Of all the big games coming this fall, Metaphor: ReFantazio is the most fascinating. The project is the next RPG from Atlus Studio Zero, the developers behind the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei franchise. When it was first unveiled, we saw that team ditch the modern day Tokyo setting for a more high-fantasy-themed world.
The easy shorthand would be “fantasy Persona” but after playing a few hours, its ideas run so much deeper than a new coat of paint. Metaphor feels like the culmination of the team’s aspirations with both the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei franchises. It enhances the world-building, combat, characters, and themes of those titles, all wrapped into the United Kingdom of Euchronia, the world that Metaphor takes place in. After only as few hours of play, I can’t wait to go back.
Getting started
Before you even step foot into the world, you’re asked for your name. Not your character’s name, but the player’s. It’s a simple question, yet my head swirled with thoughts about how the game would try to use this to bridge the gap between fantasy and reality. Sometimes such a simple question can be so powerful, and the way Metaphor’s sharp and quick-witted writing wields its words wisely, I needed to know more. Luckily throughout the preview, I caught glimpses of the way Metaphor sets out to use this neat little trick to lay the groundwork for bigger questions down the line.
The opening hours of Metaphor are a bit of a slow burn, as most RPGs tend to be. The Protagonist and their sidekick Gallica, a fairy who’s bonded to you and your quest, set out in hopes of finding an informant inside of the army as a request from our childhood friend who for an unknown reason has been encased in cursed thorns and is slowly dying. With our childhood friend’s father, The King, assassinated, the world is quickly turning to chaos and things are looking bleak. We set out in hopes of putting the new power vacuum of a kingless world at ease.
After trekking across a dangerous desert filled with sand worms, we made our way to the capital. We’re given free reign to explore the city and talk to its citizens. It’s this moment I began to learn about the races of this land, and more importantly, the class disparity that exists. Our protagonist is a member of the Elda tribe, which is looked down upon intensely, essentially relegated as trash. Other tribes like the Paripus tribe are often looked at as hedonistic and are often kept from politics all together.
The Protagonist keeps a storybook on him, one that describes a more modern society like our own: a Utopia where all races are equal and prosper. Metaphor doesn’t shy away from its themes; it embraces them head on. While I only got to see the beginnings of these ideas begin to seep in, it won’t be until the full release that we get to see if they have something more meaningful to say.
After joining the army in hopes of finding the informant, I was sent off to a nearby tower under attack (this location was featured in the Summer Game Fest demo). The top of the tower was a gross amalgamation of body limbs and apples, forming a powerful foe known as Homo Gorleo. It’s here that we learn that the most dangerous demons in the game are called Humans. Which leaves a lot of potential implications on the table for later.
Once Metaphor kicks up the gears, it doesn’t stop for much. In the second half of my demo, I got free reign of the town of Martira: a small town with plenty of citizens in need of help, and a few willing to make some backdoor shady deals to help themselves. My Gauntlet Runner is a hulking mechanical vehicle that allows me to travel long distances safely, as a lot of the land in between cities is dangerous and untraveled. It’s a home base while I’m the road, and acts as a one-stop shop to cook, rest, and spend time with my party members.
Fans of Persona will understand the anxiety of having to plan out each day, who to hang out with, what missions to take on, and how to spend the ever-lessening resource of time. In Metaphor, that anxiety is brought front and center. That’s mainly because you’re not locked down to a single location and have access to a vehicle that can take you anywhere. I had 10 days to spend in Martira however I wanted to, but some quests would take multiple days to travel to.
While traveling three days outside of the town might not seem worth it, that begins to click when I amass a stack of quests, bounties, and favors that all take place in the location. I can see how exploration and conversations are rewarded with making ventures outside of the city walls more worth my time investment. Still, players won’t have time for everything, and that’s OK. They’ll need to make the tough choices and see them through.
I decided to take on an adventure that led me to an ancient tomb, spending three of my 10 days going to an optional dungeon for a shady man who had some information I wanted. This dungeon in particular is where I start to see the developers’ new take on the combat system shine.
