Metaphor: ReFantazio

Basically a fantasy/dystopian setting with Persona gameplay. Spend time with friends during free time, explorer dangerous areas (and grind levels), follow a deadline to complete a certain objective. The biggest complaint I can make is that leveling a archetype on one party member should have given access to subsequent archetypes on all party members.

This is one of the few RPG games that I have finished since 2017/18. Since then I barely played any single player games that would take like more than 25 hours to finish. So honestly, I LOVED playing this game more than anything recently. The world and the setting is unique. The story is fun all the way through. The combat is not tedious. Therefore, I highly recommend this game.

I recommend Metaphor: ReFantazio because it has deep turn-based RPG mechanics, an interesting story, and decent combat. Metaphor: ReFantazio is set in a richly imagined kingdom on the brink of political transformation. You embark on a journey of self-discovery, forging bonds and mastering powerful Archetypes in a world shaped by myth, conflict, and identity. The combat system offers a fresh spin on traditional turn-based gameplay. The visual style makes nearly every scene feel like a piece of art. The story explores meaningful themes in a world full of history and political tension. The game isn’t perfect though, as its complex systems and steep learning curve may be overwhelming for some players. My biggest complaint is that the game encouragiles rigid, optimal party compositions, which can restrict creativity and make certain battles feel overly dependent on specific builds.

great game atlus :DD i give 9.5/10 i like story and strohl is bestest i think you should make better dungeons next time >_< 1st one was good and 4th i didnt have problem with like others but others and side dungeons a bit iffy :(( and have the class system be more meaningful in endgame looking forward to sequel :)))

This is the JRPG I knew once was, having story rich with political and social issue but still enjoyable with great animation. As a working adult with little time to play game, I can ensure this game can still be enjoyable as the grinding is not that time consuming and still `fun`. The `Atlus` Aspect of `SMT-ish` and `Persona-ish` is also having strong nuance in this game. totally worth the money and time 10/10 (Haven't finished the story yet)

This is partly a visual novel with tons of dialogue. I mean hours of text saying the same thing over and over. You might have two hours of just text and not even be able to save. The characters are very one dimensional but I still ended up caring for them. The combat is pretty good but I often found it frustrating. This is a JRPG and visual novel so know that going in. This is a very long game and the story is not great. I still enjoyed it and recommend it as long as you know what you are getting into.

[h1]Things I liked[/h1] + Music + Setting + Combat System + UI + Enemy Design [h1]Things I disliked[/h1] - too grindy (I know it's an JRPG) - Characters (too shallow) - Dungeons are very uninspired - Last Dungeon is a slog [h1]Neutrals[/h1] # Story is alright, but also rather shallow I'm happy that ATLUS is trying new things and hope that they will continue to do so. By branching out they can find new things and prevent their games from becoming stale. But even with the attitude that Metaphor is "the first" of it's IP, I can't recommend Metaphor. I hope they gathered some knowledge from this game, that they can use to make another good game.

This game is great. The visuals are clean and pretty, the combat and gameplay is fun, the characters are good, the music is on point as expected from ATLUS, and the plot hooks you in pretty early on. It's a great setup for what is probably an amazing game. However I have a deep rooted issue that completely ruins this game for me. There is a complete lack of accessibility settings or any equivalent. It may not be a big deal for others, but I have bad eyesight, and this game strains my eyes more than any other game I have ever played. Be it the constant particles in the air, or the always moving UI, it's a recipe for disaster for my eyes and I cannot do anything about it. I'm not the only person that deals with this either. The lack of accessibility settings has always been something I've noticed in ATLUS games, however I have never struggled without it until now. It just seems ridiculous that in 2024 and now 2025, there aren't any accessibility settings whatsoever. I physically cannot play this game unless something is changed.

This is my first entry into the 'Persona' series, so it was my introduction to the flow of the game. Initially I fell in love with the art direction, and the music sounded unique to my ears. I really enjoyed the art direction in general. The gameplay left me feeling disappointed though. The first ~10-20 hours I felt very limited in freedom, and the story wasn't resonating with me. Around the time Brilehaven was nearing completion, the game started to click for me, and the deeper bonds of my followers were introducing compelling story moments that inspired me to continue the journey. I'm glad I did. Once the game clicked, I found that I really wanted it to keep going. The battle system is quite cool. I love being able to manipulate the amount of actions my team got to take, as well as the enemies. I felt that it gave me some strategic stimulation. I also enjoyed mix-and-matching archetypes together to customize my party. I feel that those aspects don't dig deep enough though. Often the strategy is to prepare spells the enemy is weak against, and build up defenses to dodge, repel, or block the attack, without diving further than that. The archetypes felt equally surface level in limitation. The main story is pretty good. I enjoyed the twists and turns, though it got a bit too much towards the end. How many times can I fight one dude? What shines for me are the follower stories. I greatly enjoyed those quiet vignettes, and some got me right in the feelings. By the end of my time, I had completed most of the missions and 3/4 of the Dragons. I found myself enjoying the combat decently, and the main story equally, but the follower stories kept me most interested in the game. I will certainly play the Persona series after this, even if it didn't live up to the high praise for me, that others have for it.

