Metaphor ReFantazio Review – A JRPG Fantasy Becomes Reality

ATLUS is one of the most prolific and well-known JRPG studios. With series like Shin Megami Tensei and its spin-off, Persona, ATLUS has solidified itself as the king of turn-based JRPGs. However, for a long time, ATLUS relied on ‘old glory’ to carry it forward. Multiple games in the same series, followed by spin-offs, re-releases, and remakes, can only take you so far. 

With the recent releases of Persona 3 Reload and Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, it was clear that ATLUS needed to evolve beyond what it was already good at. Enter Studio Zero, a team of JRPG veterans comprised of people who created the modern Persona trilogy. Their task? Reinvent the wheel and create an original game that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with SMT and Persona. 

Metaphor ReFantazio results from ATLUS wanting to revolutionise the genre just as they did with Persona 3 on the PS2. It’s a game set in a medieval fantasy world ravaged by social, racial, and political issues. But it’s also an ATLUS JRPG at its heart. Does it do enough to differentiate from other games in the genre and is it original enough to warrant being ‘the beginning of a brand new series’?

TL;DR

Metaphor ReFantazio is the proud 3rd pillar of ATLUS’ JRPG empire. It’s a turn-based JRPG that does everything right, from its story and gameplay to its visual identity. It’s a love letter to the genre and a harbinger of a new chapter in ATLUS’ history.

Story – A Fantasy Inspired by Reality

Metaphor ReFantazio takes place in the kingdom of Euchronia, a brand-new world created by Studio Zero for its new series. You play as a boy moving to a new town as an exchange stud-…We had you there for a moment, didn’t we? 

The main character of this story arrives in the capital in the wake of the king’s assassination. His job is to infiltrate the city’s guard and find out who is behind the assassination. The game’s story evolves from there and revealing more would involve diving into spoiler territory. 

Suffice it to say that Metaphor ReFantazio features a very original story that doesn’t rely on anime tropes or ATLUS’ storytelling patterns from previous games. It’s a story full of twists, intriguing characters, and a vibrant world to explore that’s unlike anything you’ve likely seen so far.

A World of Inequality & Hope

What makes the game stand out is just how much it relies on political, racial, religious, and other elements in its world. Euchronia is a place where various cultures and races coexist, or try to coexist. Studio Zero made inequality and intolerance a major part of this world, to the point where your character is often disregarded and shunned aside because of where they come from. Best of all, these elements are not played for laughs or remain surface-level. 

The world’s issues become apparent from the moment you step into the capital, where various races live side by side, openly despise one another, but also can’t do much about it. However, it’s your role to make things work for everyone, as you’re in a somewhat neutral position that allows you to play multiple sides in this world. 

And to top it all off, the biggest and most frightening threat in Euchronia is, ironically, humans—a mysterious and dangerous race that no one knows much about. Metaphor ReFantazio will keep you at the edge of your seat as you experience its story unfold over 80+ hours, or even more if you decide to complete all side content.

Gameplay – Old Formula, New Influences

At its core, Metaphor ReFantazio is a turn-based JRPG. At first glance, you might mistake it for an SMT or a Persona game, but the similarities between them only go so far. You control a party of three, with one character being your main protagonist. The story will dictate who the other two are at most times, giving you a good balance of playing as all characters. However, you can now control who is in the front or the back row of your party, ideal for protecting your mages and pushing your fighters forward. 

While the game relies on a calendar system similar to Persona games, it works a bit differently here. You’ll have fewer times per day to perform actions, but the diversity of actions you can take without spending any ‘time’ in-game is expanded. This means you can technically do much more every day compared to Persona games even though the game simplifies the calendar system. 

The same can be said about dungeons. They’re now more traditional JRPG dungeons, physical locations you’ll visit on your travels. Contrary to Persona games where dungeons represent metaphysical locations, you’ll now visit caves, catacombs, forests, cathedrals, and various other places. Once you’re inside, however, they’re very much like Persona dungeons, with various floors containing puzzles, random encounters, safe rooms, and secrets. 

Random encounters have now been redesigned for faster exploration, letting you immediately eliminate lower-level enemies without fighting them. This makes returning to previous locations less tedious and more focused overall. Everything that Metaphor ReFantazio does is to smooth out the rough edges from previous ATLUS titles and present players with something fresh and exciting. It succeeds on all fronts in that regard.

Goodbye Personas, Hello Archetypes

Continuing its themes of reaching full potential and overcoming your origins, Metaphor ReFantazio uses the Vitruvian Man to symbolize character development. Unlike the Shin Megami Tensei series or its spin-offs, Metaphor ReFantazio relies on the job system. 

You’ll no longer fuse demons or capture new creatures through discussion or various other systems. Instead, your party has access to Archetypes, representations of various aspects of the perfect human. You can swap Archetypes nearly instantly once you’ve unlocked them, allowing you to mix and match classes however you like. 

