Atlus
Metaphor: ReFantazio Review - a modern RPG masterpiece
We’ve played Metaphor:ReFantazio, and just like its kingmaker story, it’s come to crown itself as the most powerful RPG title of the past decade.
Studio Zero may not be a name many people recognize, as that’s the official name of the most recent internal development team inside of Atlus. Led by Katsura Hashino, the mind behind titles like Catherine, Persona 5, Persona 4, and many other Atlus games, this studio was established after the release of Persona 5 with a single objective in mind: create something new.
And with a record like Hashino’s, expectations would be high. Metaphor: ReFantazio surprised fans by being an entirely new property, not linked to Persona or the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. But almost immediately, it proved itself through an incredibly interesting world design, a powerful concept, and a comfortable familiarity.
Having spent significant time with the full version, my initial impressions haven’t just been confirmed—they’ve deepened. From the mind-bending world and plot to combat systems that offer an actual challenge that is almost never seen in the genre, Metaphor doesn’t merely meet expectations, it shatters them. It’s not just good—it’s a triumph of bold ideas, executed with such flair that you can’t help but be pulled into the gravity of its insanity.
There is no shame in telling you right now: Metaphor: ReFantazio is an absolute masterpiece.
A Fantasy World That Stuns from the Start
Right from the game’s opening moments, Metaphor establishes itself as a reimagining of the fantasy genre. Sure, it has the staples of a fantasy novel—royal intrigue, political machinations, lost heirs—but it mixes them in with a setting so unique that every step feels like uncharted territory. The early sections of the game introduce you to a vibrant world teeming with life, mystery, and danger. The premise itself, which follows a race for the crown through basically a tournament to become the most popular candidate for the crown, feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s familiar but wildly creative in how it unfolds.
Taking place in the United Kingdom of Euchronia, a powerful noble called Louis murders the King, it being no mystery to the majority, but still he does so in a bet to take the throne. You however, play as a mysterious young man from the Elda race. As you play you discover that this is a country that places value above all to the race (or “Tribe”) you belong to. Each one has its own features, ranging from elf-like humanoid to antropomorphic-cat-people, weird gremlin-like creatures, and at the bottom of the rudder are the Elda, plain and simple without outstanding features, marked by the church as causes for sin and evil.
The narrative’s pacing—one of the first things that struck me in the preview—holds up in the full game. If you’ve ever felt bogged down by slow-moving plots in other JRPGs (Persona comes to mind), you’ll be relieved to know that Metaphor keeps the tempo high, rarely dragging. There’s always something happening, whether it’s a surprising twist in the tournament or new layers of political subterfuge.
It’s a gripping ride, and the game’s refusal to linger on the mundane keeps the story as engrossing as its larger-than-life world. At the developer’s request we simply will not go into the details of the story at this time, but suffice it to say that it’s one you won’t be able to put down once you begin. If you have any doubts about it, the demo for the game that was released a few weeks ago lets you play through the entire first four hours of the game, give or take, and it’s an excellent showcasing of what you can expect.
A Visual Feast
The visuals in Metaphor are, in a word, spectacular. Studio Zero has gone all out, crafting a world that’s not only alive but bursting with unique personality. You’re treated to dazzling color palettes that shift from vibrant to hauntingly dark, often within the same scene. The enemy designs, as I mentioned in the preview, are grotesque in the best possible way, pulling from gothic, surrealist inspirations while giving the “monsters” (humans, in this case) a visually unsettling quality that matches the game’s themes.
Character designs are bold, almost bombastic, while the world transitions seamlessly from the strange and psychedelic to the darkly oppressive. Every part of the game—whether you’re walking through a small town or facing down a grotesque boss—is steeped in this cohesive, eye-catching style. Accompany that with striking camerawork, which isn’t very common on an RPG of this size, and you have a complete visual delight while playing.
And then there’s the music. If you thought the Persona soundtracks were eclectic, with their pop/electro/jazz fusions, Metaphor goes even further. The shift between jazzy city tunes, operatic battle themes, and quirky piano melodies is often jarring but in a way that feels deliberate. It keeps you on your toes, never allowing the game to settle into a singular mood for too long. It fills fights with adrenaline when you’re taken by surprise, and makes you feel on the offensive when carrying out a successful plan. It pushes you ever forward, reacting to the situation during battles, and at every moment reinforcing the gameplay and the story.
