Review: Metaphor: ReFantazio Takes Time to Grow on You

With slick controls, somewhat distracting visuals, and a story full of ups and downs, Metaphor: ReFantazio can be a mixed bag of an experience. Though I didn’t approach it or want to approach Atlus’ new game as “fantasy Persona 5,” there are so many similar elements when it comes to both its gameplay and storytelling that it’s hard to fully divorce the two. Some parts of the worldbuilding and story may fall flat, but as a whole, it’s an entertaining ride thanks to its fun characters and fast-paced combat.

Metaphor: ReFantazio takes place in a fantasy world that consists of many different races called “tribes.” Each tribe has unique traits, and it doesn’t take long for the game to show you the average state of this world is “cruelly racist.” The Protagonist, as an elda, gets it the worst. Nonetheless, he, along with fairy companion Gallica and other friends, strive to save the country from the dark ambitions of the archmage Count Louis. Louis not only killed the king, but cursed the prince into a coma as well, all to rule the kingdom. With a proper heir absent, people argue between the Sanctist Church’s more rightful claim to the throne and the new order Louis promises to bring about as king. Then, a rock bearing the king’s face appears in the sky and proclaims that whomever gains the most support from the populace shall become the next monarch.

Thus begins a competition among the most determined to see who can capture the hearts of the people. The Protagonist and his friends vow to secure the throne for the prince so that he, not Louis, can lead the country down a brighter path. That’s easier said than done though, considering they have to deal with the corrupt Sanctist Church, Louis’s schemes, and other candidates’ interference. Clocking in at well over 80 hours even if you don’t do all of the side content, the story evolves beyond this premise, of course. While it can get predictable at times, it’s not a bad thing and I still enjoyed it for the most part. I’ve never actually laughed out loud when playing Persona 3 through 5, but there are some points at Metaphor: ReFantazio that, for both good and bad reasons, elicited a little chuckle or guffaw.

You know how media or moral guardians usually (and inaccurately) depict child predators as a skeevy-looking stranger or whatever group they want to point fingers at that day? Even though statistically, most children know their attacker? The racism that’s depicted in Metaphor: ReFantazio is kind of like that. It’s asinine, shallow, and childish, usually boiling down to NPC chatter hurling insults (not even slurs) while you’re passing by or cartoonish scenes of racial injustice. While the memorandum gives in-lore reasons as to why certain tribes have a worse reputation than others, very few in-game characters make charged comments about cuisine or appearance. Considering how, barring the eugief, they’re all basically human variants, it makes the very harsh racism feel forced. Yes, sometimes writing shouldn’t be subtle, especially with the rise of anti-intellectualism. But there’s a way to be on the nose with your themes without verging into caricature territory.

One of the first things Metaphor reminded me of was Zootopia. Zootopia’s allegory of racism falls apart the moment you think a little bit. Prey animals have a legitimate reason to be scared of predators. Meanwhile, in real life, there’s no legitimate reason to be scared of everyone with a particular skin tone or cultural background. In Japan though, where racism in media is not usually analyzed beyond the surface level, Zootopia was viewed as a triumph of social justice in entertainment. Since I’m not physically in the country, I only have the Internet to rely on. From what I can tell, the Japanese Internet applauds Zootopia for avoiding preachiness and “forced political correctness” to spread its message in a family-fun film.

Racism and prejudice in Japan is a topic that’s far too broad to discuss in a video game review. But to put it simply: the average Japanese person in Japan doesn’t have a lot of personal experience with the everyday racism that people of color in Western countries experience. The low rate of people with passports may also contribute to them not having firsthand experience with microaggressions or more. Of course prejudice exists, and bullying is a very serious societal issue there. But when it comes to racism? I’ve seen takes from Japanese people ranging anywhere from “Foreigners in Japan who think we’re prejudiced are just too sensitive; people stare because it’s like seeing a legendary Pokemon in the wild” to “We’re not shooting people of color over their skin tone, hence we’re not racist.”

This is not a knock against Japan in particular. Come on, I live in Canada. However, this was all to note that when an average Japanese person who may not have extensive personal experience with racism tries to write a story delving into racism, it can ring hollow for those who have to deal with that. This isn’t a surprise; Western-made games can be that way as well, which is why elevating minority voices is so important in creative spaces. It’s hard for a member of the racial majority to have a full perspective of what life’s like for the “other” and conversations about those experiences aren’t as common compared to the English space.

When Metaphor: ReFantazio wants to focus on political corruption, greed, and the dangers of ignorance, it’s far more compelling. Hardly surprising, considering what Persona 5 was like and how universal those issues are. The way Metaphor: ReFantazio tackles its themes will likely resonate with a Japanese audience. But from a Western perspective, it reads as horribly naive. If they’d released this game back in 2018, maybe it would’ve been fine. In the social and political climate of 2024, though? Oof. Fortunately, while it makes a pretty horrible first impression, thanks to the way it handles the racism bend, the game does grow on you when it starts to introduce and focus on other plot elements.