Interestingly, the game keeps all single-target spells and skills tied to individual Archetypes. But, group attacks, spells, and other multi-target abilities are tied to Archetype combinations. 

Meaning, you’ll always need to combine your party members’ skills in battle to do more damage, heal more, and ultimately win. Metaphor ReFantazio presents players with a fresh and dynamic take on the Persona formula and it does just enough to make the game stand on its own two feet.

Stepping Away from The Status Quo

Unlike Persona 5 Royal or any Shin Megami Tensei game, Metaphor ReFantazio doesn’t rely on the same creature designs. You won’t come across creatures from various religions or mythologies here. Instead, ATLUS was heavily inspired by the art of Hieronymous Bosch, a 15th-century Dutch painter, famous for his vivid, grotesque representations of humanity. 

His art was so influential in fact, that paintings such as The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Last Judgment still evoke feelings of hopelessness and unease in their viewers. While there are more traditional creature designs to be found here, mostly in the form of wild animals, guards, etc., the main attraction is the enemies based on Bosch’s art. 

They look eerily human but not quite, often being mixed with various floral elements and symbolism tied to humanity’s struggles. Metaphor ReFantazio impresses with how confident it is in its creature designs and that it finally steps away from the tried-and-tested formula that SMT relied on for decades at this point.

Visuals – The Next Step in Atlus’ Visual Evolution

One of the things Persona 5 is most known for is its visual style. When it came out, there was nothing like it on the market. Metaphor ReFantazio continues that tradition with a stylized approach to its fantasy setting, relying on a custom-built engine to bring its world to life. 

The game’s visuals are stylized and evoke the feeling of a painting that came to life, combined with an anime-style aesthetic. It’s a truly unique approach to creating a game’s visuals and screenshots absolutely don’t do it justice. When in motion, Metaphor ReFantazio is a spectacle for the eyes, with even minor visual elements like rain or magic particles filling up your screen in a subtle but atmospheric way. 

Character designs are very distinct and recognizable at first glance, a testament to Studio Zero’s understanding of creating memorable characters just as they did throughout the Persona series. The same applies to creature designs, with this game containing the biggest number of original designs out of any ATLUS JRPG in recent years.

On Xbox Series X where we reviewed Metaphor ReFantazio, the game maintains 60FPS in most instances, only struggling in populated city areas. The FPS drop is mostly noticeable upon entering a new area filled with NPCs and geometry but it stabilizes after a few seconds. While not a deal breaker, a few patches could iron out these technical issues and make Metaphor ReFantazio an even greater visual accomplishment than what it already is.

Strikingly Original User Interface

What makes Metaphor ReFantazio stand apart from its contemporaries is its UI. Just like Persona 5 and Persona 3 Royal before it, the game oozes its unique identity when it comes to menus. What could have been a simple option selection screen is always stylized to a point where it could be a painting or wallpaper on its own. 

Whether you’re assigning new skills, changing equipment, or fast travelling, Metaphor ReFantazio will make you feel cool for doing it. The game’s UI is an accomplishment on its own and what Studio Zero’s designers have done here is worth praise. However, the UI can get a little busy at times, especially in battle. But since Metaphor ReFantazio is a turn-based JRPG, that’s not a big issue, especially if you’re playing on a large screen.

Audio – Fantasy Epic in Every Sense of the Word

Metaphor ReFantazio could not be more different from the modern Persona games when it comes to its audio design. Inspired by its fantasy setting, Studio Zero decided to feature a voice cast with various British accents. 

This gives the world its own authentic identity, instead of sounding like a typical anime with the same voice actors you’ve heard dozens of times before. Paired with the game’s heavy themes and serious tone, the game has a lot in common with Final Fantasy XVI, another game that adopted a similar approach. In terms of its soundtrack, Studio Zero also abandoned the approach that worked for Persona in exchange for something new. 

Metaphor ReFantazio features an epic fantasy score with bombastic instrumentals and a choir of vocals that truly cement the game’s world. Whether you’re travelling the world, fighting, or setting up your Archetypes in the Akademia, the game will always back you up with an uplifting and exciting soundtrack.

Conclusion – Should you Play Metaphor ReFantazio?

Metaphor ReFantazio is the blueprint of what an original JRPG built on top of existing influences can look like. It’s an astounding accomplishment on every level, from storytelling to dungeon designs and creatures to its audio-visual components. Likewise, it’s an intriguing teaser of what Persona 6 might look like in terms of gameplay. 

Because now that Metaphor ReFantazio is in the players’ hands, Studio Zero can finally turn their full attention to the next entry in their most popular series. Whether you’re a hard-core fan of JRPGs or only occasionally enjoy playing turn-based RPGs, Metaphor ReFantazio is a must-play. The game is now available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4/5.

Big thanks to Zegetron for sponsoring our review!