Just as it’s explained in the game, the music of Metaphor: ReFantazio is a powerful magic that helps complete the adventure you’re about to embark on. This range and unpredictability are a major part of why the world feels so alive.
Combat: Complex, Deep, and Satisfying
Meanwhile, the battle system Is not content to rest on the laurels of Atlus’ tried-and-true turn-based formula, though that is certainly the core of it all. Persona fans will feel at home with the use of elemental attacks and exploiting enemy weaknesses. However, Metaphor goes a step further, introducing new elements like party positioning, different lanes that alter player abilities, team-up abilities, enemy reinforcements, and much more.
Outside of turn-based combat, the real-time skirmishes add an extra layer of tension, allowing players to strike or be struck before the full battle begins. It’s a system that rewards quick thinking, forcing you to adapt on the fly. And when you do jump into the full combat system, expect it to be a brain-bender. Each fight feels like a puzzle to be solved, with layers of strategy—especially when it comes to using Archetypes, this game’s equivalent of Personas.
The customization here is staggering, and it’s easy to lose yourself in fine-tuning your party’s abilities, classes, and loadouts. You don’t just get a new set of spells with each one: every Archetype can be equipped by any party member, each changing the character’s base stats, growing in power as it is used. They level up through use, and can be upgraded to become new versions of themselves, with branching paths that let you customize how they function in battle.
The sheer breadth of options and the freedom to experiment make every encounter feel fresh, which is crucial in a game of this scale. And let’s not forget the punishing difficulty of some optional dungeons—seriously, be prepared to get knocked around a bit. This, perhaps, is what makes one small feature that may be overlooked by many shine: you can basically see “leaderboards’ of other players for each dungeon you explore in the game, telling you their levels and party composition, to see how they fared against each segment of the game. This can help you get an idea of what to expect from them, yes, but also serves as a fun competition against the “meta”. Personally, I like to go with the weirdest combinations possible, and have found that somehow, at least in normal and hard difficulties, it’s actually possible to survive through dungeons… although perhaps not very gracefully.
A World Worth Exploring
Where Metaphor truly excels is in its exploration. The game may not be fully open-world, but it offers vast regions to explore via the massive Gauntlet Runners—a landship with mechanical chicken legs that made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it, but that quickly becomes an essential part of the game, being a base of operations, your main method of travel, and a home for your characters fighting against the cruel world.
The level of freedom it offers is staggering. Whether you’re traveling to bustling cities, finding hidden dungeons, or talking to NPCs that help fill out your map with new locations, the game encourages you to lose yourself in its world. This open-ended approach to exploration, paired with a ticking clock that pressures you to make choices wisely, keeps things exciting. You’ll often find yourself wondering if you should press on with the main quest or take a detour to help someone in need. The decisions are never easy, and the game’s structure ensures you’ll miss things on your first run—but that only adds to the allure of the experience.
The rightful king takes its throne
Metaphor: ReFantazio is everything I hoped it would be—and then some. After dozens of hours playing it, I still crave to find out more about it, to reach the experience to its very end over and over trying out new tactics and battle styles, new characters, and quests, and events to further build a rightful ruler for the world. It’s an experience that sticks with you long after you’ve put down the controller.
But is it perfect? Well… I can’t presume to be an absolute authority on what is and isn’t, but it’s darn near perfection, at least for an old RPG fan like me who grew up on Final Fantasy, Lufia, the Mana series, and of course, Dragon Quest and Persona. Especially since I’ve been playing it on a Steam Deck, with impressive performance that is sure to become more optimized. I’ve seen it run both on the small portable device and on a powerful PC (and of course, running natively on an Xbox through the preview invite Atlus graciously invited to some time ago), and in over 90 hours of play I’ve not encountered a single issue with it, be it bug, crash, or even getting stuck after an untimely save.
From its jaw-dropping world design to the pulse-pounding music and the brain-bending combat, it’s clear this is a game born out of passion and calculated precision. It respects the traditions of JRPGs while fearlessly innovating in every department it’s been allowed to touch.
Game of the Year? Yeah, it just might be. Metaphor: ReFantazio is out on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 11, 2024.
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