I had solely simply performed Persona 3 Moveable in the previous couple of years, in order that hundred-hour saga felt comparatively recent in my thoughts going into my demo of Persona 3 Reload. I used to be excited to hang around with all my outdated friends, however a bit skeptical that it will be completely different sufficient to warrant the time funding another time. In my playthrough that ran greater than an hour, although, I did not really feel in any respect like Reload was masking the identical floor, even when it mainly is. The added gameplay components, up to date graphics, tweaked areas and social hyperlinks compel me to sink one other handful of months into attending to the underside of Apathy Syndrome with the S.E.E.S. crew.
The greatest vibe shift was wandering the tower of Tartarus, which is now the creepiest of all of the Persona dungeons. The aura is really unsettling within the chunk of flooring that I performed, with the intent to intently emulate the themes of loss of life within the sport, producer Ryota Niitsuma and director Takuya Yamaguchi advised me after the demo. Remodeling Tartarus was a excessive precedence for the workforce and it exhibits. The pacing feels leagues extra pure with different shiny distractions to carry consideration, together with crystalized Shadow power stalagmites to smash and seize objects from and chests that, to open, want expendable bits referred to as Twilight Fragments, that are scattered all through Tartarus and the true world. Even these seemingly easy additions drastically enhance the tempo of transferring by way of the various flooring of Tartarus.
Persona 3 Reload – Gameplay Screenshots
The battle mechanics are precisely what one ought to count on from Persona video games, though actions like switching Personas and analyzing expertise really feel extra fashionable and seamless than they as soon as had been. All-out assaults have additionally been upgraded with brand-new ending screens (that are cool) and catchphrases (that are additionally good). And now, the S.E.E.S. armband is a useful piece of clothes, appearing as a gauge to facilitate a brand new particular assault characteristic referred to as Theurgy. Although it is primarily based on Persona 5’s Showtime, Theurgy assaults require heightened emotional states and have particular situations personalised to every character to activate, so it takes extra technique to tug off. I did not spend sufficient time grinding in Tartarus to get to everybody’s strikes, however from what I did see, the outcomes are devastating for the enemy.
Lots is completely different again within the outdoors world, too. In the beginning, I can bodily run round 3D metropolis streets and classroom hallways, versus transferring a cursor to callout bubbles in a comparatively static surroundings like in previous Persona 3 iterations. Generally, the digicam maintains a tighter shot, making bouncing round places really feel extra intimate and almost first-person. It lastly seems like I am actually exploring, experiencing, and studying the geography of Tatsumi Port Island as an alternative of merely hovering above it. I did not really feel the restrictions of a small city in the identical method I did prior, the place transferring from place to position felt extra like information entry than a sport because the hours wore on. And: I can get a part-time job on the movie show!
For me, probably the most doubtlessly thrilling modifications to life outdoors of searching Shadows had been made contained in the dorm that make it really feel like the principle character truly co-exists there with a half-dozen classmates. The rooftop, the kitchen, Fuuka’s DVD participant, and the bookshelf are all now out there to make use of in a single’s free time for gardening, cooking, or watching motion pictures, or studying with a pal or studying to enhance your three character traits. Plus, the desktop laptop that sits within the foyer can be usable to juice character stats. Yamaguchi and Niitsuma acknowledged that the dorm was at all times a particular surroundings for these video games, and the trouble they put into making a home-y, social house offers the S.E.E.S. HQ a welcome heat in opposition to the sport’s largely bleak principal narrative.
All in all, my doubts about diving again into Persona 3 territory had been shattered from this demo. Persona 3 Reload is not a remake with just a few alterations right here and there; it is a sincerely thought-through up to date sport that may seemingly stand by itself two legs within the aggressive Persona lineup.