Review of “Metaphor: ReFantazio” – political fantasy

Metaphor is in some ways the biggest JRPG video game event this year – while the first half was dominated by remakes (Persona 3 Reload, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth) and sequels to famous series (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth). , in this case it is a new brand that always has huge potential. Especially when the game is backed by a newly formed veteran studio representing some of the key creators of the Persona series. Additionally, Metaphor is their first fantasy game.

• Platform: PS5 (review) PS4, X1, XSX|S, PC
• Release date: 11/10/2024
• Manufacturer: Atlus (Japan)
• Genre: Japanese role-playing game
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Download data: 71 GB
• Game time: 70 hours (including all side quests)
• Price: 1899 CZK (Alsa)

This is a campaign

The United Kingdom of Echronia includes several vast regions and various nationalities that have complex relationships with each other. The entire country plunged into chaos when, after the assassination of the king, it was suddenly left without a ruler. However, the situation activates the so-called “royal magic”, which within three months will announce a new ruler based on popularity among the people – anyone can claim this title, regardless of status, nationality or race. The Church will try to manipulate the situation by organizing an “official tournament” for interested parties. You and your friends take part in this election in the hope that it will allow you to uncover the Kingslayer and bring justice.

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Like the Persona series, the game’s structure is based on a calendar. Each day you have room for one (or two, if you count day and night) activities, which can include anything from traveling to another location or dungeon to time spent improving your relationship by meeting one of your friends. to a variety of activities. which increase your “social characteristics” such as wisdom or elegance, opening access to other opportunities. However, you don’t have to worry too much about the time limit: with a smart way of playing, you will be able to fully upgrade all relationships and complete all main and side missions by the end of the game. In this way, the calendar represents a story structure rather than a constraint.

The calendar represents a story structure, not a constraint.

As we’ve become accustomed to from games from these creators, the best feature of the story is the characters. There are seven in total (there may be four in an active group), but the remaining seven represent complex “social bond” relationships. Already from the trailers I was really looking forward to the red-haired “elven” knight Hulkenberg or the fairy Gallica, but in the game itself I was pleasantly surprised by the disgraced nobleman Shtrol and, in general, almost everyone else. The story can be very exciting, moving, gritty, political and philosophical. However, it is a bit overly talky at times (often without dubbing), and its best moments come in the middle, where the great reveals and twists occur, rather than at the (predictable) end.

New world

Since this is a completely new brand, it is a joy to discover this new world, its inhabitants or perhaps its monsters. The big bosses are especially fascinating; they are called “people” here, and their strangely deformed appearance was inspired by the artist Hieronymus Bosch. Overall, the game has a distinctive visual style that at times can be reminiscent of 15th century paintings mixed with modern anime. Along with the sophistication of the local world and its history, discovering new regions, new cities and new inhabitants of the kingdom is a real joy. At the same time, the game interestingly and quite ruthlessly deals with themes of racism, status inequality, or perhaps the cruel fate of children in such a world, which adds depth and “believability” to it.

Unfortunately, just as many dialogues take place only in text form without voice acting, so traveling through this world often occurs only by moving your vehicle on a 2D map. With the exception of the five main cities and individual dungeons, literally all other locations are simply 2D images in which characters comment on the scenery or can make purchases from a text menu if the location is, for example, a village with a store. At the same time, dungeons are repeated quite often, and individual forest locations or magic towers are practically indistinguishable from each other. I admit, I expected a little more from such an ambitious game by a famous team. These weaknesses manifest themselves to a greater extent mainly in the second half of the game, where, among other things, almost all bosses are also reworked.

Hybrid fights

Besides the new world and distinctive visual style, the game’s biggest strength is undoubtedly the combat system, which combines the classic turn-based concept (an arena with your characters on one side and enemies on the other, where you take turns attacking or attacking). spells) with real-time slashing actions. If you are stronger than the monster in front of you, you can cut it in real time. If she is stronger, the game will offer to switch to turn-based combat after the first hit. It sounds a little complicated, but it actually runs very quickly and smoothly, so it increases the speed of dungeon exploration and really sets a new standard for how I’d like to see all similar games handle this aspect. As for your abilities, the game is built on a relatively classic profession system, where any character can learn the abilities of a fighter or a mage – the overall synergy of the team on the battlefield is important.

It sets a new standard.

The speed of dungeon exploration is also aided by the smooth gameplay on the console. The game aims for 60 frames and mostly succeeds, allowing for fast not only dungeon crawling but also navigation through the game’s highly stylized menus. However, PC gamers are reporting occasional stuttering issues, and some console fans are also choosing to play the PS4 version on PS5, where 60 frames is perfectly stable. But aside from particle effects, the geometry and textures of the environments themselves are usually not too complex, so there’s little reason to slow down. However, some boss battles are quite epic. The game’s difficulty is adjustable, from a completely minor “plot” to a brutal challenge at the highest level, which will remind you of the SMT pedigree of this video game.

A difficult balance

In many ways, the game is reminiscent of the famous works of its creators and can definitely captivate with its world, shock and touch with its plot, and also perfectly entertain with its combat system. However, I can’t help but feel that some aspects aren’t as balanced as they could be. It seems to me that if instead of 70 hours the creators had offered half, they could have avoided the recycling of content, as well as 2D locations or lack of voice acting, which seems cheap in a game of this caliber. On the other hand, in other places you will find wonderful 3D locations or great movie sequences in full-blooded anime style. A similar issue applies to the balance of stylization and, for example, music – both perhaps push the saw too hard, so that some menus are a little confusing, the fluttering edges of text bubbles are distracting, and the music is unnecessarily clattering loud chants, although, there might not be too much going on and it would be nice to have a calmer backdrop.

I also don’t really understand the lack of romance in such a story-driven game full of great characters who are also, almost without exception, extremely charming. Moreover, some characters send quite clear signals in your direction, especially one of the last members of your group. However, I have always been of the opinion that a completely new brand is much more interesting than a continuation of an existing one, so I am very grateful for the birth of this game. However, it would help its fresh identity if it didn’t contain so many winks and direct references to the publisher’s existing series. That being said, the fantasy genre itself is a bit to blame in that the plot is somewhat more predictable and less interesting than in the case of “modern” Persona games, especially towards the end due to the presence of genre clichés.