But the one song that brings it all together is the banger of an opener “Full Moon, Full Life,” which uses clever melodic and lyrical callbacks to Persona 3’s musical history while representing the message of its story to a tee. So even if the more granular details of Persona 3’s story start to fade, these songs can evoke the memory of an unforgettable journey.

Also, the Fatigue system from the original game is now completely gone in Persona 3 Reload. Fatigue was a mechanic from the original Persona 3, which inflicted debilitating status effects that severely weakened party members in battle.

On top of all that, you also juggle your ordinary life as a high school student during the day and a monster hunter during the Dark Hour.

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.

Through an incredible new voice cast that embodies these unforgettable characters and an endearing soundtrack to reforge its identity, Persona 3 Reload tells a powerful, timeless story of tragedy and hope with sharp emotional sincerity. This is the kind of remake I’ve hoped for, and even after spending 70 hours to see it all the way to its conclusion, I still find it hard to believe it's real.

As with the corresponding in-house activities in Persona 4 and Persona 5, performing these tasks will strengthen each of the protagonist's Social Stats which can be used to later pursue specific interactions with Social Links. For example, reading books will increase the protagonist's Academics for school, while gardening yields the reward of the protagonist being able to learn new Tactics in battle. Furthermore, the protagonist can partake in each of the aforementioned persona 3 reload gameplay activities alongside another party member, which will grant them additional buffs for combat scenarios.[4][5][seis]

The Dark Hour is a hidden hour of the day where once the clock strikes midnight, most of humanity gets transmogrified into coffins while they sleep, and Gekkoukan High School transforms into a gigantic tower known as Tartarus.

This is where building Social Links becomes a crucial part of the gameplay loop. Social Links can provide bonuses allowing you to instantly level up Personas when fusing them in the Velvet Room or unlock new recipes to create powerful Personas you won’t find from destroying Shadows.

We got confirmation that you’ll be able to walk around Gekkoukan High School, talk to students, and socially interact with them similarly to the original game, as opposed to the largely menu-based Persona 3 Portable.

You will receive a variety of messages throughout the game. Some of these will be story related, while others will post reminders on when certain Social Links, Linked Episodes and jobs are available. You can use these messages to teleport directly to that location.

Fights come with a swift momentum that's effortlessly stylized to match the kinetic look and pace of combat. And that's key for a turn-based RPG, keeping things moving and never letting you get bogged down as you go through the motions of what could otherwise feel like pretty similar battles.

: This review was made possible thanks to a review code provided by Atlus. The company did not see the contents of this review before it was published.

On a side note, if you grew up playing the original Persona 3’s English dub version, you may recognize some familiar voices making nostalgic cameos in the remake amidst the NPCs.

The story was more captivating thanks to the improved writing and new scenes and the characters were more endearing. Also, the combat system and dungeon crawling were faster-paced and more fun to play.