Persona 3 Reload

The fact of the matter is that Persona 3 was a masterpiece in 2006, and remains a masterpiece in 2024. (For all that we wish Atlus had chosen to include the new content from either the Portable edition, or updated re-release Persona 3: FES, in this fancy new version; alas.) Those who missed the first game once upon a time, but who fell in love with Persona 4 or 5, will find themselves in for a dark, sometimes somber treat: Wonderfully written, craftily designed, and featuring a soundtrack that remains somewhere close to best-in-class, it makes you feel every flip of the calendar page, every cruel tick of the running clock. You only have so much time, it asserts, again and again, from a dozen different angles; how will you choose to spend it? There are much worse ways we can think of than revisiting an old friend like this.