities to take part in around the dorm, the network feature from Persona 5 has been added, and Shifting has been added to battles (which work the same as Baton Passes from Persona 5). Furthermore, party members no longer become fatigued when exploring Tartarus. If you don’t know this already, Tartarus is a plot-relevant area where you’ll be spending much of your time. It’s a huge tower with tons of floors, and over the course of the game you’ll have to climb it. Each floor has treasure chests and Shadows to defeat. The gameplay here is solid, but in moderation – the areas are fairly similar to each other in terms of visuals, so you might tire of it after exploring 20 floors in a row.

There’s one more thing to note here: Persona 3 Reload does not include the option to play as a female protagonist. This creates an odd situation where no version of Persona 3 includes all of its associated content – Persona 3 Portable does have the female protagonist, but obviously it doesn’t have any of Reload’s improvements. I’d still say that Reload is easily the definitive version of the game, but it’s a shame that it can’t count as a full replacement due to that glaring omission. The female protagonist route did include different social links and would have required a ton of additional voice acting, so it’s slightly understandable as to why it’s not here.

Persona 3 Reload is a fantastic JRPG that will provide well over 60 hours of content if you see it all the way through. The Nintendo Switch 2 port isn’t perfect in terms of performance, but it doesn’t detract much from the overall experience. If you’re a fan of JRPGs, Persona 3 Reload is a must-play. Its presentation, gameplay, and story all work together to form an excellent remake and an essential experience for any Persona fan.

Persona 3 Reload copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.