Fantasy is Alive
Atlus has made a name for itself in the wide market since the release of Persona 3 back on the PS2 and they’ve released many titles since which have all gone on to be critically acclaimed, selling millions of copies. However, it seems clear that for the past decade, they have been leaning heavily into their already established franchises without creating any new IPs.
So, when Metaphor: ReFantazio was announced, I was thrilled to see them create a brand new IP, hoping all the talent and experience they have been gathering the past decade would be on full display. Having completed my journey through this new fantasy, I can say with confidence that my hopes were answered.
The theme of how fantasy can affect reality remains a constant throughout the adventure.
MSRP: $69.99
Price I’d pay: $69.99
Platforms: PC, PS4/5, Xbox
Voice Over: JPN/ENG
Steam Deck: “Playable” status but plays well.
Length: 75~ Hours
In a world where multiple different tribes of people coalesce, there is much discrimination and unrest throughout the world. With the assassination of their King, the stage is set into motion where the one who holds the favor of the masses at the appointed time will be crowned King. With the crown up for the taking for anyone brave enough to reach for it, the cursed Prince’s closest allies strike out against Louis, the man they suspect is the culprit for not only for the death of the King but also for the terrible curse placed on the Prince- the gentle, rightful successor to the Crown.
Metaphor: ReFantazio paints a fantastical world to explore with Magic, Monsters and different specifics of people abound, it’s also juxtaposed by a cast of characters coming to terms with very real things like discrimination, grief of losing loved ones and trying to wrap their heads around the concept of democracy- something they’ve never had any experience with before.
As the protagonist travels the world in search of a way to undo the Prince’s curse, he is met with various different tribes that inhabit the land, learning of their cultures and the various troubles that ail them. Finding solutions to their problems, he is joined by new trusty companions that broaden his views about the world. My favorite of the bunch was Heismay, a fallen knight and member of a tribe that has the appearance of a bat. Despite his short stature, his wisdom and compassion were larger than anyone else’s and seeing him overcome his trauma to become a pillar to all those around him was deeply satisfying.
The main antagonist of the story, Louis, was also a highlight of the story as his cruel actions belie a man who would stop at nothing to achieve a goal of a better world. While I certainly could not condone his actions, I could understand why he believed that he had to commit them.
Louis is a constant threat/goal throughout the story, and a force that elevates the stakes by his mere presence.
In terms of visuals, the art style is striking and while the 3D models of the characters fall short of the gorgeous 2D illustrations, I found it to be easy on the eyes. The highlight of the visual package outside of the illustrations is most definitely the UI and menus as Atlus continues their tradition of making UI a showcase of their immense artistic and creative talent.
Hulkenburg, the All Devourer has the best expressions.
In terms of mechanics, Metaphor: ReFantazio feels like a fulfillment- a true culmination of their development experience through the past few decades of making Persona games.
Just like Persona, there is a strict passage of time depending on the activities I chose to do and a deadline to meet. Actions like talking to NPCs to improve their bonds, going into a dungeon or improving my personal stats like Wisdom, Tolerance, Courage through some activity would move the time along.
There was a delicate balance of trying to figure out how best I could spend my time at any given day, and I was constantly weighing the pros and cons of each action which kept the experience engaging. While that might sound just like another Persona game, there have been a lot of changes for the better that makes this the best iteration of that formula.
For example, previously I had to make sure I had the proper arcana persona equipped before talking to someone and make the right choices during the dialogue so I could raise their affinity enough to be sure to get another rank up the next time I talked to them. If I failed to do so, or if the affinity gains weren’t enough regardless, I would have to spend time with them without a rank up which never felt good in multiple ways. Here, that is entirely removed and no matter what dialogue choices I made, I wasn’t penalized, which allowed me to have a much more engaging, honest conversation with them. It’s true you do receive additional “MAG” by choosing certain options but that was never enough of a positive gain that I was ever tempted to reload my game to redo the conversation.
There is also a max of 8 ranks in a bond instead of 10 which made things flow much more smoothly, with less events that felt like “filler” for lack of a better term. Instead of having to quick travel to different parts of the map to see if people were available to talk, I could simply browse one window to see all my bonds listed and which were available at any given time. All this and other small refinements not only made keeping track of bonds much easier, it also made them feel more special in turn as each bond rank felt significant.
The bonds also rewarded very powerful boons and being able to see what they are ahead of time was greatly helpful in planning who I wanted to prioritize.
In terms of combat, the key to victory was juggling the turn icons where hitting a critical or the weakness of an enemy would only reduce the turn icon by half. Unlike Persona, this did not give the same character an immediate second turn and while that doesn’t seem like a big deal, it made a huge difference in how I approached combat. Given I was unable to simply trigger weaknesses on the enemy one after the other without some planning most of the time, it made it crucial that I came up with a strategy ahead of time for the tougher fights.
Luckily, the devs anticipated this need and placed information brokers that would give me hints of the types of enemies/bosses I would run into in any given area and for a small price. Armed with that knowledge, I would often change my entire party line up including weapons/armors/Archetypes and inherited skills. I once went into a dungeon blind, confident of my strength as I had leveled up quite a bit at the point, only to be completely thrashed by an enemy that triggered an enrage based on the weapons I was holding, instantly killing my whole party as the encounter began. That was the one and only time I would go in blind as I would always plan ahead from that point forward and when said plan came together, it was immensely satisfying.
It’s true that Archetypes are glorified classes, but I certainly love how they’re presented here.
Speaking of Archetypes, they certainly are the highlights in terms of customizing the party as each of them had unique strengths and weaknesses. Learning an Archetype meant opening up a whole new realm of possibilities of strategy as once skills are learned, they can be inherited into other classes for even greater customization. Add to that permanent stat bonuses and unlocking even more Archetypes through mastering them, it always gave me a goal to strive towards so I could unlock that next Archetype. Even though each party member is more suited to certain types due to their native stats, a whole entire party of merchants that would shoot money at the enemy until only a pile of gold was left was amusing in its own right.
Why fight with a sword when you can ride on it like a skateboard instead?
In terms of performance, I feel the game is very well optimized and despite the barebones PC port without much granular control of visuals or implementation of technology/options like DLSS/Ultrawide, it at least never crashed for me during my lengthy playthrough, which is commendable in its own right.
Playing the game on Steamdeck also felt pretty solid and despite the hitches on the framerate, I felt it was very much playable, although I would say I played most of it on PC this time around using an ultrawide mod (if screenshots weren’t a giveaway already).
The small moments spent traveling together might not have seemed much but I feel they are just as memorable and important as the big story beats.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a fantastical adventure, brought to life in expert fashion by a team with all the experience and talent they needed to achieve a vision which truly feels like a culmination of the many lessons learned throughout their storied legacy.
Fun Tidbit: They actually got a real priest to do the chanting for the OST and I absolutely love it.
I can’t believe this is just the regular battle theme, it’s an all timer.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
