Persona 3 is a genre-defining RPG that blazed a trail for all other modern Persona titles and inspired countless other RPGs. Its original incarnation was stranded on the PS2 for over 15 years, but now Persona 3: Reload offers a top-to-bottom remake for modern consoles and PC – including 4K 60Hz gameplay with RT on PS5 and Series X. The 2024 release aims to revitalise and revamp the title for contemporary expectations – but is it the fully actualised remake that fans have been waiting for? And are the graphics an evolution beyond other recent Atlus efforts?
I’m going to work through the console comparisons quickly, because Persona 3 Reload runs with only minor differences to distinguish the Series X and PS5 versions. Both run at what appears to be a native 4K without anti-aliasing, although some UI elements appear lower-res, with only minor lighting differences between the two versions.
Series S looks similar but renders at just 1080p, again without obvious AA. It doesn’t feature RT reflections, like Series X and PS5, while shadow resolution has also been reduced. This turnout is a little disappointing, but from a typical TV viewing distance it doesn’t look bad – just softer than the Series X and PS5 versions.
All three consoles target and hit a full 60fps in typical play. I didn’t notice any particular frame-rate issues on any platform in my experience, except for a few moments on the Series X which feature heavy RT effects. It’s possible the same dips could recur on the PS5 or Series S, but in the material I played on that platform the game stuck to 60. Pre-encoded cutscenes – including the anime cutscenes and 3D sequences – are encoded at 30fps, and play back without frame-pacing issues. There are very few titles that achieve a 60fps update at 4K with RT features on consoles, but the restrained environment rendering makes that target more realistic here.