What is a fantasy? What does that word mean to you? Dragons, Elves? Maybe a grand quest? A dream of a better world? This is one of many questions that Metaphor: ReFantazio asks you. Directly.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Developer: Studio 0
Price: $70
Platform: PS5 (reviewed), PC, Xbox Series S/X
MonsterVine was supplied with Playstation 5 code for review
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the first game from Studio 0, made up of developers from the incredibly popular Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series. It was a gamble doing this over the safer option of a Persona 6, but thankfully, it was the right one.
At first glance, Metaphor: ReFantazio takes a lot of the design elements from Persona. There’s a time management system, social links, and of course, what are more or less the titular Personas, called “Archetypes” this time. It’d be easy to call this a continuation of that franchise, except Metaphor: ReFantazio is more interested in much more mature and outright political themes than any persona ever was.
If you’ve played a Persona or Shin Megami Tensei game, a lot of Metaphor: ReFantazio will feel familiar to you. There are a lot of returning systems that feel pretty similar but work very differently under the hood. The major one is Archetypes.
Eschewing the traditional Persona fusing, it is instead something more akin to a job system. Archetypes function as multiple classes that you and your party unlock over the course of the game, each with different abilities, stats, and bonuses. As you play and unlock more, you level them and mix and match skills to build out each character. At first, this feels limiting, very few abilities can be transferred over to different archetypes at a time, but by the end of the game, the freedom this system allows you feels amazing. It’s incredibly easy to build out towards a specific goal or pivot nearly the whole party to deal with one specific enemy or boss. In fact, at times it feels like the game throws roadblocks at you to encourage you to mix up your loadouts and try new things. This also means your party can be incredibly varied, though each character more or less has a defined role, you’re still given a lot of wiggle room to try out weird and silly combos with them.
The party itself might be one of the strongest parties in an RPG in recent memory. Each character is incredibly rich and well written. Tying their often tragic backstories to the ongoing events of the world, makes everything feel rich and alive. At moments they’ll have you crying, or pumping your fist in the air in triumph. Not a single one of them feels wasted or pointless, each one brings their unique view to the situation that somehow makes the rest of the party feel stronger, the stakes higher, and the hope for the future brighter.
This is also true of the extended cast of characters you develop social links with. Each of them also has ties to the greater story and its politics, bringing their perspective and heartbreaking stories within. As you progress, you gain varied abilities, but also a great insight into the world and its horror’s triumphs. By the end of completing them, saving the world isn’t a goal, it’s a necessity.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a fantasy game. It IS a game about Dragons, Elves, and a grand quest. It’s about a grab for power and the political turmoil that comes with it. It’s about the supposed righteousness of kings, and what makes a good one. It’s about children dying in the streets because they look differently.
Metaphor: ReFantazio makes no qualms with its story, it never tries to hold back on its messaging, or both sides a problem. It directly confronts the rampant racism that exists in its world. The double standards that the people and power hold above the populace to contort and control them. It shows us a fantastical world full of horror and pain, but highlights it is only a reflection of our own. While also having some of the best monster designs you’ll ever see.
Despite it all, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a game about hope. The hope of a brighter day. It makes no qualms about the hardship that comes with that hope. The battles that must be fought, the pain that must be endured, but also the friends you make along the way, the power of kindness. The power of belief.
So what is a fantasy? Is it not at its heart, the hope for a better world? Is that naive? I hope not.
Time marches on, and the age of a new king draws near.
The Final Word
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a shining example of what RPGs are capable of and what stories are. Why they matter to us, and why we keep coming back to them.
– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
