“After his assassination, the will of the late king decrees the next monarch to be elected by the people. Forge bonds and win over a kingdom divided in this award-winning fantasy RPG with turn-based and action combat, party customization with powerful Archetypes, and hours of exploration.” – Steam Synopsis
I literally had no idea what Atlus was or what the MegaTen series was before I decided to play Persona 5 on a whim a few falls ago. That game captivated me like very few games have. I would say I’ve been a fan since, but I haven’t beaten any of Atlus’ other games until now. Metaphor is a game that oozes style and magic. Both that instantly captivated me into this world it presents. But as the credits roll and I gear up for my second play through, so I can get all the trophies. The mark this game left on me is undeniable. It made me feel hopeful.
At a base level, this is a story about a race/competition for the throne after the king’s assassination. Whoever has the most of the public’s support after a set date will be crowned king. We play as the MC, who is a friend of the prince who is under a curse that we’re trying to break. This is a great setup. It provides two solid goals for us to strive for, and leaves room for a lot of twists and turns that the story takes. I love how this story progresses and we learn more about the kingdom as it is and how it came to be as we visit different places, befriend more people, gain new allies, lose and gain support throughout the competition. It took me about 90 hours to complete this game, and the story never dragged for me. Whether it be the main story or companion quests. There was always something interesting happening, or some type of mystery or scheme. It’s a testament to Atlus’ writing that they can create games this long and maintain such a level throughout.
The story gets very meta at certain points, but what is a constant throughout is that this is a fantasy world with magic and fantasy creatures, but the people of this world face the same issues that we face in the real world. Within moments of stepping into the capital, the MC is faced with racism and being treated poorly. This game does a great job of tackling that and the reasons why this nation has gotten to this point. There is also a big emphasis on church and religion, and the story tackles it in a really nice way, basically saying that it isn’t inherently bad, but anything so powerful can and will be used by bad people to control others and justify their actions. As we travel and see the rest of this kingdom and its cultures, people, and races. We see how everyone is being affected, but the beautiful thing about this game is that it always finds a genuine silver lining. The MC even carries around a book about a fantasy world where everyone lives in peace despite their differences and cultures, and ultimately, as we adventure, that really becomes our true goal. That made me feel good inside; it made me feel hopeful.
Speaking of characters. I think this roster of companions and followers is my favorite in any game that has a companion system. At the very least, it’s better than Persona 5’s. I loved every moment with every character. I was excited when a new companion was unlocked, and the story brilliantly uses each of their character strengths. Every character moment hit hard. I don’t want to go too deep for fear of spoiling, but I walked away from this game loving everyone, including the villains of the story, and there were some real standout moments throughout the game.
Going back to my Atlus experience. I have around 200 hours in base Persona 5, and a combined 15 or so in both Persona 4 Golden and Shin Megami Tensei 4. To me, gameplay-wise, this game improves upon every aspect of those immensely. The biggest change is that, instead of personas or demons that you command and fuse, this game has archetypes, which act as classes. The archetype system is probably my favorite in any RPG game. Not only was each one uniquely visually stunning and cool. They all had their functions and use cases. I played 97% of this game on hard, and that combat puzzle of figuring out which archetype set would work for each encounter was great. The next biggest thing is over world combat. Not being forced to engage with enemies more than 3 levels weaker than you is such a great QoL change that gets rid of tedious encounters. Also, weapons matter more. I remember playing through Persona 5 and pretty much neglecting my weapons unless needed. Here, they actually affect the physical or magical strength of your abilities, so they matter way more. Then, last but not least, the dungeons in this game are amazing. From the main dungeons to the side stuff. Dungeons in both P5 and SMT4 would get tedious very quickly. I actually enjoyed my time dungeon crawling in this game.
The praise will continue with some caveats here. This game looks amazing, and it is stylish to a fault almost. Like the main menu and sub menus oozes more style than most games entirely. But, I will say it can be very overwhelming at first, especially with the over world effects. I do think you get used to it, but it may take a while. The cut scenes are so good. Both the in-game renders and the animated ones. I wish there were more animated ones, but the ones we do get are very well animated and voice-acted. Really, this whole game is just amazingly voice-acted. I have my favorites, but I loved the variety of European accents and tones.
Now for my biggest gripe, which is… the music. Look, to me, Atlus is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to video game music. P5 and P4’s soundtracks belong in a museum. I’m not saying that this game has a weak soundtrack. It’s fine. It goes for a very intense fantasy feel, which works, and it also has some high points at certain moments that wowed me. The soundtrack works for this story and this game, but it pretty quickly faded into the background for me. It’s not memorable, which sucks coming from their other games.
So yeah, I loved this game. It has quickly risen to one of my favorite games ever. The changes/improvements to a formula that Atlus has been building on for decades now are excellent and also very welcome. This game shines as much through its gameplay as it does with its story and characters. All of which I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. I love how this story wasn’t afraid to tackle really serious and still prevalent societal subject matter, and I think it handled it all with a lot of grace. This game tackles all of it while also constantly reminding the players and the characters that there is always a way and there is always hope. And that message is very appreciated.
Metaphor: ReFantazio – 10/10
Notes – Changing costumes makes the music changes and its such a vibe. I finished my second play through to get all the trophies after writing this, and it was a bit frustrating but not hard at all. Loved all my time with this game.
