Few games live in my head quite like the ones in the Persona series, and among them there is a clear pantheon of greats. Though there are just five main series games, the true number of games is significantly higher thanks to spin-offs and rereleases that are slightly different to the original. Persona 3 Reload is one of those slightly different rereleases, and now it’s been re-rereleased with a Switch 2 port.
Back at the start of 2024, I gave the game a whopping 9/10 for being a completely revamped Persona 3 experience that was the best possible version of the game, though not quite the definitive one thanks to the omission of the playable female main character (FeMC, as she’s known online) from previous iterations.
For those who don’t know it, you play a teenager who is tasked with saving humanity. There’s a lot of adult themes here, including most notably, death and suicide. This game isn’t for everyone, but if after watching the trailer you’re curious, it will almost certainly get its hooks in you. If nothing else, the soundtrack has been playing in my head since last January.
So, how does the Switch 2 edition compare?
To paraphrase the great Igor, who famously resides in a place that exists between mind and matter, dream and reality, this game very firmly sits between the PS4 and PS5 version of the game.
To be clear: this is a carbon copy of last January’s release, scaled to Nintendo’s newest console. There’s no FeMC, but it comes with all the quality of life upgrades that we mentioned in the previous review. This game is incredible — that is not up for debate, you should absolutely play it — but it’s not perfect on Switch 2.
Performance wise, we’re somewhere between the PS4 and PS5 editions of Reload, which is what you’d expect for an anime game locked at 30fps. Is it as pretty as the PS5 version? No, absolutely not. There are issues with frame drops that have been picked up by the community following the demo’s launch, and these have already caught the ear of the developers, including Yoshihiro Komori, who told Nintendo Life that “We are currently taking steps to improve [the frame rate drops]. Since careful QA is required, it was difficult to address this in time for the main game’s release but will be in future patches.”
Hopefully this will help to steady that 30fps down the line, but is it a significant problem for launch? Probably not — this isn’t a photorealistic, high-intensity game. If you’re buying it for the Switch 2, it’s either because you want the portability and convenience, or because you don’t own a more powerful console. If this is a major issue for you, consider getting the game on something more powerful.
Frame rate aside, it actually looks pretty good on the Switch 2. It plays well on handheld and I’ve enjoyed having it on the big screen as well (the same one my PS5 is connected to). Other than some choppy frames during cutscenes, I haven’t really considered turning off the Switch to jump back on the PS5, so that’s a vote of confidence for anyone worried about performance.
This brings us onto the most pertinent question: is it worth buying Persona 3 Reload on the Switch 2?
I’d say absolutely, yes, with the caveat that you don’t own a more powerful machine. At this point, it’s going to be cheaper on the PS5 and it frankly looks better. If you don’t own a PS5 and you haven’t already played it, though, I strongly recommend picking up Persona 3 Reload on the Switch 2, either now or once a performance patch has arrived.
Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 is a great opportunity to play an incredible game on the go. While there’s compromises to the game on more powerful consoles, and it needs a performance patch, my commutes got a lot more interesting having this in my bag.
