Why Persona 3 Reload Matters
Channel: Video Game Story Time
Date: 2024-02-23

Special thanks to SEGA for providing a review code for Persona 3 Reload, and to Mark Flynn for capturing gameplay footage for this video.

Check out Mark's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@UCEi5bJ5J0dnbbL_SWyKQm1g 

Persona 3 Reload is a game about death. It's not exactly hard to spot this theme, as the game is far from subtle - nor is it trying to be. Death stalks you everywhere you turn, and much of the game's narrative is about learning to accept that death is unavoidable, and that you can move on from the loss of loved ones.

It's a theme that is not uncommon in games - preventing the end of the world is a tremendously familiar objective in many JRPGs. What makes Persona 3 special is how it fills every single corner of its narrative with people who are already grieving.

Grief comes in many forms, and there's not one correct way to mourn. Persona 3 Reload highlights more than a few, and this makes it one of the strongest Atlus games from a narrative perspective - and considering the typical high standard that these games achieve, that is saying something!

Music by Holizna: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/holiznacc0/spring-at-last-lofi-tape