Metaphor: ReFantazio preview - RIP to any free time I had left this year
I’m scared that in what is already shaping up to be a stacked end to 2024, Metaphor: ReFantazio is going to inhale what was left of my free time.
The latest release from RPG powerhouse Atlus is, in many ways, a culmination of all the studio’s previous work on series like Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. After four hours getting to know the new fantasy setting, characters, and battle system, I’m convinced we have yet another GOTY contender on our hands.
Metaphor: ReFantazio immediately sets itself apart from the likes of Persona 5 by ditching the modern-day setting for a fantastical realm of magic and monsters. This is a world unlike anything we’ve seen from Atlus, and the team have clearly had a blast playing with expectations and creating a grand new universe for us to explore.
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From labyrinthine dungeons and cities made of towering stone to some of the most properly unsettling monster designs I’ve ever seen in a game, Metaphor is a genuine spectacle. A lot of the enemies have a really disturbing Attack On Titan-esque uncanny valley thing going on: human… but very clearly not.
Combat certainly isn’t a million miles away from what you’d expect from a Persona game, though Metaphor certainly has its own ideas and identity. Battles revolve around which ‘archetypes’ you select for your heroes, special forms that can be summoned to pull off extra powerful elemental spells and attacks.
There are, based on what I could see from the game’s various menus and upgrade trees, a huge number of archetypes available to unlock throughout the game, both via optional quests and simply progressing the story. During my preview my party consisted of a healer, a thief, a knight, and a mage. These are, of course, classic fantasy RPG character templates, but Metaphor treats them more like Pokémon types, with their own unique moves, advantages, and disadvantages.
For example, you could apply the mage archetype to more than one character in your party of four, as mages have a special buff that increases damage by 10 percent for every other mage archetype on your team. But do you do this at the expense of a healer in case things get hairy? Or an archetype that’s better suited to physical damage if you fall foul of a foe resistant to magic?
Planning ahead is key, and you can switch up archetypes at various waypoints generously placed throughout the world, so you’re very much encouraged to chop and change as needed. In many ways this system actually put me in mind of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and the way Monolith approached classes. There’s a refreshing fluidity, and being able to find entirely new ways to battle simply by finishing random side quests makes for a pleasingly tangible reward. The way Atlus has taken rigid fantasy tropes and remixed them into something decidedly original is immensely exciting, and I can’t wait to experiment more with party builds and strategies.
That’s not to say Metaphor doesn’t have one foot in reality. In many ways, in fact, this is Atlus’ most inherently political game yet. The world is ravaged by wealth inequality, bigotry, and discrimination. The game even revolves around an election to be the next king - a race you become part of as the player - although Atlus insists this was pure coincidence and has no relation to the ongoing US election.
It’s this election that DEFINITELY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMERICA that ultimately forms the spine of Metaphor. In our race to become king of all the land, we have to explore, meet new people, complete quests, and form lasting bonds.
There are a huge number of contenders in this kingly election, presumably because even in fantasy land people have cottoned on to the fact that a two-party system is bullshit. As a result, we as the player start from a level of relative obscurity. In fact, the way every act in Metaphor ultimately feeds into every other facet of gameplay is one of the most fascinating and exquisitely designed parts of the experience.
An example: as I explored one city I was robbed of a precious item, but a mysterious NPC told me they could help me get it back… if I was willing to travel to an ancient tomb for them and fetch back a mysterious and powerful artefact.
It’s here I should mention that Metaphor operates on a time limit. There’s a limited number of days until a new king is chosen, which means you have to pick your quests carefully. You simply won’t be able to do everything and help everyone in one playthrough. The tomb I needed to travel to was two days away, meaning I really had to weigh up whether I thought the journey and quest were truly worth it.
There’s an element of Moral Anxiety Studio’s excellent Roadwarden in this aspect of the game, with Metaphor forcing you to really consider every request. This isn’t like The Witcher 3 where you can nip off across the world and play cards for a few weeks while your adopted daughter remains missing, there is a very real sense that time is running out, and every decision matters.
As it transpired I did elect to take on the quest, which led me to a showdown with a rival candidate for king and a dungeon filled with treasure chests that could spring to life and attack. Throughout all of this I was able to strengthen bonds with my party, improve my own “kingly attributes” and rank in the election, and unlock a brand-new archetype which opened up a completely new range of battle options. That I got all of this simply for doing one side quest tells me beyond all doubt that Metaphor is a game of staggering depth, and after four hours I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface.
While elements of Persona are still clear, from Atlus’ ability to create the most stunning and stylish UI you’ve ever seen in a video game, to the sharp writing and instantly memorable characters, Metaphor: ReFantazio also pulls from classic fantasy RPG adventures to create something wholly original. I’d start booking some time off now, because this game is going to dominate our lives going forward.