Metaphor: ReFantazio Hands-On Preview 2024

ign.com:

Eight years ago, Japanese director Katsura Hashino announced that he was forming a new team within Atlus after more than a decade spent working on the Persona series (and Catherine), saying he wanted to try something new. Last summer, his game was finally revealed – Metaphor: ReFantazio, an RPG that features plenty of similarities to the Persona games, but has a personality all its own.

In broad strokes, Metaphor retains many familiar elements from Hashino’s previous games. Like its spiritual predecessors, Metaphor utilizes a turn-based command system built around exploiting the weaknesses of enemies. The main character, an outcast who uses forbidden magic, looks a great deal like the hero of Persona 3 Reload thanks in no small part to the art of Shigenori Soejima. Even some of the terminology is the same, a notable example being Tarukaja – a spell that boosts attacks in Persona and now Metaphor (though Hashino denies any link between the two).

Its pedigree and excellent production values has been enough to generate excitement in some RPG circles, with some going so far as to call it their most anticipated game of the year. But others in the broader gaming community are a bit more perplexed, either because of the similarities to Persona, because of the unconventional name, or both.

So what is Metaphor: ReFantazio really all about? And does it have a chance to step out of Persona’s shadow and establish a fanbase all of its own? These are still open questions, but I did get a little closer to developing my own understanding of Metaphor when I played it at Summer Game Fest earlier this month.

First, that name, which is definitely a mouthful. The Metaphor part is easy enough to understand – Hashino says that he wants players to be able to relate the story to their own lives. In short, he wants it to be a metaphor. “We had all these different ideas. We couldn't think of many good ones so we were like, ‘Okay, just Metaphor. It's easy.’"

As for the second part, Hashino says,