Metaphor: ReFantazio Reviews
Metaphor: ReFantazio is one of the most memorable RPGs we've played in years. In pursuing a new property, complete with a fantasy setting, Atlus has allowed its creativity to blossom, resulting in a brilliantly rich experience - both in terms of narrative and audiovisual design. While Metaphor takes obvious gameplay and structural cues from the developer's previous projects, it combines and refines those elements to make an epic, kingdom-hopping adventure that feels unique and deeply fulfilling.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the ultimate culmination of everything Atlus has learned from its best games and is a huge step forward for the future of its JRPGs. The delightful combat, incredible cast of characters, and intricate fantasy setting all make for a brilliant experience that no Shin Megami Tensei or Persona fan should miss out on. It’s certainly a game-of-the-year-worthy title and a smash hit for Atlus to end the year with.
Metaphor ReFantazio is the culmination of everything that makes Atlus' turn-based RPGs so special. Sporting a fantastic cast of instantly lovable characters, a gripping tale that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster, and a robust evolution of its combat systems, Metaphor ReFantazio is a must-play for anyone with even a passing interest in JRPGs.
An excellent role-playing game with fantastic stories and a large scope, but which technically has room for improvement.
Review in German | Read full review
Overall, Metaphor plays like a dream from start to finish. There's less downtime than Persona and fewer frustrating moments than Shin Megami Tensei, with the whole game feeling like a high-stakes road trip with your best friends. The road to the throne is a tough one, but it's one well worth walking.
Atlus has leveled up the Persona formula in every way. The world-spanning adventure of Metaphor: ReFantazio offers a diverse world to explore, deep and relatable stories to share with your party, an incredible combat system with unlimited possibilities of Archetype powers, and plenty of quality of life improvements to make sure you're spending more time playing the game and not wondering what to do next.
Metaphor: Refantazio is a masterfully crafted JRPG that combines political intrigue, rich storytelling, and strategic combat into a gripping and emotional experience. While the pacing can occasionally falter, and some areas may feel visually repetitive, the game’s strengths far outweigh its shortcomings.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is another banger RPG from ATLUS. It doesn't reinvent the wheel that Shin Megami Tensei and Persona have established as the studios bread and butter, but it iterates on them in unique ways with an undeniably fresh setting. It's hard not to applaud ATLUS for embracing something so tonally different from what they're known for nowadays.
I've always wanted Atlus to tackle political fantasy as a genre and of course when they finally do it with Metaphor: ReFantazio it's one of the best RPGs in years. This is the result of 20 years of incredible game craft that has taken shape in the best and most refined version of the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei formula that we've ever received. Probably the best we'll ever get. This is their magnum opus. With immensely satisfying and tactile turn-based combat, and a memorable cast of characters including the alluring and ever-intimidating villain Count Louis, you'll be taken by the world and story to explore within Euchronia. Much like the protagonist, you'll be compelled to save its people. Metaphor: ReFantazio is a crowning achievement under Atlus' long-running and award-winning belt. You should join them on the throne. The view is beautiful from up here.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is one of the best turn-based JRPGs I've played in quite some time. It’s a fantastic game, featuring breathtaking visuals and incredible sound—kudos to Atlus for that. However, I do wish the game had better pacing and a more seamless world structure.
Metaphor ReFantazio sets out to blend the best of its predecessors’ gameplay with an all-new setting, and the result is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a bold new IP from Studio Zero and Atlus, and one of the best at that. Familiar yet innovative, mature but not without moments of levity, with a slew of very functional new systems, this is one of the best JRPGS of the last years and surely GOTY material for this one.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you can only play one turn-based fantasy roleplaying game this year, let it be this one. Swords and sorcery Persona is a marvellously executed pitch.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is Atlus' new bet to bring us a high quality JRPG. Their experience with the Persona saga is poured into this fantasy world that captures you with its great story. Its political and philosophical load, excellent art direction and simple but deep gameplay mechanics make it one of the best exponents of the genre of the last decade.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Metaphor: ReFantazio is gorgeous, looking every bit as great as Persona 5, with the same ultra-slick presentational and a cracking good score. And, just like Persona 5 you’re also looking at a truly lengthy experience – anyone who finishes it with their play clock in two digits has played through it quickly.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a deep, stylish, and rewarding adventure, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is an excellent JRPG with exceptional storytelling, combat, and atmosphere, enhanced by one of the most exquisite graphical styles and soundtracks ever seen. Excellent in every little detail, it is further proof that, when it is at its best, Atlus is incomparable.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A new world built on familiar foundations. Metaphor: ReFantazio does not revolutionize the genre, but encourages more players to the systems and mechanics offered by the developers of Persona.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a more mature take on RPGs that delivers something quite different while maintaining enjoyable and somewhat familiar gameplay. Plus, mastering archetypes, exploring dungeons, and fighting for the crown is handled with perfect pacing.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is an ode to fantasy, to imagination, a game full of metalanguage, with a story and fascinating characters within a world as complex as it is wonderful. There are no words to define the magnitude of this game and the perfection with which each and every one of the systems that compose it work and behave with each other and with the player. It is a declaration of intentions, it is a slap in the face with an open hand to all those who think that evolving is breaking with the past and it is once again the benchmark against which the next games of the genre will have to be measured.
Review in Spanish | Read full review