Metaphor: Refantazior has taken a long time to prepare. It was announced in 2017 as Project re Fantasand through a strange, long video that said very little. Atlus has since changed Project to Metaphor and searched Google Translate for an interesting way to say “fantasy.” It's also been turned into a giant fantasy JRPG, and after seeing a demo at Summer Game Fest last weekend, I'm dying to play it.
ReFantasia is the first original title from Studio Zero, a relatively new division of Atlus led by Katsura Hashino. As director of the third, fourth, and fifth Persona games, Hashino is responsible for the Persona series' shift toward social simulation elements. After finishing Persona 5Hashino left P-Studio to work on entirely new titles unrelated to Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series.
Atlus and Hashino are best known for (-) grounded urban fantasy that wizards and elves, and ReFantasia In that sense it represents a big change. This is an epic and sprawling story that covers an entire nation, the United Kingdom of Euchronia. The Eucronian king has been murdered and the people of the earth must elect (!?) a new one.
Euchronia is home to eight “tribes” (fantasy races) and our hero is trying to reunite them. There's also a cursed prince who everyone thinks is dead, a royal tournament for the throne in six months, and monsters everywhere. To make matters worse, Euchronia is being invaded by hideous Hieronymus Bosch-inspired creatures called humans, who serve as the game's bosses. Humans, huh? I wonder if it's a… metaphor?
Given Atlus' narrative history, the broad lines of ReFantasia It'll probably make more sense than moment-to-moment beats. The best thing is to let it invade you.
The game takes place over six months and you'll travel across Euchronia in a Gauntlet Runner (a cool ship designed by the mechanic guy from Evangelion) trying to drum up support for your entry into the royal tournament. Each city in the game has a tavern where you can grab a bite to eat and gather information, a recruiting center where you can accept quests, several shops, and an inn where you can rest. Completing quests and making friends along the way will earn you followers among the various tribes, which is key to both the overall story and combat.
The Atlus Summer Game Fest demo was divided into three 15-minute parts. The first was a kind of training sequence, with a lot of story and little combat. This mainly felt like a showcase for ReFantasiaThe cutscenes, which were gorgeous, even though the TVs in the demo area were set to interpolate frames. Atlus has a tradition of showing high-quality anime in its games, and the demo clips were among the best I've seen. What I appreciated more than the quality of the animation was how closely the character designs and vibe of the game matched the cutscenes.
The voice acting is also memorable. For English-speaking cast, Atlus takes Euchronia's “United Kingdom” very Seriously, everyone I met had a totally exaggerated British accent. As the owner of an English accent, I found the characters beyond theatrical but still likable. At one point in the show I met a hypercockney catgirl who might have been auditioning for Oliver.
In another segment, I fought alongside an adorable lop-eared guy from fantasy Liverpool who sounded like he was . If none of this excites you, the Japanese voice cast seems to be going for a typical fantasy vibe. Personally, I can't imagine playing this game in any language other than English right now.
No all Is Voiced: As in many JRPGs, punchlines and conversations are played out in full, but many interactions will be limited to text, and the voice actors will emote a little along the way for flavor. As a speed reader, this is absolutely fine with me.
The second segment was about dungeon combat – time for Persona comparisons! The setup here will be familiar to fans of Atlus games: it's a turn-based JRPG, with various types of physical and magical attacks, status effects, and ailments. ReFantasiaThe version of the classic JRPG class system is Archetypes: there are 14 bloodlines containing over 40 unique archetypes, including some familiar roles like mage, thief, knight, and healer.
There's also a tactical element to party composition, with a front rank and a back rank participating in combat, and synthesis moves that allow you to combine your party archetypes for stronger attacks. It's all a bit of Persona and SMT: you manage archetypes in an Akademeia (similar to a Velvet Room), they can evolve through experience, and their ability in battle is tied to your bond with your followers.
A variation on the classic turn-based formula, and one that I am very pleased with, is the quick battle system. When you encounter an enemy, you can measure their strength before engaging in combat. The Quick system allows you to target a particular enemy and attack them; This can instantly kill underpowered enemies, allowing you to avoid turn-based battles entirely when attacking low-level enemies. For stronger enemies, you can use Quick to smear them and start a squad battle with an advantage, but if you screw up this matchup, you could start turn-based combat on your butt. Other Atlus games have a similar risk-reward system to allow players to gain an advantage, but this is more nuanced and satisfying.
The interface for all of this is a typically gorgeous menu system and a user interface that feels more refined than ever. Simple actions are assigned a face button on the controller, meaning less time spent on menus. It's all pretty intuitive, and by the end of my brief demo I was speeding through turn-based combat without wondering which button did what. As a whole, the combat system feels like a natural evolution of the classic formula Atlus is known for.
The final demo section begins inside the Gauntlet Runner. It is a claustrophobic space, more underwater than superyacht, but full of things to do. There are people to talk to, activities to participate in and routes to choose. Like Persona, the game takes place over a fixed period of time meaning you probably won't be able to do everything you want and will instead have to decide how best to spend your time each day. You could try to level up one of the main character's five traits (courage, wisdom, tolerance, eloquence, and imagination) or perhaps focus on fighting monsters or earning money. I played typing and read a book, which unfortunately was not enough to encourage me to stop being a “coward.”
My cozy reading session immediately led me to the main spectacle: a showdown against a giant human. This began with an anime sequence, which gave way to the classic four-on-one combat. The human designs in this game are wild. This one was called “Sea Horror Homo Sabara” and here are the Cliff Notes:
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Beard and long violet eyebrows.
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One yellow eye, one white eye, both shining.
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12 ears arranged in two rows? Bold piercings.
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Crown of thorns. Actually, make it two crowns of thorns.
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The top half of the head has been scalped. There seems to be a human heart sticking out.
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Also, eight giant jeweled tentacles as weapons.
It's not that I haven't seen crazy bosses in a JRPG before, but it was a lot of fun to fight this octodad. there was not important Challenge: Pull out tentacles, moan over body, tentacles regenerate, repeat. But he hit it hard and the demo clearly set me up for success. It's easy to see this guy mopping up your team if you don't come properly prepared.
Of all the things Atlus included in the short-lived Summer Game Fest, the human battle was the most memorable. Based on the story being told to fans, it seems that humans are actually from our world and are being turned into Isekai on Euchronia as these messy monsters. We hope that many of them have managed to overcome it.
At the first blush ReFantasia It feels like a true auteur moment for Hashino, as if, after the global success of Persona 5You've basically been given a blank check. Hashino's Persona titles do their best to show you how cool and bold they are, but the only concern about ReFantasia It's as loud, safe and unique as it can be.
Yes, there are elements taken from almost every Atlus RPG you can imagine, but they've all been remixed and refined. I left my brief time with ReFantasia filled with this wonderful atmosphere of nostalgia and surprise, a warm familiarity of something unlike anything I've played before.
Metaphor: ReFantazio comes to PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Series consoles on October 11.
Catch up on all the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!
