ReFantazio is a masterful successor to Persona 5

In 2017, I wrote that Atlus’ Persona 5 was the best JRPG of the last decade. Looking back, I stand by every word in that review, and that’s even without factoring in the enhanced Royal version that came three years later. Simply put, it was an unmitigated masterpiece.

After playing Metaphor: ReFantazio, a new turn-based RPG from Atlus-owned Studio Zero led by several of the key minds behind Persona, I’m feeling inclined to make a similar proclamation.

Truthfully, I haven’t finished the game yet. One of the few issues — if you can even call it that — with the Persona series’ recent entries is that they’re extremely long, running for around 70 to 100 hours. Metaphor: ReFantazio, for its part, is confirmed to come in towards the end of that meaty window. Meanwhile, I’ve only been playing the game for a little over two weeks now (minus four days for a Barcelona trip in between that), so I’m only 40 hours in so far.

If anything, though, that’s a testament to the sheer quality of Metaphor that I’m so bullish on it at this point. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s a near flawless mix of recognizable Persona staples and bold new narrative and gameplay elements to create one of the most captivating games I’ve played in quite some time.

A new world worthy of royalty

First and foremost, Metaphor makes the oh-so refreshing decision to eschew the modern Japan high school setting that has defined not only Persona, but so much of anime as well. Therefore, it was time for a change, and Metaphor goes in the complete opposite direction into medieval fantasy. With gothic European architecture, steampunk vehicles and fascinating meta allusions to our modern society (including Hieronymus Bosch-inspired monsters known as ‘Humans’), all rendered through a striking painterly aesthetic and UI, Metaphor maintains Persona‘s unparalleled sense of style while being remarkably different.

What makes this different from your average Game of Thrones kind of tale, however, is the role that the deceased king plays. Under his magic, an all-mighty Majora’s Mask-esque moon floats above the kingdom to ensure a peaceful transition of power, meaning that viable political candidates can’t just kill one another. It’s a fascinating premise that presents some compelling challenges for our party, as they can’t simply kill Louis. All the while, they have to grapple with a deeply prejudiced society dividing the populace based on their background and theology which is especially relevant to our hero, who’s part of the downtrodden Elda tribe.

In this way, Metaphor proves to be a surprisingly thoughtful and well-written interrogation of the nature of power. What kind of leader do our heroes want to be? Who should they ally themselves with? How can they break the cycles of oppression? It’s a natural progression from Persona, which has always tackled social issues, while still being markedly different. If anything, though, Metaphor feels even more timely than its predecessors, given its focus on an utterly divided nation amid a pivotal election, just as both the U.S. and Canada are in eerily similar situations.

Bonds, Metaphor‘s version of Persona‘s Social Links/Confidants, play a key role in further exploring these themes. Once again, this social sim system has you spending time with both party members and NPCs to learn more about them, deepen your relationships and unlock new abilities. The writing and acting are universally strong in Metaphor, but my personal favourite so far is Strohl, a nobleman who, after a great personal tragedy, seeks to use what little privilege he has left improve the lives of his people. His story touches on the all-too-real plight of refugees and the elites who treat them callously, including one sickening land owner who argues that poverty is their own responsibility. Anchored by an emotionally-charged performance from Stewart Clarke (Dion from Final Fantasy XVI), Strohl quickly became the heart of the story for me in many ways. Other memorable Bonds include a newly orphaned girl who tries to find hope amid her grief, a silver-tongued conman who pushes you to have some moral flexibility in your royal campaign and a wealthy shop owner whose steely exterior belies a love of animals.

Across the board, Metaphor gets you to truly care about each and every character, making you feel all that more invested in their journey, and I’m eager to see how it all plays out.

Engrossing twists on an old formula

Structurally, Metaphor owes a lot to Persona as well, leveraging the same daily calendar system. At most points in the story, you have a deadline for a specific mission, like infiltrating a major dungeon, and it’s up to you to choose how to prepare for it. Spend time with Bonds? Engage in activities like candidate debates, listening to stories about shunned religions from impoverished people to raise Royal Virtues like Wisdom and Tolerance and unlock new quests and Bond progression paths? Take on a bounty to tackle a smaller dungeon, level up and earn some extra cash? The choice is yours, but know that doing any of this will use up time in a day. I’ve always loved this setup in Persona, as it challenges you to be more mindful of how you engage with its content, and that remains true here. At the same time, I appreciate that Metaphor allows you to connect to the internet to see how other players opted to spend their day should you want a little guidance. (This, like some of the other gameplay features, was introduced in Persona 5 Royal, but I only played the base P5 so they’re new to me, as they will surely be to many others.)

Time management also feeds into Metaphor‘s greatest gameplay innovation over Persona: the Archetype system, which adds significant depth to the tried-and-true turn-based combat. Typically in Persona games, only the main character could switch between different Personas to wield different abilities, effectively locking the rest of the party to single playstyles. In Metaphor, however, everyone can wield Archetypes, the game’s riff on Personas. With over 40 Archetypes in total, this leads to rich character customization. In one treasure-themed dungeon, you might want to have a Merchant and Thief so the former can distract enemies with money that you throw and the latter can snatch some goodies from them. Elsewhere, goblin-filled catacombs might not be conducive to a magic-based playstyle, especially since some of the fiends actually react angrily to spellcasters and receive buffs accordingly. Admittedly, these mini-dungeons are already somewhat repetitive in their desert tomb-like design and layout, leading me to wish that Studio Zero went for even a bit more diversity in their environmental themes.

