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Metaphor: ReFantazio brings together director Katsura Hashino, art director Shigenori Soejima, and composer Shoji Meguro for a new role-playing game outside the Persona franchise. The creators draw on ideas and design strengths they developed in earlier games, but this preview introduces a distinct fantasy world, story, and combat system.
Metaphor: ReFantazio Creates a New Fantasy World
The story unfolds in the kingdom of Euchronia, a society shaped by prejudice. The protagonist belongs to the Elda tribe, and his fairy companion, Gallica, is surprised by how openly he faces discrimination. Together, they imagine a legendary world where people are treated equally. This early exchange establishes the game’s interest in social divisions and the possibility of imagining a different kind of society.
Hashino has described the game’s themes as distinct from Persona’s. In Persona, difficult circumstances help young characters grow as they move toward adulthood. Metaphor, by contrast, looks more broadly at human imagination, feelings, and thought. Its focus on fear and anxiety reflects experiences that can affect people across different ages and places. For players, this suggests a story concerned not only with individual development but also with ideas that reach beyond one character’s life.
Turn-Based Combat With Field Encounters
Combat combines attacks made in the field with turn-based battles. Encounters can begin with a strike against enemies before the main battle starts. A well-timed or stealthy opening can land several hits, reduce opponents’ health, and potentially defeat weaker creatures without starting a turn-based fight. When exploring, look for opportunities to approach enemies advantageously before engaging.
The battle system also uses a front-and-back formation. Frontline characters can attack at full strength but are more exposed to enemy damage. Characters in the rear take less damage, although their melee attacks are weaker. A practical arrangement is to place physical fighters at the front and keep magic users or healers behind them, adjusting the lineup to suit the enemies you face.
Archetypes and Team-Up Attacks
Party members can call on powerful beings known as Archetypes, which draw on familiar fantasy roles such as Knight, Warrior, and Seeker. Archetypes bring their own strengths, while the Synthesis system lets one character support another in a combined attack. These moves can apply elemental effects or spread damage across multiple enemies, making them useful for adapting to different battle situations.
During a boss encounter in the preview, Synthesis attacks proved useful for both targeting weaknesses and hitting groups of foes. Consider the enemies on the field before choosing a move: an elemental effect may suit a particular target, while an attack that reaches everyone can help when several opponents are present.
Distinctive Art and Sound
The interface has visual similarities to Persona 5 Royal, including dramatic menus, but Metaphor establishes its own identity through its fantasy setting and presentation. Soejima’s character art brings his familiar style into a different genre, while Meguro’s score moves away from the hip-hop and jazz-rock influences associated with Persona and toward music with the feel of war chants.
Soejima has explained that he wanted to find a personal approach to fantasy design rather than simply reproduce familiar genre conventions. That intention is reflected in the game’s blend of recognizable fantasy roles with its own visual character. The setting also features striking, grotesque creatures that reinforce its darker elements.
What to Expect From Metaphor: ReFantazio
Metaphor: ReFantazio pairs a fantasy kingdom and a story about prejudice with tactical turn-based battles, field attacks, party formations, and customizable Archetype abilities. Its creative team carries forward some of the visual and structural ideas that fans may recognize from Persona while exploring a separate world and broader themes. The preview points to an RPG where planning your formation and choosing the right team-up attacks matter as much as the story’s questions about fear, imagination, and equality. The game was scheduled to launch in October.
