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Persona 3 cover

Persona 3 2006

Role-playing (RPG) by Atlus, published by Atlus.

90
Critics
aggregate score
91
Players
IGDB rating
81 h to beat
main story, 138 h for everything

About

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.

Story

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.

What is happening now

Persona 3 is a turn-based RPG that originally released on PlayStation 2 in 2006, establishing itself as a landmark entry in Atlus' social-link driven JRPG series. The game's structure blends dungeon crawling with school life simulation, tasking players with balancing combat and relationships across a year-long narrative. Recent news has centered on the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable, who was notably absent from the 2024 Reload remake. The character is now confirmed to be returning, marking a significant development for fans who had advocated for her inclusion in the modernized version. This announcement addresses one of the more contentious aspects of Reload's initial release.

How long to beat Persona 3

from 1 player
Main storyrushing through the story
81 h
Main + extrasstory plus side content
105 h
Completionisteverything the game has
138 h

More in the Persona series

All 22 games in order

From the people behind Persona 3

shared cast and crew

Games like Persona 3

same kind of game, other series

Cast and crew

1 credits

Crew

Media

Persona 3 screenshot

Releases

Platform
Date
July 13, 2006 (Japan first)

Earliest full release on each platform; regional dates can differ.

In the news

5 stories