Metaphor: ReFantazio
The battle music inMetaphor: ReFantaziois incredible.
Urgent, insistent chanting builds tension over dramatic string stabs before a glorious brass fanfare emerges with choral harmonies.
It’s as grand and operatic as the game as a whole.
Music is - quite literally - magic.
Here, the switch to rich classical orchestration presents a new style but a familiar reliance on catchy earworms.
And that’s emblematic of Metaphor as a whole.
It’s far more than just Persona in fantasy clothing.
That grew further withPersona 4(2008) and then exploded withPersona 5(2016).
It’s an exciting prospect.
I got to experience this myself in an extensive hands-on preview.
Cue an adventure to become the next leader through a fantasy election.
Despite its election premise, though, Atlus appears keen to distance itself from strong political connotations.
Still, Hashino stated anxiety and finding common ground with others is core to the narrative.
Indeed, prejudice in a multicultural society is clearly a key theme.
Tanaka explained the game explores the different ways people face anxiety when they’re confronted with it.
Can this fantasy truly become a reality for the inhabitants of Euchronia - or for us?
Metaphor has plenty of obvious equivalents to previous Atlus games.
The turn-based battle system builds on that from SMT3 with its weakness exploitation.
Social stats are now kingly attributes to ensure the protagonist is vote-worthy.
And it all oozes cool, with stylish UI and extravagant scenes.
So far, so Persona, right?
But Metaphor then develops these elements for an experience that feels modern, expansive and layered.
That will impact Synthesis, a new key part of combat where character abilities combine into new powers.
This turns single attacks into multi-hit versions, or other powerful moves with elaborate animations.
Yes, that means a typically gruesome scene as characters awaken to their power.
It’s testament to how intricately designed combat in these games has become that little has changed.
There’s one major shake up, though, and that’s the inclusion of real-time combat.
Dungeons are also no longer randomly generated, Atlus confirmed during the preview.
That means no Tartarus or Mementos, just hand-crafted dungeons to explore with their own puzzles.
Later I played through an underground waterway complete with water-level puzzle and a shadowy giant baby stalking the halls.
Metaphor is frequently, incredibly twisted.
The calendar system of Persona also makes a return, though appears a little less rigid in Metaphor.
Fans of SMT and Persona will easily slip into Metaphor.
But importantly, this is a fresh start for Atlus and new fans alike.
This expansive, detailed, and complex RPG (both structurally and thematically) is incredibly ambitious.
