A brand new JRPG series from Atlus throws players into a fantasy world.
What Is It? Metaphor is intended to add a third, fantasy leg to the modern Atlus JRPG portfolio. It had a lot to live up to in order to be considered a peer of the beloved Persona and Shin Megami series. Thankfully, Metaphor manages to pick and choose from Atlus best qualities and create an amazing first entry into a brand new series.
You play as The Hero, a young character who quickly finds himself in the middle of a kingdom in upheaval as its king is murdered and the prince thought to be long dead. Your journey will find you joining forces with many friends, forming bonds to strengthen your party, and fighting against various evil forces trying to take hold of the now vacant throne.
Combat is turn-based and the primary customization mechanic is the Archetype system. You unlock various archetypes throughout the game, each with their own styles, compatible weapons, and special abilities. There is an element of mix-and-match so you can learn a few healing spells then switch the character over to a Brawler and have a strong melee attack paired with strong healing abilities. The archetype system is the lifeblood of this game and it holds up well with so many different styles and the massive combinations those allow.
The game uses a day/night system to go along with a calendar which is always counting down the days until the next big event. Typically, you have to complete some major story point by the end of the calendar. How you spend the days between determines how well you’ll do in the game. You can go visit side quest dungeons to level up, spend time with party members to strengthen bonds to improve your party, spend time with NPCs often to increase your royal attributes which eventually gatekeep other advancements by the end of the game. The calendar system ensures you can’t grind away to perfect stats but it also adds some stress, particularly for new Atlus players as to the best ways to spend your precious days.
Combat takes place in dungeons. You freely roam around and see enemies on the overworld screen. You can attack them there with a hack-and-slash style mode. If they are weak enough, you will avoid turn-based combat completely. If they are strong enough you can either successfully stun them before the battle or, if they hit you, set yourself back by allowing the enemy to strike first. You can always avoid this overworld slashing and enter turn-based combat directly, and the risk-reward proposition here is big enough that you will definitely consider doing so. Starting from behind against enemies stronger than you can be a death sentence.
All of this gameplay is wrapped up in a story that combines political intrigue with strong social messaging, particularly around racism. The characters, both friend and foe, are memorable and the story had me hooked from the start, which is a good thing given the 80 hour playtime here.
The Best Part: Having never played an Atlus JRPG prior to this, the combat was the clear standout for me. Many of my favorite games in the genre have super slick, quickly paced combat and Metaphor is the best I’ve ever played in that regard. The battle options are laid out perfectly, making choices dead simple to input. The animations run quickly and are almost all skippable. The bonus of being able to skip fights altogether against lower ranked enemies by slashing them in the overworld makes this one of the best turn-based combat experiences I’ve ever played.
The Worst Part: Many of the big fights follow the same note. The game leans heavily into buff/debuffs and your ability to keep a strong opponent debuffed is often the difference between winning and losing. That’s not a huge problem, but I think it is overdone here and doesn’t provide enough variety in the boss fights.
The Verdict: Metaphor ReFantazio is a phenomenal first entry into this new series. It is a massive game with deep combat systems and a thrilling story.
How to Play: PS4/5, Xbox S/X, Windows
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