As a fan of the Persona games, this game meets and exceeds all of my expectations. Highly recommended!

This feels like the culmination of Atlus RPGs while also being fantastically accessible to newcomers. I love it! It reminds me most of Digital Devil Saga in how the archetype system works, but the confidant system from persona and overworld combat a-la Raidou make Metaphor feel like its making use of the best of what came before and improving upon it.

+ Story is pretty good; some of the events near the very end were questionable, however. + Archetype system is good and the gameplay is better than Persona. + Easy to max social links, and you aren't punished for picking the wrong dialogue option. + Good balance between dungeons and social sim—much better than Persona in this aspect. - Needs more enemy variety. Some side dungeons feel lazy and copy-pasted. - Masked Dancer Archetype's only purpose is to use Masquerade Charge. Creating masks is a waste of time unless you're going for the achievement. - Game loses all difficulty later on, even on Hard. The Prince Archetype for the MC is overpowered. The other Royal Archetypes are also OP. - Too much dialogue that isn't voice-acted—disappointing after playing Persona 3 Reload.

Top-level thoughts: - Metaphor combines Persona's calendar system and social links with a more punishing SMT-flavor of gameplay. - The Persona-ish elements feel less restrictive, e.g. planning social links and worry about which order to do them. - A core part of the gameplay is reworking your builds for the current situation. Graphics: - UI is looks great as always, with a dirty impressionist vibe instead of Persona's clean/comic book vibe. - The style of the world is compelling, but the modeling feels weak, especially the dungeons. Story: - The story has a few twists outside of the normal "stop some evil dude" plot. - There are moments where it feels very rushed, but overall it accomplishes the feeling of a long adventure, in the style of 90's JRPGs. - Metaphor is more about it's themes than big emotional moments. There's a refreshing amount of grey zone ethics than you would expect in a fantasy adventure, but less of the catharsis you might hope for. Gameplay: - The time management aspect carries over from Persona, but much more relaxed. It's more "what do I want to do today" than "how do I balance my goals?". - The baseline difficulty of battles is pretty high. If a random mob gets to initiate on you, you might wipe. - Expect to devise a new strategy for each dungeon. Dungeons are long, and coming up with a good mix of archetypes to clear efficiently is important. Fortunately, the archetype system allows for a lot of different valid strategies. - In sum, if you're expecting a chill time, you're gonna get murdered. Overall, Metaphor feels like an evolution of the Persona series, but with a narrower target audience. Expect a harder game. Expect a world with harder questions and sometimes unsatisfying answers.

A lot of people say this game doesn't live up to Persona 5, but honestly, I think it holds up just as well—if not better—in many aspects like art design, music, and especially combat. The battle system feels way more refined. There’s more depth in how you build and use your characters, and it’s not just about Personas or skill cards anymore. The class system actually encourages teamwork and strategy, which I really liked. Overall, the difficulty is higher too. I played P5 on the hardest difficulty and didn’t struggle much, but here, even on normal, Metaphor is giving me a some challenges. The UI is also more intuitive in Metaphor, and the story isn’t nearly as bad as people say. I’d even say it’s pretty solid. Both games are great in their own ways—no need for Persona 5 fans to keep trashing Metaphor. This game deserves more love.

One of my favourite games of all time. The narrative is brilliant, and references all sorts of old myths and story telling archetypes. The higher difficulties are very engaging for fans of turn based RPGs, and later battles are as challanging as the atlus 90s classics. the art direction is sublime, thoughtful and based on old political propaganda posters from the late 19th century and early 20th century, brought to life with a mix of atlus' iconic artstyle. last but not least, the soundtrack mixing classical music, eletronic, monk chants... and all in experanto, is very unique, striking and well executed giving the game a very unique identity, and the lyrics when translated reinforce the messages and themes of the game. 10/10 highly reccomend fo whoever likes political plots, nerve wrenching turn based combat and classical thetre inspired narratives.

It really plays the hits from classic JRPG tropes while also offering the freshest, smoothest version of the Persona formula yet. The pacing stumbles in a few places, but the core gameplay is tight, the characters are all charming, and the designs are spiffy. Also: Bat Dad is Best Dad.

