WE'VE TRIED a lot of SEGA ATLUS games this year and all of them simply...blew us away. From Persona 3: Reload’s profound storytelling, to SMT V: Vengeance’s narrative and gameplay improvements, to the comedic nature of Sujimons and battle tested housemaids from Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and even the breathtaking scenes from Unicorn Overlord.
From all of these games we’ve ventured into, this makes us wonder if SEGA ATLUS has already exhausted all of their resources.
However it seems there’s more tricks under the developer’s sleeve with Metaphor: ReFantazio, introducing a new universe that’s worth exploring.
A video game art collection
The first time we saw Metaphor: ReFantazio and we immediately had some Persona 5 vibes. Just by looking at the game’s artstyle, it was clearly evident that the game emphasized heavily on its design and visuals.
Turn-based RPGs could be a turnoff for players who prefer hack-and-slash non stop motions, but the artistic nature of the battle transitions from Metaphor is an eye candy.
Combined that with the game’s battle theme, and the level of excitement we get from each battle would amplify our experience.
But there’s more to Metaphor’s visuals, as one can witness an avant garde-esque museum from the menu screen, the switching of towns, exploring various cities, the Academiya, unlocking various archetypes, the narration of events, etc. etc.
You’ll never feel the grind of an RPG setting with so much creativity displayed by the game’s visuals.
A smoother combat experience
If the game’s overall appearance was inspired by Persona 5, its combat mechanics ring a bell to other SEGA ATLUS specials, namely the other Persona games and Shin Megami Tensei.
Both feature a turn-based combat and offer a variety of options for players as there are numerous ways to customize your party.
Like in Persona, players can assign special deities to unlock various abilities for each of the party members. Of course they aren’t called personas, but rather archetypes. Now archetypes are different in a way that they follow more of the traditional RPG class settings.
For instance, the mage archetype has abilities that allow party members to unleash a barrage of spells from elements like fire, ice, wind, etc., while the warrior archetype offers more physical damage buffs.
Then there’s the knight archetype that serves as a walking tank, forcing opponents’ to coarse their attacks towards them instead of their teammates, plus there’s also the healer who provides supporting duties.
And there are other archetypes worth exploring and if you think that the game discourages players to experiment on these archetypes well surprise-surprise, you can actually integrate some spells from one archetype into the other. For example, imagine a knight who is mostly geared for defensive support to suddenly have a flame attack out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, when assessing the difficulty spike of Metaphor, there are resemblances to that of SMT as players need to strategically and carefully plan their boss encounters and it will get tougher as you progress.
Looking back at Persona 3, some players would just spend the entire in-game day brute forcing their way until they reach the end of the dungeon known as Tartarus, then they would spend the rest of the weeks improving their social stats or boost their relationships with various NPCs, which can ruin our momentum especially once we experience the thrills of exploring the heart-pounding nature of Tartarus.
Metaphor on the other hand discourages players to go all out and spend the entire day grinding all the way to the top of the dungeon, as there are bosses with abilities that could be overwhelming.
Instead, players are encouraged to seek other means to gain experience to deal with these baddies through accepting hunting requests.
And this will motivate players to explore the towns and fulfill requests and interact with NPCs, which is a crucial gameplay element.
Now speaking about that…
A hero in the making
This game perfectly incorporates the lore and politics into the mix as players are encouraged to boost their popularity, and they could only achieve that goal by interacting with NPCs and fulfilling requests.
Some NPCs will boost your social stats as well as your popularity kinda like the Persona games. However what I like about Metaphor is that it gives players a deeper level of motivation to earn those social points.
The main character of the story is an Elda and their race are considered outcasts in the game. NPCs will constantly call you out and discriminate against you.
Completing quests will help you overcome the racism in society, as you slowly become an influential figure, destined to change the fate of the world.
The discrimination that the player experiences is one aspect of the game’s narrative and there are other notable moments that will catch your attention.
Themes of anxiety will also be explored as players will learn more about archetypes. These powerful beings can only be summoned when the party experiences an anxiety inducing moment that they need to overcome, which actually resonates well in real life.
Then when looking at the overall narrative, Metaphor offers a lot of mystery about its universe, especially since there are hints that would suggest its correlation to the world that us, the player, lives in. Wait, so does this mean that we're also involved in Metaphor’s universe? Perhaps it would be best if we leave everything open to interpretation.
Final Judgement
The beauty from Metaphor: ReFantazio stems from combining the best elements from SEGA ATLUS’ RPG masterpieces and the end result is one of the best games in 2024.
Everything about ReFantazio is wonderfully crafted. SEGA ATLUS games have always been renowned for their music and the same applies with ReFantazio.
And while other games would have a fairy companion that tends to annoy players, Metaphor’s Gallica seems to go for the opposite route as Atlus made her as a lovable companion. Even the other characters who join the protagonist’s cause have really profound character developments that definitely amplifies the experience.
Another obra-maestra from SEGA ATLUS and another potential candidate for Game of the Year, Metaphor: ReFantazio deserves a 10/10.
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