I’ve been a MegaTen fan for a super long time now, ever since I found Persona 2: Innocent Sin on my Dad’s PSP. That game changed me as a person to be completely honest. I then dove further into the series, playing Eternal Punishment, Soul Hackers, Digital Devil Saga, etc etc. I eventually got around to P3FES in the summer of 2019. I loved it to death, as I was going through a lot of change in my life at the time and the game was like a little escape for me. It took me all throughout June, and I beat it at the beginning of July. The ending, which is iconic itself, had me crying a little bit, and Memories of You quickly became one of my favorite songs from a game ever.

Now when I heard that there was going to be a remake of Persona 3, I was super skeptical. I couldn’t believe it. Then, when the trailers started rolling out, I was even more skeptical. I really didn’t want Atlus to “Persona 5ify” one of my favorite games, and from the first couple trailers for Reload, it kinda seemed like they were doing that. But, as more things started to come out about the game, I became more hopeful and was actually pretty hyped for it. I preordered it, and played it at midnight on launch. Needless to say, I was pretty immediately blown away, and I adored what Atlus had done.

I did (and still do) have some minor nitpicks so I’ll go over those here.
- Some music (mainly near the beginning) didn’t play in the right spots
- Some of the remixes are pretty meh, the big ones I didn’t really care for were Mass Destruction and Unavoidable Battle
- I much prefer the anime FMVs from the OG for the most part, but there were a couple exceptions
Those are all of my complaints, seriously. Only 3 things, which even baffles me considering how critical I am of remakes.

Everything else that the game did though I absolutely loved. Like loved loved loved. Most of the new remixes are fucking phenomenal, the new hangout gimmick with the SEES members was super cute and they were super fun to go through and Tartarus had new life breathed into it and it looked great. The ending got me hard here as well. It was a mix of just how good the cutscene direction was, how good the music was, and my overall nostalgia for the game and how it helped me through a hard time in my life. I was sobbing, HARD. My shirt is still drenched as I write this. The Memories of You remix is gorgeous, and I will not be able to listen to it without sobbing uncontrollably for the foreseeable future.

Overall, an amazing game.

This game really is what it claims to be, a "90s Internet Simulator". I didn't grow up in the 90s, rather the early-mid 2000s, but I feel like the themes and jokes this game goes for still hold true to what I experienced on the web when I was a kid. I often found myself getting lost in the webpages, as they felt lived-in and just, with lack of a better word, real. My personal favorite page (the Double Witness fan page which itself is just a spoof of Twin Peaks fan/theory pages from the time) is one you cannot even access under normal circumstances because you have to run a super expensive antivirus to even get to it, but I think that it makes it all the more rewarding.
Overall, I think that this game is a must play for anyone who really likes the style of the early internet and cool little puzzles that are kind of obtuse at times, such as myself.


Also downloading a virus in this game was just as scary as it is in real life but at least in the game I didn't get reprimanded by my dad for trying to download a .exe file of Hypno's Lullaby.