Metaphor: ReFantazio Review - Progress is the Realisation of Utopia
Can a work of fiction impact the real world? That’s the question at the very core of Metaphor: ReFantazio. I’ve always known the answer was ‘yes’, but that didn’t allow me to skip the game and see credits instantly. Instead, I was tasked with naming my character in a modern society, only to be thrust into a book they’re reading and getting to name the protagonist. It’s all very meta, but thankfully it wasn’t too ham-fisted with its metaphor, because what’s there makes for one hell of an amazing game.
Metaphor is to Thomas More what Persona is to Carl Jung. If you know what you’re looking for, the influences are extremely clear. Now, it’s been a good few years since I’ve read Utopia but I’m fairly sure it was satire. Throughout the game though, as the protagonist and his merry band read excerpts of the ‘ideal’ way society should be, they don’t see how insanely fallible it is. A society where there is no ownership, where people practice their own ideals and atheism is frowned upon, where slavery is common and rejoiced, and where everyone is constantly under supervision by their neighbour does not make a happy, budding society.
There’s a lot more to say about the actual themes of Metaphor, but honestly, that’s kind of amazing in its own way. The entire campaign centres around politics, and the free election of a new leader. You are thrown into a popularity contest where anyone can be king, and their popularity is shown via a giant rock in each city with the faces of the top participants adorned, with size befitting their popularity.
Incidentally, this even reminds me of the current state of politics in Australia. The top two, maybe three candidates are shown, and everything else falls to the wayside. The only way to stand out amongst these is to do something heinous to give you the limelight, inspire fear in the populous and promise to fix it or to make such a fundamental earth-shattering change that few can argue its merits. That’s exactly what happens too, where the main antagonist is constantly doing things that would upset the balance but also spouting false platitudes, all the while ensuring the stage is set for him. His main competitor is the head of the state religion, which is rigging the competition playing to his natural biases, and trying to stop anyone who doesn’t conform.
Ok, I’ve talked about themes a lot, and there’s a lot more I want to talk about (there’s so much racism, classism, religism; hell, even some of the main females are only wheeled out and put on literal pedestals when needed). Let me bring it back to basics.
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.
There was a switch inside me that flicked after about five hours, about the length of the demo. At first, I thought “Oh, this is just fantasy Persona”, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Then I got to the transformation scene and my interest was piqued, tentatively. Finally, the main plot hook came in and my brain went “You son of a bitch, I’m in”. It’s a juicy meal too. My playtime came in around 90 hours because it’s an Atlus RPG. You need to know what you’re getting in to, but again, it’s absolutely worth it.
One could argue the dungeons aren’t the most exciting thing out there, but that’s something that’s true of most RPGs. They’re meant to be a series of battles sprinkled with some loot until you beat up the Big Bad. This game puts a small twist on things that even now, I’m still not super sure how I feel about. If you are 3 levels above your enemy, you can attack them whilst walking around to instantly wipe them out and get rewards, but if they hit you first, you’ll take damage to the protagonist. If you’re not 3 levels above them, you can try and stun them which puts you in battle with 2 surprise rounds and puts their health around half. If you spend these turns badly, you could wake them up and spoil your surprise round, but it’s still worthwhile. If the enemy hits you on the map first though, they’ll get a surprise round instead. Combat is quite frenetic, so getting the upper hand is what you always want.
The twists in the combat are myriad though. If you’re too far level above the enemy, your rewards are decreased. Inversely, if you’re low compared to them, your rewards are increased. This is where my issue comes in though. What level, exactly am I meant to be? If you’re fighting every battle manually, you won’t get very far. SP is extremely limited, and running out generally means the end of your day in the dungeon. That’s wasted resources. But if you’re too high, the game holds you back. I guess the game wants you around 2 levels above the enemy, except there are often enemies about 10 levels below your own sprinkled through the higher-level groups. Generally, I tended to grind out mobs until I could one-shot all but the highest-level mobs, then killed those until I had just enough resources to fight the boss. This is fine, but it just feels a bit weird.
The archetype system acts a lot like the game’s job system. Each archetype can use different weapons, has different strengths and weaknesses, and learns different skills. It’s the synergy where it shines though; mastering an archetype gives you a permanent stat upgrade and, more often than not, allows you to unlock an “Adept” version of the role, with an even stronger version available for some archetypes, requiring mastery of both basic and adept version, as well as one other adept archetype. These are also locked behind your bond with your friends, so there’s good reason to keep chatting with everyone to get those bonds raised.
I absolutely adored the music too. Atlus is known for some certified banger soundtracks, especially on the Persona side, but Metaphor holds its own. Some of the songs sound like a form of vocalised throat singing, and I was here for it. The battle theme kicks arse. I’m glad the music held up to my expectations, honestly.
In the same vein, I thought the writing was great. Each character’s trials and tribulations were good and I felt invested in resolving their conflicts; even if rewards weren’t given. The mainline story has a good few twists and turns too, but I’m loathe to say anything that would spoil much. I dare say, watching the protagonist (who actually speaks) go up against walls of sheer bias and try and rise above was quite nice. Even if it’s sometimes a bit naive about the way they deal with deep-rooted racism, I still found myself mulling over the narrative even after it closed out.
Finally, because this review is getting as long as an Atlus RPG, I want to talk about world-building. I go absolutely batty for good world-building, and Atlus brought it. All of the different races, different cultures, discussion of religion, hell; even hearing the other candidates speak about what they stand for. All of it was great. There are also a few great bits about food and our ideas of what should and shouldn’t be eaten, all absolutely great. Every time the Memorandum got updated I eagerly dove in to see what tasty lore nugget I was just given.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is amazing, that’s really all there is to it in my eyes. It deftly and expertly brings in elements from SMT’s main titles and spin-offs and turns them into something new and wonderful. Honestly, if you wanted to dive into some of their other titles, this might be the gateway game to try them out. I hope this spins out into its own series because as much as I love Persona, it does tend to take all the air out of the room. Metaphor just shows that I’ve got more love to give, and it accepts me with open arms.
Metaphor Re Fantazio was reviewed on PS5 with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