Atlus really went all out for that 35 anniversary with this game. Although lacking replayability due to it's one-time experience story and disappointing NG+, It nonetheless was an overall great experience. The story, although holding themes I've seen in other JRPGs, was still executed in a way that felt refreshing to the genre like most JRPGs do. However, this game also boasts an amazing soundtrack, visual style, and gameplay. Truly a culmination of the things learned from both the SMT and Persona games that no doubt earned it's spot as a nominee of GOTY. And even though it lacks replayability on paper, it's an RPG, and the limits of one's imagination is the only thing that can hold them back from finding many hours of enjoyment out of this game.

i wish the game mechanics were a little more original and not just a straight persona clone but the story is good and i feel the game as a whole is on par with the rest of Atlus`s RPGs

Just finished the game. Was pretty good, gameplay was snappy and intuitive as expected of ATLAS. The story was fine but had a few twists that I just thought "Why?" about. I was able to beat it with minimal grinding on medium difficulty but the last boss I had to retry a few times with good RNG. Overall enjoyed my experience and it felt like I saw everything the game had to offer,

If you like Persona, you will like this game. Some positive differences include that every playable character, not just mc, can be customised with skills to fit your strategy and that you can finish all the main confidants very easily in one play through. It also isn't in high school so if you are sick of school uniforms and exam questions, hooray! I really like the Archetype system and hope to see it again in future games. The battle music slaps so hard and the graphics were really fun and innovative.

Playing Clair Obscur made me realise how good this game is. There are irritating moments, but it's a fantastic RPG through and through with which I had very few issues in any regard.

This game is super long, but the story was worth it every second. It reminds me of Attack on Titan in a way, but that's a good thing. This was definitely one of the best games that came out in 2024.

metaphor refantazio is the best game ever made but unfortunately most people have the attention span of a peruvian 16 year old that watches instagram reels and are convinced that "elden ring" is the best game of all time so are unable to enjoy gods greatest gift

This has by far been my favorite atlus game. Granted i got the game Day 1 and been putting it off. But Man has it been an amazing ride. I only played on Easy due to just wanting to beat the game BUT i really do wanna replay it on hard like did with P4. To the people who said this game wasn't great or who had problems with the story just don't look too hard at what its trying to tell you. This is probably the best RPG out there (besides E33 as thats probably the best). The game being lenient on dialogue options is good for newer players and really doesn't cause any issues for veteran players as it makes 100% easier and more managable.

A breath of fresh air from Atlus' typical Persona student-life games, Metaphor is a fantasy game that tackles really good themes such as hope, fate, anxieties, and lot of racism. Storytelling was phenomenal and every character has their own time to shine. Their Game play is really fun with right amount of needed strategy, while difficulty is just right with some frustrating boss encounters as challenges. Overall a must play for JRPG fans. I enjoyed every sing time spent playing this game.

I can't recommend this game. I played Persona 3, Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, Persona 5, and Persona 5 Royal and while the mechanics and characters are compelling, the execution of this game with the graphics and calendar system is too dated. I really cannot bring myself to play this game. And knowing Atlus, they will sell us the "updated" version in a few years with purposefully cut content.

To be honest, this game is mid at best. I’ve played Persona 2 through 5 along with some SMT titles, but this is the first Atlus game I couldn’t be bothered to keep playing. It started off promising and having it set in a fantasy world instead of the usual high school setting was good and all. First 3 dungeons were awesome but after that was meh. As the game progresses the new characters feel like they have no chemistry. They come off as super generic and one-dimensional. The introduction of the Archetype system didn’t help either, it just made everyone feel less unique, both in gameplay and design. Nothing about them really stood out. Dungeon exploration just wasn't fun imo. There wasnt enough unique mechanics that made them feel distinctive, so progressing through them felt repetitive and only thing it made me keeping going was the music. The music itself was good. I get the vibe they were going for, but I'd like more variety. I even watched the ending out of curiosity. Wasn’t anything special. It’s not a bad game ofc, but if you’re looking for deep characters with non-linear story, play something else. 6/10

Very good game. its literally a persona game only with different enemies. the start is a bit slow but once you get a second persona to focus on for everyone it gets more unique and fun. social links as backstories are better than in persona, and the characters feel very much alive. overall a great persona game

Really enjoying this one, great story, and great sense of style. It resonates better than the Persona series for me personally.

yeah wow holy shit it's good, amazing anniversary game game is better the more non-persona atlus games you've played though, for what it's worth

I'm only around 10 hours into the game [after playing the demo] and I have nothing but praise to give, amazing world building, fun gameplay, and beautiful visuals

Tried it because it looked like Persona, but finally not a high school setting. Game is an absolute gem. A real fantasy adventure with great characters and good RPG system depth to play however you want.

Another fantastic RPG from Atlus. It has its flaws with the amount of grinding needed towards the end and some of the obvious cut content, but overall the Narrative, gameplay, characters and ESPECIALLY the soundtrack are all outstanding.

