Persona 3
2006
- role-playing (rpg)
- adventure
- action
- fantasy
- science fiction
- drama
- single player
The story
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.
What it’s like
Moonlit blues and blacks define the Dark Hour, a frozen midnight where the city empties and the sky turns a pale, empty grey, while the daytime school year runs on warm afternoon light through classroom windows and the soft glow of evening streetlamps. Anime character portraits sit over stylised 3D environments, and the Gothic tower interiors are full of clockwork and dusty stone. The soundtrack moves between wistful piano, jazz-tinged pop and a low synth pulse during battles, with nothing to fill the quiet of the Dark Hour. The mood is wistful and quietly melancholic, with stretches of ordinary, cosy routine (sharing a meal, studying, long walks home) broken by tense, turn-based fights against shadowy monsters. Its pace is deliberate and calendar-driven, so each day feels like a small, rounded moment. Violence is stylised and frequent in combat but never graphic; the darker material concerns grief, death and fear of loss, handled with a sincere, sombre tenderness. It suits a long evening alone, a sustained play session across a season, or anyone who wants a slow-building story of friendship, quiet growth and gentle melancholy, with a steady hum of supernatural dread.
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