‘Persona 3 Reload’ is a roleplaying game set in modern-day Japan, and revolves around a high school transfer student at Gekkoukan High School. A run-in with a frightening monster known as a ‘Shadow’ awakens his dormant power to manifest and control powerful beings called ‘Personas’. Alongside fellow classmates and Persona-users who are recruited into the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), the group battles Shadows in a fantasy existence known as the ‘Dark Hour’.
The game is rated Advisory 16 (Suitable for 16 & Above).
The story progresses through cutscenes and completing missions. Typical gameplay involves controlling the player character from a third-person perspective to explore locations, talk to other characters, and fight fantastical enemies in turn-based combat during dungeon sequences. Outside of the ‘Dark Hour’, the characters progress through their school year and engage in social interactions.
Characters take turns to perform battle actions during battles, with encounters typically ending once all enemies are defeated. During these sequences and in cutscenes, there are recurring depictions of player characters shooting themselves in the head, accompanied by a stylised shattering effect. These depictions are a mechanic to evoke Persona skills and do not result in harm to the characters. Other scenes of violence depict characters being shot with blood effects, bloodstains seen on surfaces, and a multi-limbed monster having its arms sliced off. The ADV16 guidelines allow “realistic but not excessively graphic violence with depiction of blood.”
The game contains suggestive images and sexual references. There are dialogue lines containing suggestive innuendo about female characters’ outfits and appearance. Female characters can appear in bikini-like armour during combat, which reveal parts of their buttocks, abdomen and cleavage. Some enemies appear naked but without details of nudity, while certain monsters have phallic-like features. When the player sufficiently builds up the male protagonist’s bonds with certain female characters, it can culminate in optional depictions of characters hugging and kissing, and textual descriptions implying sexual intimacy. Under the ADV16 rating, depictions of “still or moving images which may be mildly suggestive” and “nudity without details” are permitted.
The game’s dialogue contains infrequent use of the expletive “f**k”, as well as crude words such as “asshole”, “bastard”, “bitch” and “shit”.