Playing this gives me the same feeling as watching AOT for the first time, best game Ive ever played already.

Probably the best Atlus RPG they've ever done, story, gameplay, music, characters, the lot. Only a few minor PC issues (you will need some easy additional mods if you want to play on a 4K screen at 120fps), and it is a sendoff of their old engine rather than the newer P3R engine they're using now, but it is still beautiful and stylised wonderfully. Works perfectly on Linux Proton. If you love turn-based RPGs - this is for you.

Not my type of game in many ways but im really glad i gave it a shot. This game was really good all the way through and ill definitely try another Altus game in the future.

Good game, not sure I liked every design choice, but Atlus consistently delivers on entertaining content and creates stories I want to experience. Check it out if it goes on sale and you really like JRPG's,

It's a pretty good game, I like that even though int takes from persona on the followers part and the schedule thing it gives you plenty of time to get everything by the end of the game. Didn´t like NG+, would have been better if they'd let you keep all the archetypes as the only thing that you play NG+ for is an achievement related to a super boss, I mooded the game for super damaged and one shot the thing, I liked the game but I was not willing to put another 60-80 hours without a real incentive or anything different other than kill the super boss (I did everything available in my first playthrough). So yeah, excellent game 10/10 on my book, would not play again.

Im a fan of the persona series, die hard. This game here stands toe to toe with any of them. I really love that the game makes you think about concepts that aren't recycled game to game over and over. Refreshing is the word for sure, pure fantasy breath of fresh air. So you have this game with a strong narrative, interesting themes, crazy stylish, great music, and fun turn based combat. I mean its an unskippable game to me. IT BANGS.

Short Answer: Yes, it's worth your time. BUT if you're inexperienced with Atlas games (this game's developer), I wouldn’t recommend starting with this one. I highly recommend trying the Persona series first.

Really fun game so far. I feel like its a mix between Trails of Cold Steel and Persona. I love that they are taking recognizable parts of persona that most loved and branching it out into a completely new world and feel.

If you're giant persona-pilled gremlin, boy is this a game for you. Not going to lie, this probably the best persona game as a total package. I still think P3, 4, 5 have something over this game in some regards. If you hate or have grown out of the persona series, yeah stray away.

The journey of this game is awesome- there are some twists you see but the characters are interesting and varied. I believe that there was some content/story content that was cut , but even the ending characters that join late were well thought out and had great backstory/side content. I played on the middle difficulty and did grind a bit but completed most content at endgame as well as all side story content. The combat and strategy was interesting to build comps and switch out when needed- my one critique is that some of the game was pretty repetitive in combat or felt like you had to run a certain comp. But it gets better at the end and I had a fairly good time figuring out some end game bosses. Overall it is an absolute must play if you enjoy good stories and jrpgs in general.

persona with a job system + fantasy setting = bomb. They gotta improve the dungeon design in the next one though. Feels like barely a step above a PS2 game with how barren the environments are.

I recommend the first 20 hrs. It’s fun. You have hopes for something great. But it drags and drags on and I just couldn’t finish it. I loved Persona 3 ReLoad although I did have to take a long break halfway through. I’m not finishing this later.

Excellent gameplay, style, and a very concentrated style. The world building is immense and has you wanting to explore the more you discover. Although the final leg grew pretty stale and repetitive especially with some boss fights that felt like a steep power spike.

A great game with an amazing story. Having played a few Persona games before this was a more than enjoyable experience. If you are a fan of those games, then I highly recommend this one. Absolutely earned its GoTY Nomination.

Do you enjoy Persona games? This is for you. If you don't enjoy the school-part in Persona but would like to play something similar? This one is for you.

Great game, should have won game of the year. Persona, teenagers fight god or whatever, romance included. This game, adults fight god or whatever, romance not included. Kinda weird Atlus... kinda weird.

Metaphor ReFantazio takes a different presences to your typical Atlus games, being set in a separate universe as to the SMT one. The game is immersive, enthralling, and beautiful. Coming from the persona series, I was really impressed by how the game is able to utilize horror/unnerving elements as well as utilizing character death so well. This isn't a game where everyone lives and gets their happy ending. There will be sacrifices and they use it damn well amazingly. Every character is very well written and it is worth (or likely you will) meet and bond with all the characters. Gameplay wise the turn based formula remains the same. Old time fans will recognize it and newcomers to the Atlus format should get that first time feeling as you battle enemies. Only thing different is positioning and slight tweaks to the turn mechanic system, but it flows fluidly. Even on hard mode you shouldn't really need to grind, the combat does get a little bit tiring at some points but I still enjoyed it thoroughly. About to finish the last few hours of the game and well let us see if it hits hard or not! Despite being out of the format, I would probably rate this as one of my favorite Atlus games, a solid 9/10. I would love to see a continuation of the series one day... Play it!