Metaphor: ReFantazio was the first foray into fantasy for director Katsura Hashino and his team at Studio Zero (an Atlus internal studio), who had previously worked on Persona 3, Persona 4 and Persona 5. These games had fantastical elements, but they were grounded in a realistic setting and had characters that struggled with real-world problems. Metaphor: ReFantazio, on the other hand, is set in the fictional kingdom of Euchronia and while the characters also deal with real-world problems, they do so within a fantastical backdrop.
Hashino has previously said that he read Lord of the Rings to get a crash course in fantasy while making the transition from Persona to Metaphor. In an interview with Japanese outlet Famitsu (translated by Automaton), Hashino said Metaphor began with a standard high fantasy setting and the team had made concept art for standard races like elves and dwarves (thanks, IGN).
"In the early stages we were considering a high fantasy setting with elves, dwarves and the like," Hashino said. "We had Shigenori Soejima [Persona artist] come up with a bunch of sketches, but it felt kind of ordinary. It didn't look like something that was unique to us."
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