Now, let’s discuss how the game actually feels. Prior to the optimization update on PCs, the game was a stuttering mess. After the patch, it runs butter-smooth. I would like to extend a very sincere and heartfelt “thank you” to people who complained and reported issues. You guys saved my eyes and sanity. Visually speaking, the game can be hit or miss. I personally like the watercolor look it employs for portraits, menus, and scenic spaces. The filter over the 3D movies looks fairly bad, but it adds to the overall fictional fantasy aesthetic so I can appreciate its addition. One thing that either grows on you or doesn’t is the battle UI and the fact that everything is always moving. Pre-optimization, the battle UI seemed so messy and busy what with the cartography lines and all. Post-optimization, with the better FPS, everything moves so fast that the overall effect is much better.

Outside of battle though, the constant moving can be terrible, especially in the gauntlet runner. There’s a running joke that Strohl gets carsick (runner-sick?) a lot. He was already my favorite due to his Japanese voice actor and his personality, but this endears him to me more. The gauntlet runner can be a nightmare at times. It’s always shaking and rumbling when you’re on the move. Depending on how many hours I spent in-game, this could be either manageable or a serious eyesore. The text box is always moving too, which can be distracting at first glance. You really do have to give yourself some time to adjust to the game, though I can’t say how much of my current comfort with everything comes from familiarity or, again, the update.

The fantasy world of Metaphor is pretty fun to explore, and I liked to talk to the NPCs to get a feel of each individual town. The cities all feel very distinct, and it was a huge sigh of relief to leave Grand Trad behind early on. Dungeon designs were a lot less inspired, as they all kind of looked and felt the same. There’s something about the map design and the overall graphics that make them look like something I’d see in Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Three Hopes, which was kind of strange. Exploration’s not that fun, but at the very least you can defeat weak enemies on the overworld without having to waste time trouncing cannon fodder you’re twenty levels stronger than.

If you liked Persona 5 or Persona 3 Reload, you’ll like Metaphor: ReFantazio. For one thing, the gameplay loop is exactly the same. You have deadlines that you must meet throughout the story or else it’s game over. During your free time, you can explore dungeons and make headway on the main mission, or you can hang out with your companions and level up your Royal Virtues. A new inclusion in this is that when you’re going to dungeons, you might need to use up several days’ worth of travel time. This means that you’ll need to be a bit more mindful of how you plan your time before your deadline. There are also some exclusive rewards that you can get from leveling up your Royal Virtues or relationship levels in addition to new Archetypes, much like how you could get bonuses in social links in the Persona games.

The reason why Persona 4 wasn’t included in the above is because the combat in Metaphor: ReFantazio uses the same modern take on turn-based battle that those two games did. It’s fun and addictive, and the feeling of unlocking more skills and Archetypes is quite rewarding. For me, the familiarity of the established Shin Megami Tensei and Persona battle system was welcome, since it makes it easy to pick up and start. But I can understand others viewing it as a con. Additions like the front and back lines, Synthesis, and the option to skip a turn can really expand your strategies, so it’s not one-to-one to past games from director Hashino.

There’s an extra layer of planning between battles, thanks to the game not letting you switch Archetypes on the fly. See an enemy you know has a Pierce Weakness and you don’t have anyone who can hit it? Better shove one in or regret it later. It’s great that there aren’t limits as to what Archetypes characters can unlock. While everyone has their own specialties, due to differing stats, it’s still nice to know that I have the option of using, say, Hulkenberg as a makeshift mage or healer should my more dedicated magic users run out of MP. I also highly recommend that you take a look at the weather report before heading to dungeons. Even if it’s more worthwhile to fight enemies on bad weather days, the bonus isn’t big enough to justify going through hell if you have to deal with enemies like my nemesis, the Guptauros.

As a whole, Metaphor: ReFantazio is quite charming and fun. It’s interesting to see so many familiar elements from Shin Megami Tensei and Persona in this sort of high fantasy game. But I also wish that Atlus had tried something completely different, especially since this is a separate IP. At times, it doesn’t feel like there’s enough difference between this and what Persona 5 brought to the table. I went into this game wanting to judge it on its own merit, and yet it refuses to let me leave behind Joker’s specter. Granted, Metaphor‘s story does have a lot more intrigue as it goes on. There’s probably something to make of all this—that promises to branch away from the status quo usually don’t pan out, leading to little actual change—but I’m sure I’m just reading too deeply into this metaphor.

Metaphor: ReFantazio will come out on October 11, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.