Welcome to our review of Metaphor: ReFantazio, which may very well be my new all time favorite RPG, beating even Dragon Quest 11.
From the creative minds behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 comes Metaphor: ReFantazio, a unique fantasy world, where your protagonist will journey alongside his fairy companion, Gallica, to lift the curse from the kingdom’s lost prince. Control your destiny, face your fears and awaken magical “Archetype” powers that lie dormant in your heart. By awakening to an “Archetype,” you will unlock the power to channel and combine the abilities of unique job classes. Strengthen your bonds and build your party to take down powerful foes and discover the kingdom’s true nature.
-Go on quests, dungeon dive, & hunt for treasures by day. Strengthen relationships, build bonds, & increase virtues by night. Choose your actions wisely, time management is key to achieving your goal.
-Ride your “gauntlet runner” to faraway dungeons & towns across an expansive world. Discover beautiful landscapes accompanied by captivating music, immersive UI, & anime cutscenes.
-A unique battle system combining turn based & real time action grants strategy & exhilaration at every turn. Party customization through “Archetypes” provides freedom to personalize your adventure.
-A mysterious & exciting story unfolds in a world where people must fight their own anxiety. Join the high-stakes Royal Tournament that promises hours of captivating exploration and discovery.
Rather uncommonly, I want to discuss the negatives of this game prior to singing its praise. Well, I say negatives, it is more like this minor annoyance you are stuck with for the entirety of the game, the flowing between scenes, which can not be skipped, always lag like a second. And I know this is the biggest nitpick I could give, but hear me out, these appear in towns/houses about every few minutes, making them very noticeable and well, being unable to skip stuff like what day it is, it is more an inconvenience than anything.
Especially when said showing of the day is crucial to the game, very crucial even. Everything flows along a timeline where you have time to decide whether you want to take up bounties and hunt down monsters or if you just want to be aloof in town. But when your “big day” in the calendar comes, that part of the story is continued. Thus making it important to more or less plan ahead and at the same time, you will not get stuck with endless grinding for your reputation.
That reputation being the entire red line in the game, as you are trying to rescue the world, you enter the tournament to become king. All in a scheme to get closer to the enemy of the state, Louis, but in actuality, you are trying to lift the curse on the son of the deceased king. A son often considered dead and merely a handful of people know this well kept secret. Straight from the start it becomes very clear that the world we are in, it is very vile and divided.
A world divided by class and our hero and his band of merry weirdos try to bring a new sense of justice to the world, a new world where there will be no more divide. A just world and a world where there is no more class based division. But there are some caveats to the entire tournament, the biggest one being you can not kill another candidate with a proper following as the deceased King his magic was there to enforce the entire tournament. Proof being that one of our crew tried to assassinate Louis and got stopped by said magic, resulting in his own death.
Deaths being very present in this game, it is quite a thing, from friends to foes, it is almost like nobody is saved from the worst outcome of all. There is a certain sense of Game of Thrones at times, Metaphor: ReFantazio can be that cruel. But I have to admit, it is a big part of why I love this game more than any of the Persona games. The sense of realism, not just the amazing atmosphere, but just how unfair such a world would really be.
And Unfair it really is, you have to basically fight for popularity so you can get closer to the enemy, while officially competing to be the new King. A most difficult feature considering you are from one of the lowest cultures, the Elda. Adding in layers and layers of difficulties, being shunned by most and usually only finding some sort of support from the other lower cultures. A true uphill battle.
Battles that are actually pretty amazing in itself, the intrigues to get to some compared to the ease of fighting them otherwise, the variety is really all there. When talking about the physical fighting, this is an RPG after all, you got the double approach here. From simply hitting them while running around, eliminating smaller/weaker enemies to having to go into turn-by-turn battle to the classic trope of RPG. The auto battle system is incredibly smart and if you should be playing this game in one of the easier settings, you will not even lose in the first dozen hours or so, it is that potent.
What really puts Metaphor: ReFantazio apart from other mainstream games, is the total package. From a very strong story to the incredibly stunning graphics twirling over to the music that just feels perfect and I am probably forgetting so many things to applaud. This game is perfect when it comes to the technical side of gaming and it is said total package that makes Metaphor: ReFantazio a MUST BUY title in a very busy month for RPGs, with a new Zelda game just behind us and a Romancing Saga 2 game ahead of us, this one takes the crown so far and I am very curious to eventually play RS2 to see which is the best one out of the three. For now however, this is my Game of the Year and possibly my all time favourite RPG.
In conclusion, go buy it.