Running up that hill
Before I made it to the tomb, I was stopped on my way there. While the Gauntlet Runner was making its way to the destination I was boarded by an enemy runner. A battle ensued on the deck of my ship. While trading blows on my Gauntlet Runner, my foe talked about policy — specifically how we should tax the young to give to the old, and how old people deserve far more respect than they are given. As we continued to beat each other up, I learned far more about how this man’s ideas came to be, and how the United Kingdom of Euchronia passed him by, leaving him feeling forgotten about, as well as his fellow old community. It’s the blend of travel mechanics and storytelling where Metaphor shows all of the lessons learned from previous Atlus titles.
After dealing with that fight, we finally arrived at the Tomb, and I got a better sense of the depth of combat. The Archetype system allows players to turn each of their party members into different job classes, which give them much more variety than a cast in a game like Persona. I can turn a more melee-focused character into a tank or bruiser, or leave my magic wielders to be casters and healers. Players can constantly change out each party member with new Archetypes as they discover them through quests and levels. The system feels as though it’ll be rewarding if you’re willing to put the time in.
For instance, turning one of my party members into the Knight Archetype gave them access to abilities that would draw enemy attacks and take big hits, which opened up the rest of my team to deal damage and heal without fear of being hit. It’s a small example, but is indicative of how Archetypes act more like traditional RPG jobs rather than your option for casting magic in a fight.
This system is built upon the foundation from Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. Elemental weaknesses and strengths from those games still exist, but now with more customization and options than ever before. It feels like a true evolution of the formula fans of these series have come to know for over a decade.
In my time with Metaphor, I only saw a small selection of Archetypes, but the menu for unlocking them was expansive. Each had multiple options in what the game calls their “lineage.” The Warrior has two more Archetypes locked behind it, each with different requirements for unlocking. Investing time into certain Archetypes will benefit not only the available skill potential but go toward getting some stronger Archetypes as well. While Archetypes can’t be changed mid-fight or in dungeons, players can swap them out at rest points and spots like safe rooms known as Akademia, Metaphor’s version of the Velvet Room.
Eventually the Ancient Tomb led me to a boss fight with a massive mimic chest. The enemy design in Metaphor features new creatures and demons. It’s not pulling from the same roster as Persona and SMT, so each fight is filled with a bevy of new creature designs.
It seemed like a straightforward fight, but it wasn’t until after the demo that I learned about a neat trick. Talking to other players at the preview event, I discovered that if I had the Merchant Archetype equipped, I could have thrown money at the chest to distract it and waste its turn. Those small ideas let the Archetype system shine in unexpected ways. I’m hoping Metaphor is filled with small interactions like that to further this idea of them being a true RPG job system with some flair.
Free time
After wrapping up the fight and retrieving the item from the tomb, I headed back to Martira with some days to spare. Here I walked around the town a bit more and got into some hijinks. Since the plot revolves around running for King, players often are reminded of other competitors in the race and how sometimes people simply don’t have a good platform for change and reform, but rather want to run on one sole point.
This reared its head when I opted to get into a public debate. My protagonist got up on a rickety wooden platform to try and change the hearts and minds of the people against an opponent who was promising free Gauntlet Runners for everyone. When I tried to explain how dangerous and irresponsible that is, as well as how this opponent is only promising this so their company can produce the Gauntlet Runners and profit, the crowd booed me and I lost the debate.
It was a stark reminder that sometimes, people just want to be given expensive objects and a little bit of freedom. It’s hard to argue against that, even if your logic is sound. Metaphor is filled with these small moments; it’s not just about doing the right or noble thing, but remembering how people will react and what the public perception of your actions look like to different people.
As my time with Metaphor came to an end, I decided to do one last dungeon and was faced with a final cliffhanger. As I proceeded through the castle walls, I was confronted by a shadow demon that chased me and hunted my party down. It was a stealth section where I had to avoid the demon’s glowing eyes from spotting me as I ran from cover to cover. I couldn’t see the demon’s face, but it was oddly shaped like a giant baby, and its cries sounded like the wailing of an infant — another indication that humans play some sort of devious role in this world.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is shaping up to be my most anticipated game of 2024. The tweaks to the combat system and world-building feel like a true culmination of everything Studio Zero and Atlus have been working on. While it’s unclear at this point if it can stick the lofty narrative themes it sets out for, I’m excited to see this game through when it launches on October 10, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
