Metaphor: ReFantazio First Thoughts

(This will not be addressing the leaks from the data within the demo, only the content accessible through playing the game normally. If you want to avoid spoilers regarding the prologue, skip the story section)

Metaphor: ReFantazio’s demo came out a few days ago and I played through it. It took me roughly three and a half hours to get through the prologue of the game, and during that time the main conflict of the game was introduced, the setting was established, and the gameplay had started to just barely open up before I was cut off.

To get the least surprising bit out of the way, the presentation is absolutely stellar. The character design is memorable and varied, the soundtrack already has some certified bangers, and the UI has that classic Atlus swag. The environments are lively, and they are enhanced by a cell-shaded filter that makes them look like a mix between a modern pastel landscape and an old, somewhat faded oil painting. Though most of the characters have horns, elf ears, dog ears, etc, these features are incorporated into the designs without being relied on. Even if none of these traits were there, all of the major character designs would stand out.

Okay, but is it just Persona but fantasy though?

Kind of, but also not really. There are certainly similarities with some of the game systems, such as the social-link elements, time management and calendar. The “Akademia” area where you talk to the scholar, More, is also reminiscent of the Velvet Room, particularly in the way that Persona 5 did it. The combat system is the Press-Turn system but slightly to the left, but it plays more like a mainline Shin Megami Tensei game than it does a modern Persona title. There isn’t a named “one-more” system or baton passing, but striking weaknesses does grant extra actions. If you have played Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, battles work almost identically to it. There are Synthesis attacks where two party members can act on the same turn to do a more powerful action, but so far there isn’t anything like a Magatsuhi meter (think a super attack meter or a limit break if you are unfamiliar with SMTV). Synthesis attacks are not unlocked in the demo until near the very end, and can be used as much as you like provided you have the MP, but each party member can only contribute once per turn, so they can’t be spammed thoughtlessly. It will be interesting to see how deep this system goes, as you can only use them in one major battle so far and even with just the starting Archetypes I had unlocked quite a few of them.

The reason I don’t think this game is just fantasy Persona though comes from the meaningful ways in which it deviates. Most notably, it is not a monster-tamer at all. There are no enemies that you can recruit or negotiate with, meaning the Archetypes you unlock are not really equivalent to demons or personas. They act more like a job system, where every party member can learn these Archetypes and even transfer learned moves from one Archetype to another. All of the Archetypes that can be gained in the demo are unlocked via story progression, but most likely there will be optional ones that are gained through side-quests and optional social links. It also seems that characters can gain more advanced versions of their base Archetypes once they are maxed out, but I was not able to do anything like that within the confines of the demo. The Archetypes work very similarly to job systems from games like Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default, and some of the older Final Fantasy titles.

The monster designs in this game, particularly with the “human” monsters, are also distinct from previous Atlus titles. While there are obviously some generic wolves, slimes, and dragons, the major bosses in this demo that weren’t human often dipped into body horror territory. They are reminiscent of old fairy tale nightmare creatures.

Now that’s what I call a monster design! The “humans” are consistently horrifying and I love it. The fact that a lot of the enemies are pretty generic adds a lot to the alien feel that these creatures have. I can’t wait to see more of them.

How’s the story?

With what little we have so far, it’s hard to speak to the quality of the story overall, but personally I think the prologue has done a great job of setting up the stakes, worldbuilding, and themes as needed. Is it really on the nose with some of that? Yes. Absolutely. But when has an Atlus game ever been subtle?

I was initially pretty worried with how the game was going to handle the fantasy racism. With how extreme the discrimination that the protagonist’s tribe faces, along with some of the other ones, I feared that this could be a Zootopia or Brand New Animal level flop of a racism metaphor. But even with how often it is emphasized, I found that the writers seem to have taken a level of care to think about how systematic racism and classism actually works. It also helps that there are actually people of color within the world. If everyone was super pale skinned it would have come off as a lot more tone deaf, and I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but going off a lot of the NPC dialogue and the in-game lore guide, the way this game handles discrimination so far feels very natural. As a white person I can’t go too in depth about this stuff, but a lot of the discriminatory dialogue and even some smaller, more hidden moments felt realistic and uncomfortably familiar as a trans person.

The main event, however, is definitely the election plot line. Louis is, so far, a fantastic villain. He reminds me a lot of real militaristic leaders and talks the same way I’ve seen politicians talk. Like this dude is probably two steps away from wearing a MAGA hat. While he comes off as completely evil to the main cast and me as a player, and is clearly meant to, I can also understand why people in this setting actually support him. He’s charismatic, powerful, has an underdog story going for him in his rise to power within the military, and knows how to strike fear into people by talking about the “humans” and vowing to protect everyone from them. Early on, Strohl discovers that Louis was in part responsible for his village being destroyed by a human attack that his subordinates neglected to intervene in with the goal of being able to use the resulting devastation as propaganda for increasing military power.

There area also many mysteries that have been set up that will remain in the back of my mind while I wait for the game to come out. Why did Louis opt to curse the prince instead of outright killing him? What is More’s deal, and why is he trapped in Akademia? Why has the game explicitly set up the player as a separate entity than the protagonist of the story? How will the metanarrative regarding the value of fantastical worlds and utopian storytelling come into play overall? If Atlus manages to execute all of these plot lines meaningfully, Metaphor: Refantazio is shaping up to easily be one of their most interesting games, and I hope I will have more to say about it when it comes out in a few weeks.