Metaphor: ReFantazio

The very first thing that struck me about Metaphor - the voice acting - is a perfect encapsulation of why this game is so good. Within minutes of starting, I knew I was in for a real treat. See, my biggest grievance with high fantasy settings is a long-standing one: the studios’ neverending compulsion to cast American actors who “can do accents”, which end up being serviceable at best and inevitably ruin any sense of believability or immersion. Hearing [i]actual regional British dialects[/i] throughout this game was a huge breath of fresh air - the characters are superbly cast, and are completely brought to life by their accents and speech quirks. The fact that a character’s social class and tribe can be discerned from their spoken dialogue is a brilliant touch, and that’s just one of many flourishes that make the world feel real. Voice acting of this calibre could have carried Metaphor on its own, but it didn’t even need to; it’s just the first sign of how much love and care was put into this game. Of course, some of the credit has to go to the localization team for their work on the script; the difference in writing quality between this and any of the previous Atlus games is enormous. After a marathon of cringing my way through the dialogue in the Persona series, it was incredibly refreshing to play a game that felt like it was actually made [i]for[/i] an English speaking audience. The art and visuals are top tier. For me, this is the only game that has even come close to the amount of sauce in Persona 5. Out the wazoo. Somehow, they’ve done it again. The character designs, the portraits, the menus and UI, the gorgeous world and its watercolour skies - everything here really is the cream of the crop. When it comes to gameplay, Metaphor manages to strike a delicate balance between the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series. The developers’ “best of both worlds” approach is clear: the social bonds and daily activities from Persona make the perfect foil to the more gameplay-focused dungeon crawling sections. This will come as no surprise to fans of the Persona series - alternating between the two is a formula that it has employed for some time - but the intricate battle systems in Metaphor set it apart as a much more engaging experience. Notably, the Press Turn system from the SMT games makes a return, which is the best RPG battle system I’ve had the pleasure of using. Perhaps the most interesting twist is the introduction of “Archetypes”; rather than fusing Personas or recruiting demons, the game uses a modular specialization system similar to the one used in the Digital Devil Saga games. Having these skill trees to endlessly tinker with just feels [i]good[/i]; getting to sink your teeth into a more complex system like this feels like a perfect match for a game that could easily last 100 hours of playtime. Despite the many Persona comparisons, Metaphor still manages to feel genuinely new and different. This game has a palpable freshness to it, even in spite of the typically cliché-ridden setting. It manages to evoke a sense of wonder that I haven’t felt from a game in a long time. It’s no more than an honest, immersive experience, played completely straight but with enough novelty that it demands attention. It wormed its way into the back of my mind; throughout the day I would catch it whirring, like a background process trying to solve the problem of what exactly this game is. I found that unusual, because there [i]is[/i] no problem. Metaphor isn’t a genre-defying masterpiece, nor is it trying to be one. All pretense aside, it is basically just a Persona game, and the story isn’t necessarily an outstanding one. That’s exactly why it’s special; it excels in spite of its circumstance, and it sets itself apart by being made with soul. Choose any emphasis: It’s [i]just[/i] a good-ass game. It’s just a [i]good-ass[/i] game. It’s just a good-ass [i]game[/i].

The storytelling, combat and almost everything about this game is so peak, the antagonist is one of my favourite i have seen so far in videogames, i am shocked that i didnt play this sooner (should have won GOTY 2024 instead of astrobot)

I like this game, it was racist, wonderous, depressing and exciting. Made me cry a couple of times and I love a lot of the plot twists even though some of them gave me whiplash when it escalates so much without break then gives you a whole month of free time before the end boss which you're forced to fight on a certain day so you can't even finish early XD An amalgamation of many atlus published games turned into something both new and familiar. I'm a bit miffed that out of 8 tribes only 1 is distinctly different than a normal person compared to the rest but that's just a personal preference I have for fantasy stories where nobody is supposedly human XP