On April 22nd at midnight, the company Atlus held a special half-hour event to present their new game, Metaphor: ReFantazio. A turn-based RPG set in a fantasy world where, after the death of the king, the entire kingdom competes to win the title of the new prince. The reason is that in this world anyone can be chosen as king, with the chosen one being the one with the most support from the people, and our protagonist presents his candidacy as the start of the game’s events.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a game by Studio Zero, which if the name doesn’t sound familiar, the games surely will. The creative team behind the studio is the same people who worked on Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5. Something that is noticeably evident in this game.
Aesthetically, it is reminiscent of Persona, only with a more cluttered and exaggerated art direction. Additionally, it will include different systems that will remind us of those of the beloved Atlus franchise. For example, we will have a job system, called Archetypes, that we can only unlock and improve through the social relationships we establish with the people who represent them. A nod to Persona’s social links, taken to the extreme here, as any character can use any archetype at any time.
Like in any good fantasy game, there will be different cities and dungeons that we can visit in our adventure. Stating that there will be a larger number of dungeons than what we are used to in Persona, it is understandable that combat will have a more prominent role in the adventure.
About the battles, in fact, they have emphasized that they will be a mixed system. For those in which we face enemies of a higher level than us, everything will happen in real time. But when we encounter enemies of our level or more powerful, the game will switch to a turn-based system where we can choose the actions of each of our characters. Making the process of facing different enemies lighter.
At the same time, Atlus has confirmed that Metaphor: ReFantazio will have a time limit to complete its missions, like in the recent Dragon’s Dogma 2. Something that will be added is that it is not an open world, but it will have very large scenarios. So much so that we will have additional mobility options, and even access to transportation to move from one region to another, which will not be automatic. Allowing us to establish relationships, manage our team, or get involved in some of its mini-games.
Metaphor: ReFantazio will be released on October 11th on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. In addition, Atlus has confirmed that they will showcase the game at various events worldwide in the future, but they have not confirmed anything yet.
