Metaphor: ReFantazio is a brilliant game packed with adventure, charming characters, heartfelt stories, and elevated versions of Atlus’ signature gameplay, art, turn-based combat, and sprawling dungeons. It’s also an extraordinarily earnest title that offers comfort to those who need it and asks players to have hope for tomorrow, the people around them, and themselves. By the time my 80 hours with Metaphor came to a close, I felt lighter–younger, too. Its themes and various stories were somehow restorative, and its set pieces brought me back to the RPGs I grew up playing–the ones that shaped me and made me long for companionship and grand adventures. Metaphor is Atlus at its strongest and most sincere. It’s the type of game that reminds you of the idealist you were, the person you’d like to be, and how fantasy can shape reality.
Somehow, Metaphor: ReFantazio is even greater than the sum of its parts, yet each piece of the game is masterfully crafted. I found the whole experience transcendent and was impressed by how it felt both novel yet familiar–elevated and modern, yet so reminiscent to the fantasy RPGs I sunk countless hours into on my little grey PlayStation. But most importantly, it made me remember that we are lost without hope. It sounds silly and cliche, I know–sometimes it can be. It also certainly doesn’t put out the fires set all over the world. But it reminded me that giving into despair and fear serves no one, myself included. It reminded me that fantasy and fiction have power–words and stories have power. They can inspire and comfort, and these things that are vital to preserving. And it reminded me that the proof of good in the world can be us, and that’s a good start.
If you want to read the review check it out here: https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/metaphor-refantazio-review-everybody-wants-to-rule-the-world/1900-6418297/
