'Metaphor: ReFantazio' hands

By the time I tapped out of Persona 5after 60 hours of a massive high school adventure that I was enjoying less and less, I wasn’t sure I’d be excited to play the next game from Personaseries director Katsura Hashino. After spending about three hours with the team's next effort, Metaphor: ReFantazio, I will gladly spend about 90 more with it when it launches in October.

Rather than making a full-fledged Persona 6(though that is thought to be in the works as well), Hashino, and some of the other chief creatives from that series, formed a new team to make an original fantasy RPG with many of the same trappings as Persona. Metaphorhas turn-based combat, slickly stylish visuals, catchy music, and the same signature, calendar-based time management system from Persona.

However, by ditching the modern high school setting and opting for something more fantastical, Metaphormay have also shedded some of the things that made me swear off finishing Persona 5all those years ago.

What is Metaphor: ReFantazio?

Metaphoris a brand new original turn-based RPG from some of the people who made Persona 5.

It's set in a fantasy universe where the use of magic is strictly regulated by the government —and only possible with the use of special equipment. The world is structured as one large united kingdom, though the unity is only skin-deep; this is a world steeped in fantasy racism, where people with horns and elves socially lord over people with cat ears for long-standing —and likely very stupid —cultural reasons.

I got to play the first two hours or so of Metaphor(plus a shorter section from a later save) and, with some caveats, I was immediately sold on the team's creative vision here. I'm iffy on the fantasy racism angle (more on that later), but this is a gorgeous anime-style fantasy world full of creepy monsters and cool fashion. The monsters are called "humans," which made me laugh, if nothing else. And the protagonist carries around a "fantasy novel" that more or less just describes Earth. I'm pretty sure there's something weird going on here, is what I'm saying.

One detail I loved is that there is no music for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game, not until your fairy companion casts a spell to have music constantly playing in your head. That's very silly and endearing.

I won't go too deeply into the premise of the store because, frankly, I didn't see that much of it. But it seems to be a game about helping out a childhood friend while also maybeascending to the now-vacant throne of the kingdom. Along the way, you'll almost certainly meet a colorful cast of companions who will be your friends both in and outside of combat.

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How is it similar to Persona 5?

Despite seeing a handful of trailers ahead of my hands-on session with Metaphor, I wasn't sure how it would actually work in practice. It turns out that, in many ways, it's a lot like Persona 5.

Battles look familiar.Credit: Sega/Atlus

The combat basics, for instance, are very similar. Fights are turn-based and enemies (and player characters) are all strong and weak against different weapon types and magical elements. There’s a calendar with deadlines for major story milestones, and if you miss them, it’s game over. Nearly every action you take consumes time in some way. Party members, as well as non-combat NPCs, also form bonds with the protagonist, and developing these bonds over the course of the game by spending time with people will presumably unlock various benefits.

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The main one of those benefits seems to be unlocking Archetypes, which take the places of Personas as the omnipresent magical beings who characters equip to bolster or even totally alter their fighting styles. There are more than 40 Archetypes in the game, and each one carries a series of elemental strengths and weaknesses to go along with some spells and abilities that any character who equips that Archetype can use. Oh, and when a character first unlocks their Archetype, they reach into their chest and pull out a metal heart. It's awesome.

Metaphoralso has that funky verve that Personafans will instantly recognize. The menus and combat interfaces move with a distinct motion graphical flavor, and the battle music was stuck in my head for a week after playing the demo. Seriously, it heavily features what I would call "operatic yodeling" (I know there's probably a more accurate term, but that's what I'm going with) and a bombastic chorus that hopefully doesn't get old over the course of a long, long RPG.

How is it different from Persona 5?

The moment-to-moment gameplay in Metaphorresembles Persona 5enough that fans of that game will feel at home, at least until things start diverging. This is where Metaphor's demo really grabbed me; now that this team isn't restricted by the need to set its RPGs in realistic Japanese high schools, they can do some fun, weird stuff.

Of course, the screen where you unlock Archetypes looks like this.Credit: Sega/Atlus

For example, the main character speaks now. That's obviously not strictly related to the setting, but it's an immediately noticeable difference. Your dude will talk in full sentences, which really threw me off at first. Metaphoralso has a healthy dose of lore, with a codex you can open at any time during dialogue scenes to learn about the places, people, and things in this fantasy kingdom.

Remember how I said fights are turn-based in Metaphor? That's true, but only some of the time. Perhaps the biggest mechanical divergence from Personais the addition of simple, real-time action combat that complements the turn-based fights. When you encounter an enemy in a dungeon, you can use a three-hit combo and a dodge button to gradually deplete their stamina meter. Once the enemy's meter is down, thenyou enter turn-based mode, with a significant health advantage over the now-stunned enemy.

Of course, this is optional, and you can fight enemies in turn-based encounters without dealing with the real-time stuff. But I found that there's a serious advantage to engaging with this system, as enemies will start fights at about half health if you've managed to bop them a few times with your sword in the overworld. There's also risk to this, though. If an enemy hits you, the turn-based fight starts with your entire party at such a disadvantage that you might as well start over.

Speaking of which, there's a button to just start over turn-based fights from the first turn, whenever you want. I want every RPG to have this going forward.

Strohl is the first homie you meet in the story. He's got cool horns.Credit: Sega/Atlus

The action element, and the fact that hitting enemy weaknesses in turn-based fights doesn't automatically stun them anymore, made the combat I experienced in the Metaphordemo feel much more dynamic and unpredictable than in Persona. In the latter, fights often boil down to hitting every enemy's weakness until they're all down, then using a big team-up attack to end the fight. In Metaphor, that doesn't seem to be an option. You have to fully engage with the systems and think on your feet here, and fights feel challenging as a result.

Another promising development is that Archetypes don't work the way Personas did. In a Personagame, the protagonist can find, unlock, and develop dozens of Personas, but each party member just has one. Here, every character can unlock and equip every Archetype, and each one comes with an accompanying weapon type. In this way, selecting Archetypes feels more like choosing a new class than the equivalent system in Persona.

This is a much more difficult judgment to make after just a few hours with Metaphor, but in a general sense, I find it really refreshing that it's set in a fantasy world rather than trying to deal directly with real-world problems like Personadoes. Trust me; I'm not a "keep politics out of games" person at all. It's just that I don't think Personawas ever particularly good at dealing with real-world problems. Persona 4walked back on having gay and trans party members in a cowardly way, and 5wasn't much better.

Adding a layer of abstraction might help this team tell a better story this time around. I amworried about the fantasy racism aspect of Metaphor, as that's a concept that can quickly get out of hand if handled poorly. I didn't get enough time with the demo to fully grasp Metaphor's take on it, though, so that'll have to wait until the game is out.

Regardless of that one hang-up (and it's potentially a big one), Metaphor: ReFantazioquickly shot up my "most anticipated games" list after I played it for a few hours. Seriously, just listen to that battle music and tell me you don't want to know more about — er — whatever is going on there.

Metaphor: ReFantazio launches on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on Oct. 11.

TopicsGaming

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