This review is part of my (very late) 2024 in Gaming retrospective, being Metaphor: ReFantazio my second favorite game of last year, losing only by a really tiny margin to Mother 3.
It’s hard to talk about Metaphor: ReFantazio without mentioning Persona and Atlus as a whole, so, let’s start right there. This game, or at least its existence, was announced in the distant year of 2016 under the name Project Re:Fantasy, alongside a new internal division at Atlus named Studio Zero with Katsura Hashino at its helm. Hashino was the director of Persona 3, 4 and 5, arguably the three most successful and beloved games ever released by the japanese company, so it was only natural for the expectations for this new title to be quite high, at least for those who were aware of it. I wasn’t one of them, I can tell you that. I wasn’t a connoisseur of this fantastic series back then. But I already was when this game was properly revealed under it’s final name in 2023. That was the moment when I caught the hype train and never left it.
From each trailer released, the opportunity to try it before release at Gamescom 2024 and then finally playing it in October of last year, as soon as it got out, my journey with this game was amazing.
A tournament for the throne
Metaphor’s narrative is quite interesting right from the beginning, as it takes no time to show us the crude reality of the Royal Kingdom of Euchronia, where all it takes place. The king was assassinated and his only descendant is severely sick, unable to take the throne. Predicting this exact outcome, the king set some “royal magic” to enforce a tournament to define his successor, where anyone can participate and popularity being the deciding factor. Quite a democratic system for a monarchy, if you ask me.
Our mission, encarnating the game’s protagonist, is to win this tournament. The reason for such mission being entrusted to us is only disclosed later in the story, but the journey is quite fascinating nonetheless. It reminded me a lot of the Triwizard tournament, from Harry Potter and the Gobblet of Fire, where we, just like Harry, play the role of the underdog that somehow keeps afloat after many dangerous tasks. It goes without saying that in this tournament we face many strong and charismatic opponents, but none of them comes close of the gravitas of Louis Guiabern – Metaphor’s main antagonist. His influence is felt through the entire game. In fact, he’s the very first character we see in the opening cutscene, killing the king during his sleep. Yup, you read it right, this is not a spoiler, its the starting point of this story.
The power of archetypes
To defeat Louis and win the tournament to the throne, we must face countless challenges, like killing monsters, doing bounty hunting or finding precious items hidden in perilous dungeons. Luckily we are not alone in this quest and in typical JRPG fashion, we gather along the way a group of misfits who share one thing in common: the power of weilding archetypes.
Archetypes, much like Personas from, you know, Persona, work as almighty creatures with magical powers that the characters can transform into during combat. Each Archetype family has its own strenght, weeknesses and perks. Unlike Personas however, Archetypes cannot be collected, being unlocked via an Archetype tree instead. Think of it as a typical RPG job system. No character is restricted to any particular Archetype, which is nice, but each one has a ridiculosuly powerful “Royal Archetype” that can only be unlocked after maxing out specific Archetype families. While not mandatory to unlock, they are extremely helpful near the end of the game, which ends up creating a paradox of choice. You can evolve any character into anything you want, but each one has a recommended path.
While Archetypes are the centrepiece of the game’s combat, they aren’t the only option. During dungeon exploration, we have two options to approach enemies — via direct combat, or entering in a classic turn-based combat. If the enemies are weak, direct combat can kill them instantly, but when dealing with stronger opponents, this option can only make a dent at best, but it allows to enter in vantage for the turn-based combat, if the enemy doesn’t counter back. This hybrid combat system is something that makes so much sense that it will be a bit harder for me going back to other games of this genre without it. In some dungeons I must admit it was the only saving grace, as many share the same design and overall structure. In my opinion, Persona 5 continues to be the best Atlus title in that regard.
Medieval fantasy done right
It’s impossible to deny that medieval fantasy is a massively popular type of setting in the world of videogames, however it’s one I’m not particularly interested in, with some exceptions. If it wasn’t for everthing I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I wouldn’t probably even touch on this game, and a shame that would be, because Metaphor’s medieval setting isn’t quite the typical one. For starters, calling it “medieval” is a bit of a stretch, because it only borrows some elements of that aesthetic, with many others resembling much more the industrial revolution era. But most importantly, this fantasy world has an uncanny resemblance with our real world, with concepts such as prejudice, racism, classism or misinformation being heavily present in every corner of this vast fictional kingdom. After all, this game is just a metaphor of our own reality.
Lastly, let me just mention the incredible sound and art direction that elevates this whole experience to epic levels. The Atlus’ veterans have showed us they didn’t lost their Midas Touch.
Pros
- Action and turn-based combat masterfully blend
- One of the best antagonists I ever seen in a videogame
- Phenomenal art direction and interface design
- Absurdly great soundtrack
Cons
- Some dungeons are a bit repetitive
Masterpiece✦✦✦✦✦
Metaphor: ReFantazio promised a lot and delivered in every single aspect. While somewhat derivative of Persona, it introduced its own spin to the gameplay formula. A must-play for JRPGs enthusiasts.
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