Thankfully, there’s an immense level of variety in the Archetypes, which can be switched at any time after you unlock an early-game ability through a Bond with a mysterious inhabitant of a colourful room (ostensibly, Metaphor‘s version of Persona‘s Igor and The Velvet Room). On the flip side, many of the Archetypes are only unlocked through Bonds, which goes back to that idea of properly managing your time to maximize progression. Even at roughly the halfway point, I only have about 20 Archetypes, and I’m excited to see which ones I’ll come across next.

Because honestly, there’s nothing more satisfying than having that finely tuned party wreaking havoc in battle, exploiting elemental weaknesses and using the new Synthesis attacks in which two characters expend their turns to unleash powerful over-the-top team-up attacks with their Archetypes. While I miss the ‘All-Out Attacks’ from Persona, where your party gets to do a flashy supermove after all enemies have had their weaknesses exploited, the Synthesis attacks are at least a smaller-scale strategic variation, of sorts, on this. The thrill of battles is only intensified by returning composer Shoji Meguro (Persona series), who delivers absolutely phenomenal music that trades the funk and jazz of his previous work for insanely catchy opera rap and other grand orchestral and choir pieces.

An experience I can’t stop thinking about

Persona is a series I hold particularly dear, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see it undergo some sort of change. With Metaphor: ReFantazio, Studio Zero has given me everything I could have hoped for, and then some. It’s a remarkably gripping RPG filled with rich storytelling and themes, nuanced characters, deep mechanics and unrivalled visuals and music. It’s a game that I’ve had trouble putting down, even when I went to Spain, and to say I’m excited to dive into the latter half would be a colossal understatement.

Of course, Metaphor: ReFantazio could always suffer a big dip in quality towards the end, but given how deftly paced it’s been so far, as well as the consistent quality of the staggeringly long Persona games before it, I’m optimistic that won’t happen. And even on the basis of its stellar first 40 hours, I have full confidence this will be one of the best games of the year, bar none.

Update: 15/10/2024 at 12:42pm ET — One week later and I have finally finished Metaphor: ReFantazio after roughly 80 hours. And I have to say — this is absolutely not just one of 2024’s best games, but one of the best in recent memory. I’d even go so far as to say it’s one of the greatest RPGs I’ve ever played.

Everything I said above remains true by the time you reach the end of the game. The politically-charged narrative is utterly engrossing, the cast of characters is remarkably strong, the sense of style is immaculate and the job system-focused turn-based combat is fantastic. But what truly surprised me as I wrapped up Metaphor was just how well it came together.

While I love Persona, the games would sometimes present fantastical solutions to social issues, like the fifth game allowing our heroes to magically “change the hearts” of corrupt individuals. It could sometimes lead to a feeling of narrative cop-out, a clean and way to resolve a conflict that would also leave some of the villains feeling a tad undercooked.

Metaphor, however, understands that real change isn’t something so simple. Over the course of its massive campaign, the game commendably interrogates the very systems that can create and support such bad actors. In one quest, a troubled character who was effectively profiting from arms dealing comes to discover a better and more responsible path. In another, a sheltered party member seeks to learn more about another faith and, in turn, combat religious fanaticism. Elsewhere, a young tribal woman must learn that how her well-intended quest to address wealth disparity is inadvertently targeting another downtrodden group.

The game certainly isn’t subtle a lot of the time, but given its rather pointed title, it clearly isn’t trying to be. And when so many games often fail to properly unpack weighty themes like racism, Metaphor‘s handling of this kind of subject matter feels genuinely meaningful. It also benefits immensely from one of the best localization efforts I’ve seen in some time, resulting in some sharp dialogue that’s wonderfully brought to life through a brilliant voice cast.

The core mechanics also only continues to improve throughout the rest of the game. By the time I got to the end and had unlocked nearly all of the Archetypes, I was simply in awe at how flexible and deep the system proved to be. From the Devil Summoner that lovingly nods towards Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei series and Warlord who hangs in the back row to emphasize party buffs to the Gunner who has all kinds of fancy status-afflicting shots and different tiers of Knights who allow for more effective Synthesis attacks, there’s so much variety to the Archetypes.

However, some of the earlier issues I mentioned unfortunately continue to rear their head towards the end. For one, the gargantuan runtime and structure of this game leads to some pacing issues, especially in the final hours, where it sometimes felt like dungeons and boss fights were only delaying the inevitable conclusion. At the same time, the sheer number of characters and plot lines means that some of them feel a tad rushed in their development and resolution. Nowhere is this truer than Louis; while he’s an appropriately smarmy bastard as magnificently voiced by Joseph Tweedale, his motivations and backstory felt pretty thin for much of the game, only for some revelations to come too late to try to deepen him. Thankfully, the game does a much better job with the larger conflict surrounding the oppressive systems of Euchronia, but it still left me wishing Louis had been better handled.

Those quibbles aside, though, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a remarkable achievement through and through. It’s the result of an unbelievably talented team of artists showing real growth and maturity, approaching its latest work with a level of sophistication even its fans wouldn’t have expected. All of its “video game” elements are excellent, but above all else, Metaphor touched me with its beautiful ode to mankind’s triumphant spirit. It’s so potent, in fact, that I feel genuinely inspired to try to do some good in the world. That might sound corny, but Metaphor is so sincere in this altruistic vision that you can’t help but become enamoured by it yourself. And really, that’s exactly what we all need right now.

Impeccably designed, profoundly emotional and oh-so timely, Metaphor: ReFantazio is everything that’s great about video games and of the finest examples of the art form is years.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is now available on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. A sizeable free demo featuring several hours’ worth of content can also be downloaded on all platforms, with progress carrying over to the full game.

Image credit: Atlus