Spearheaded by a trio of veteran builders greatest recognized for his or her excellent work on the Persona collection, Metaphor: ReFantazio is the daybreak of a model new IP from Atlus. In its construction and mechanics, it feels comfortingly acquainted, however in its fantastical setting and daring type — each by way of visuals and audio — it breaks new floor in brilliantly memorable methods.
Proper off the bat, Metaphor boasts one of many strongest overarching narratives that the Japanese developer has ever authored. The place the Persona video games usually let their deeply endearing characters all however carry the central plot, Metaphor crafts a tightly-knit story that includes political machinations, racial tensions, spiritual corruption, and persistently artistic worldbuilding.
In choosing a fantasy setting, it nearly appears like Atlus is ready to unleash a degree of creativity that we have not seen from the corporate in a long time. Whereas there is not any doubt that the title borrows from established ideas and themes of current works, it manages to meld one thing distinctive — a recreation that’ll stick with you lengthy after the credit roll. And in an period when so many fashionable RPGs both battle to face out, or are happy with merely driving the coattails of style classics, that is extremely excessive reward.
A cursed prince is the crux of Metaphor’s story, and your wide-eyed protagonist is tasked with being the would-be king’s saviour. The sport opens as you method the foreboding capital metropolis of Grand Trad, your solely aim being to satisfy up with a contact within the kingdom’s army. For sure, proceedings do not essentially go to plan, and earlier than you recognize it, you are snarled within the title’s narrative hook: the royal match.
Primarily, the late king’s remaining want sees hundreds of potential successors compete for the throne. Very like Persona, Metaphor operates on an in-game calendar system, which supplies you many months to determine your self because the main candidate, all within the identify of your curse-stricken prince. You journey the land by way of a superbly drawn map, partaking in contests of brains and brawn at key areas along with your rivals, all whereas making an attempt to win the folks’s favour.
Once more, Persona is the closest comparability almost about construction. Every time you arrive at a recent vacation spot, you are launched to new characters and story beats throughout a variety of in-game days — by which era a risk to the native populace is unearthed, and you are the hero in ready. It is fairly formulaic stuff, however you are given ample quantities of free time in between the introduction of your present process and its looming deadline.
Metaphor shines throughout these player-driven sections. There are monster bounties to money in on, non-obligatory dungeons to rummage by means of, and, in fact, allies to converse with. Free days are damaged down into afternoons and nights, and also you’re clearly inspired to spend your restricted time properly. But when that sounds hectic, know that the sport does a powerful job of creating the whole lot really feel streamlined and accessible; it is a tightly designed expertise the place numerous techniques feed again into others, making certain that there is all the time one thing to work in the direction of.
For instance, ‘Followers’ are a group of your closest allies, from celebration members to secondary characters. Spending high quality time with them offers you entry to a rising checklist of helpful perks — advantages like lowered store costs and enhanced fight instructions. However a Follower’s true price is discovered within the Archetypes (learn: character lessons) that they unlock, with extra highly effective incarnations saved for extra severe relationships.
Archetypes are the lynchpin of Metaphor’s gameplay development. Our protagonists can assume the type of hulking heroic entities in battle, granting them harmful magics and skills in order that they will go toe-to-toe with the dominion’s most harmful creatures. Whereas your celebration members do have statistical preferences — the stoic knight Hulkenberg, for example, is primarily constructed to resist injury — you are still free to have any ally channel any Archetype.
Naturally, there’s quite a lot of potential for party-based experimentation. Tanks, damage-dealers, healers, spellcasters — it is your customary RPG job system, however it’s brilliantly woven into the remainder of the sport’s mechanical tapestry and its worldbuilding. Levelling up your Archetypes and pushing in the direction of a selected celebration steadiness is all the time rewarding — particularly since abilities can finally be transferred between Archetypes, permitting for but extra customisation.
That brings us neatly to the turn-based fight, which takes cues from each Persona and the broader Shin Megami Tensei franchise. Atlus’ trademark weak point system, through which you exploit enemy vulnerabilities in an effort to achieve extra turns, stays on the coronary heart of battle — however usually talking, fights are extra strategically paced than what you may discover elsewhere.
The title’s bestiary is not notably massive — in reality, enemy sorts can develop fairly repetitive as the journey wears on — however your foes are well-defined of their behaviours and traits, in a manner that is considerably paying homage to older Ultimate Fantasy video games. Take Goborns, for instance — merciless monsters that fly right into a frenzy ought to they spy a celebration member wielding any form of magic-based weaponry. Or the bird-like Cockatrice, which is able to one-shotting allies who aren’t buffed by a defensive spell.
What we’re saying is that there is way more to fight than simply putting elemental weaknesses; there are quite a lot of particulars to take note of, and that elements into each your chosen tools and Archetypes. Certainly, Metaphor could be a brutally unforgiving RPG even on its regular problem setting; enemies could be downright ruthless in the event you’re caught underprepared, harkening again to the hardcore days of Shin Megami Tensei 3 and the like.
That form of demanding problem curve retains Metaphor partaking all through; its fight system is continually supplying you with one thing new to think about. It is price mentioning, nonetheless, that in the event you’re taking part in for the story initially, there are simpler difficulties to mess around with — and people choices are all the time welcome when there could be such a nice line between enjoyment and frustration.
The boss battles, by the way in which, are clear highlights. We’re speaking distinctive and stunning mechanics that demand your consideration, showcasing the very best elements of Metaphor’s fight design. You get the impression that Atlus desires every battle to really feel significant, and that extends by means of to the truth that you possibly can select to simply obliterate lower-level foes by way of motion fight, which takes place as you are dashing round dungeons.
Very like within the current Trails by means of Dawn, you possibly can stun enemies with action-based assaults, resulting in a direct benefit upon triggering the common turn-based battle. Nevertheless, the trade-off is that ought to you be attacked by a suitably sturdy opponent — often since you’ve woefully mistimed your dodge roll — you may find yourself being ambushed. And that is just about a loss of life sentence in the case of coping with extra succesful monsters.
Whether or not it is by means of storytelling or demanding fight situations, Metaphor retains you locked in — however it does stumble with dungeon design. The beast-infested areas that you will discover throughout the primary marketing campaign are largely nice, however non-obligatory dungeons undergo from a noticeable drop in high quality. Granted, their predominant function is to accommodate encounters and get you enthusiastic about treasure chests, however they’re shockingly bland to have a look at, and their repetitive layouts depart a lot to be desired. And no, they are not procedurally generated — though they usually really feel like they might be.
Talking of presentation, Metaphor could be disappointingly tough across the edges; a problem that is amplified by the sport’s frankly unbelievable artwork course. The character portraits, their designs, the painterly menus, the consumer interface… it is all beautiful, and so it stings a bit when NPCs and environments are coated in terribly low decision textures and dodgy anti-aliasing. Finally, the sport’s artistry overshadows these ugly graphical flaws, however it’s nonetheless a jarring downgrade off the again of the completely immaculate Persona 3 Reload, which Atlus launched earlier this yr.
And eventually, let’s contact upon the music, which has received to be a few of longtime composer Shoji Meguro’s most putting work so far. It is a booming orchestral rating that makes use of incessant, religious-sounding chants and rousing choirs, leading to an odd and arguably otherworldly tone. It has been a very long time since we heard such distinctive however compelling tracks in a online game, as soon as once more emphasising Metaphor’s creativity.
