Persona 3

July 13, 2006

Atlus

Atlus USA, Atlus, Koei

RenderWare

User125 ratings

Critic2 ratings

Total127 ratings

Role-playing (RPG)Adventure

PS2

Single player

Third person

ActionFantasyScience fictionDrama

Summary

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a role-playing video game developed by Atlus. In the game, the player takes the role of a male high-school student who joins the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), a group of students investigating the Dark Hour, a time period between one day and the next that few people are aware of. During the Dark Hour, the player enters Tartarus, a large tower containing Shadows, creatures that feed on the minds of humans. To fight the Shadows, each member of SEES is able to summon a Persona, a manifestation of a person's inner self. In addition to the standard elements of role-playing games, Persona 3 includes elements of simulation games, as the game's protagonist progresses day by day through a school year, making friends and forming relationships that improve the strength of his Personas in battle.

Storyline

A silent transfer student arrives at Gekkoukan High School and settles into a dormitory on Tatsumi Port Island, only to discover the Dark Hour, a hidden span of time that appears at midnight when most people transform into coffins and the ordinary world twists into something monstrous. During this concealed hour the school warps into Tartarus, a towering labyrinth crawling with creatures called Shadows. He joins SEES, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, a group of students who confront the Shadows by summoning their inner Personas with a gun-shaped device known as an Evoker. Alongside teammates like Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, and Mitsuru, he balances the routines of daily school life, friendships, and exams against the dangers waiting in the Dark Hour. As the group climbs Tartarus and battles powerful Shadows that stir on nights of the full moon, they begin to uncover the origins of this cursed hour.