After the Japanese release of Persona 5 in 2016, director Katsura Hashino decided to leave P-Studio to explore new creative opportunities beyond the Persona franchise. Atlus, in their infinite wisdom, allowed him to establish a new internal studio in Studio Zero with several key Persona talent, including character artist Shigenori Soejima and music composer Shoji Meguro. After initially announcing their first game as Project Re:Fantasy, 8 years later we are about to see what they’ve working on in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Set in a medieval fantasy realm, Metaphor: ReFantazio starts just as the King of the United Kingdom of Euchronia has been assassinated, bringing chaos and unrest to the kingdom. A tournament to find a successor is soon enacted through special Royal magic, seeing several groups vying to claim the crown. You play as a boy of the Elda tribe who seeks to lift the curse placed on the crown prince of Euchronia, and his childhood friend, and ensure he earns his rightful place on the throne.
It was universal praise from the Koalaty Critics with no scores lower than a 9/10. They all found themselves wrapped up in the story and the world of Euchronia while the graphics, soundtrack and style lived up to their expectations given the creators involved. While the combat and gameplay felt like a refinement of all the Atlus titles that have come before, Metaphor: ReFantazio is not without the third act grind that is common in both Atlus titles and JRPGs in general and was considered by some of the critics to be the sole negative of the game.
Metaphor: ReFantazio releases on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on 11 October 2024
KOALATY CRITICS – AUSTRALIAN CRITICS
Here’s what Australian critics are saying about the game.
Ani-Game – 10/10 (Joel Gralton)
“The key highlight of Metaphor for me was its great cast of characters and it’s worldbuilding. The cast of the game is absolutely stacked with interesting and complex characters that not only look amazing and have animated sprites that pop on-screen, they’re also performed very well which really helps sell the powerful and emotional scenes, of which there are many. But the effort and complexity isn’t limited to just the main cast. There are some side characters and plot lines that end up being right up there with some of the best in the game. But the thing that really sucked me into the game was its world. It’s deep, complex, full of politics and acts as the perfect canvas for the story to take place on.”
The Beta Network – 10/10 (Samuel Incze)
“The story is just so full of twists and turns, and interesting themes! There are moments to burst out laughing, grin from ear to ear, and even shed a tear or two. The stylised gameplay is so addictive, making you want to complete just one more day, or defeat just one more monster, until you’re in a loop and suddenly 50 hours in. Metaphor: Refantazio is an absolute masterpiece and belongs on any JRPG fan’s shelf”
Checkpoint Gaming – 10/10 (Charlie Kelly)
“Like the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei titles, Metaphor is nothing short of an epic, and I’m not just talking about the sixty-odd hours it took me to see credits on it, either. Atlus has created a new fantasy universe that isn’t grounded in reality or a spin-off of a preexisting series for the first time. Euchronia is a stunning if bleak fantasy world where prejudice runs rampant and people live in fear. Okay, now that I write that out maybe it bears some (a lot) of resemblance to our current day.”
NextPlay – 9.5/10 (Jamie Briggs)
“As with the Persona series, each companion has their own unique and emotional story for you to encounter by nurturing your relationships, and these stories are excellent. While some are better than others, many of these narrative arcs are heartbreaking, emotional, and joyful. All of which are enhanced by a magnificent ensemble voice cast. Metaphor provides some of the most powerful voice acting I have experienced this year; even surpassing the recent brilliance found in Persona 3 Reload.”
Player2 – A (Matt Hewson)
“If Shin Megami Tensei and Persona had a child together, Metaphor would be pretty close to the offspring. Add in a sprinkle of Digital Devil Saga and you’re probably on the money. Weirdly, Metaphor is greater than the sum of all of these parts. It’s actually baffling how they managed to pull this off. The combat feels right out of SMT; the downtime activities, and the relationship raising all are very Persona, and the archetype system feels like a part of DDS. I don’t know what living sacrifice needed to be done, but it was absolutely worth it.”
Press Start – 9/10 (Harry Kalogirou)
“Metaphor: ReFantazio also brings with it some of the best Social Links ATLUS has ever penned. Known as Bonds within Metaphor, these smaller side stories that follow people from different walks of life within Euchronia benefit greatly from the dark fantasy setting and themes of this world. It’d be a shame to spoil any of them here, but these stories often have the deeper explorations of Metaphor’s core themes and ideas that are lacking in the main story. They aren’t afraid to dig into the grungy underbelly of this world and the positions its people are forced into, but also highlight how perspective and understanding of someone who’s different from you can make all the difference.”
Stevivor – 9.5/10 (Matt Gosper)
“While a lot of the day-to-day elements draw from the Persona formula, combat draws its inspiration from multiple sources, and takes many forms. Metaphor’s turn-based combat uses the Shin Megami Tensei franchise’s press turn system, most recently seen in Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance. Each side in combat has a certain number of actions to take each round, depending on how many are in the group – but if you strike an enemy weakness, you can reuse that turn to take a bonus action. Combat becomes all about identifying and capitalising on enemy weaknesses, while avoiding their resistances to not lose actions instead”
Well-Played – 9/10 (Nathan Hennessy)
“Everything looks slick, with the exemplars of fashionable yet functional interfaces back at it again. Forging new bonds with supporters and levelling up is rewarded with a colourful, inspired mishmash of styles … It is so easy to look past the occasional flat textures and sparsely detailed environments when every other element of the game is so masterfully artistic. This is not a high-fidelity game, but there are no pop-ins, delays, visual artifacts or bugs to speak of. What it lacks in detail, it makes up for with an excess of style that is head and shoulders above its competition. “
Koalaty Critics
Aggregator Score
