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intro
Persona 3 Reload is a remake of probably one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and it nailed it spectacularly in my eyes. The story is mostly unchanged, with a new feature called Linked Episodes and all new character casting. The gameplay has been vastly revamped to function as a mix of P3 and P5 while Tartarus was reworked. The soundtrack has been redone by the team featuring a new vocalist and more Lotus Juice. The graphics and artstyle of the game is upgraded to a level near P5, featuring a mix of CG and animated cutscenes for important scenes. Reload didn't really reinvent the wheel for me, but it was more Persona 3 which I enjoyed. Some sections below will probably bleed into the other ones by how they're affected.
Story/Casting
Persona 3's story being unchanged means it still has a very slow beginning and doesn't really pick up for the first few months. The Linked Episodes are days where party members/Ryoji will ask you to hang out. These are absolutely fantastic, they add more exposition/character thoughts about their situations. They have story arcs, new CG art, and allow you to fuse a new Persona at the end. They bleed into gameplay however, since most of them take place during the already limited daytime. The character casting is wonderful in Reload, with the old cast voicing side characters and the new cast getting better throughout the story. Social Links are 100% voiced in Reload and it's amazing (referenced below).
Gameplay
Tartarus
The gameplay of Persona 3 Reload is a mix of very different and very similar. Tartarus is still a whopping 264 floors and is still the majority of your playtime. But the blocks visually look and navigate differently (just wish they played different themes), with many new features sprinkled throughout. The Tired system has been removed. Monad passages on floors have a strong enemy inside and reward you with items and the map of the floor and the floor above. Block breakpoints contain boss gauntlet versions that are excellent one-time rewards. F.uuka is a much better navigator in Reload, being able to buff the party before fights, make you invisible/distress enemies, and fully map the floor. Some floors are "Dark Zones" where Twilight Fragments spawn in abundance (a new currency used for some treasure chests and the clock in Reload), but spawn the Reaper after around 1 minute. The Reaper doesn't show up until 62F, but once unlocked can spawn on any floor and even chases you up floors.
Battle System
The battle system was reworked to be a mix of P3 and P5, with the 3 Physical skill/6 elements system. Less enemies have instakills at a lower level, and Kouha/Eiha (Light/Dark non instakill) type skills were added to Personas and Shadows. Like Portable you have direct party control, and the original Tactics system just isn't very good in Reload (doesn't make use of Shift or have original options). Shift is a new feature similar to P5's Baton Pass where hitting a 1 More lets you swap turns to another character. (doesn't buff you inherently, requiring Shift Boost/Amp) Missing/blocking/repelling an enemy with an attack no longer invalidates your extra turn/downs you. Party members have different skill lists from the original games and some perform much better and some kind of diminished at first. (but everyone has a good list by lategame) At nighttime in the dorm characters will have voiced hangouts, and doing enough of 1 type grants them a Characteristic which passively buffs a part of their kit. All party members have extremely powerful abilities called Theurgies which charge up passively depending on their personality (think Limit Breaks in FF!), The protagonist's Theurgies are the Fusion Spells from the original games but they only need the Personas in their Compendium.
Fusion/Shuffle Time
The Fusion system is heavily upgraded and works like Soul Hackers 2/SMTV, with a Fusion Search option that shows you a complete list of what combinations make what from the Personas you have. Filling out the Compendium grants the protagonist a very strong Characteristic so it feels rewarding. Skill Cards are dupable daily at the Shrine, making it extremely easy to build something powerful. Shuffle Time is no longer a minigame and you can just pick your reward/s with no consequence of cursed cards. Major Arcanas are a new card type that serve various effects, and once you hit Arcana Burst (cap) it buffs all rewards for the rest of the expedition. Finishing an enemy with an All-Out-Attack or Theurgy greatly increases the Shuffle Time chance.
Difficulty
Now with all these changes you're probably wondering if the game is still hard. Yes at early game where resources are scarce, but it's very easy to overlevel just casually playing since floor subbosses give a lot more XP now. Rare Shadows don't run away near instantly and grant a boatload of XP in Shuffle Time. Easily dupable Skill Cards from Shuffle Time and Compendium prices allow great access to builds. Full moon bosses have new/reworked mechanics and are still pretty interesting. Merciless isn't weird like P5 and actually makes the game harder. Basically having direct control+Shift turns the game on its head, where you can bring the same group of party members for every encounter and shift back to protag as needed.
Social Sim
The social sim aspects of the game are mostly the same with some nice additions. Linked Episodes, nighttime voiced hangouts, exploring the strip mall at night, and using the dorm computer. The Episodes, hangouts, and fully voiced Social Links are my favorites! You feel a lot more connected with the characters having it all voiced and it's an absolute treat from start to finish. Time is limited and with only 2 Social Links occuring at night, you spend the daytime progressing Links/Episodes and night time progressing Social Stats. School answers are changed, and sleeping in class gives Courage. Romances are no longer forced at rank 8 like the original, and social link reversals are even rarer.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack has been redone by the team with a new vocalist in tow. I'm partial to this change, I believed several songs from the original were done worse in Reload namely Mass Destruction, Master of Tartarus, and the final month themes. When the new vocalist does get to shine in the new songs though she is absolutely wonderful! I didn't let these bring the game down too much for me, but I do wish we had a toggle option like many other remasters/remakes allow for soundtrack. Additionally the soundtrack included with the deluxe edition is truly awful (I left a review there) but yeah.
Graphics/Artstyle
Persona 3 had a clean artstyle for the time, and Reload raised it up to P5's quality. Some areas of the game especially Iwatodai Dorm look too bright however, but I believe you can color correct it to look like the original. I have a very weak rig and yet I could play on the highest settings with no frame dropping (probably because this game still runs on xbox 1/ps4) so performance is good as usual for Atlus games. Most of the major scenes were done in CG instead of anime, but certain scenes not animated before were animated in Reload. Going into Reload at first I did not think this was a grand idea. (coming off Portable's PC launch and expecting FES/movie scenes) I was pleasantly surprised by how everything looked and having a closer view on the scene really adds to it.
Fin
Persona 3 Reload is a remake that does Persona 3 justice. It doesn't completely morph the game into something unrecognizable, it just adds more Persona 3 throughout and makes it look neat and proper for modern-day. Despite small gripes about certain decisions by Atlus (like this game being $70) I fully believe it was worth the price. If I had to give it a number rating, I would put it around 9/10. Enjoyment is subjective though!