Persona 3, known outside Japan as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, is a role-playing video game and the fourth main installment in the Persona series, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. In the game, players assume the role of a high school student who joins the "Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad" (SEES), a group investigating a temporal anomaly called the "Dark Hour". During this period, SEES members can enter Tartarus, a tower inhabited by monsters known as Shadows.