The music during battles in Metaphor: ReFantazio is genuinely remarkable. Pressing, recurring chants build up the stakes over sweeping string passages, and then—just when things feel at their most intense—a stunning brass climax breaks through, accompanied by choral harmonies. It has the scale and drama you’d expect from an opera, matching the game’s grand ambition. Even better, the soundtrack is diegetic: it isn’t simply playing in the background, but instead appears to be created within the game world by the protagonist’s fairy companion to spur them forward. In a very literal sense, music becomes magic.
A collection of standout tracks shouldn’t be surprising for anyone who’s followed Atlus RPGs. The Persona series, especially, is well known for its upbeat jazzy-funk numbers. Against that backdrop, the shift toward lush classical arrangements signals a fresh direction—while still keeping the same knack for memorable hooks.
That idea captures Metaphor as a whole. In terms of structure and core gameplay, it may feel familiar at first glance, but smart refinements and a move into high fantasy suggest something new. It also signals meaningful momentum for Atlus RPGs. This isn’t merely Persona swapped into a fantasy costume.
Even though the first Megami Tensei entry arrived in 1987, it wasn’t until Persona 3 in 2006 that Atlus became widely known in the West. That breakthrough continued with Persona 4 (2008), and then truly took off with Persona 5 (2016). Since Persona 5 launched—aside from Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance—Atlus has mostly turned back to earlier eras, leaning on spin-offs and revamped versions of its existing catalog. In that context, Metaphor points ahead: a completely new standalone world and storyline built on recognizable systems, described as a “culmination of our RPGs.” It’s an exciting proposition.
One of the biggest changes for Atlus is the high-fantasy setting, rather than the modern Japan atmosphere that defined many of its best-known releases. I was able to get a firsthand feel for it during an extended hands-on preview. The experience started right away, showing key events in the kingdom of Euchronia: the king has been killed, leaving the throne without an heir. With that, the royal scepter—and its world-altering magical power—becomes something others can fight for. From there, the game quickly steers you toward an adventure in which you aim to become the next ruler through a fantastical election.
The story is presented through striking anime-style cutscenes that, more than ever, give the impression of watching a film you can actively play along with. This isn’t the tight, personal drama of high school life anymore; it’s a sweeping, epic journey and the start of a brand-new saga that reflects Atlus’ take on a classic RPG world.
Even though the central theme involves an election, Atlus seems intent on steering clear of heavy political overtones. In a video statement shared during the preview, director Katsura Hashino said the team “really didn’t realize this title might have parallels with any specific real-world elections,” and added that they “continue to be astounded by the uncanny similarities between our reality and the universe of Metaphor.”
While elections can spark rivalries, they can also inspire “individuals putting in significant effort and power to forge a better future, and we aimed to concentrate on the potential power we can harness to improve the world,” as lead scenario designer Yuichirō Tanaka explained in a Q&A. “We have no political agenda or narrative we want to promote; [the election] is more of a mechanism, if you will, that we chose to utilize to convey the story.”
Still, Hashino stressed that tension and learning how to find common ground with others lie at the heart of the narrative. Prejudice in a multicultural society is clearly a major thread. The setting is home to a range of groups—elves, cat-like people, and horned individuals—while the player protagonist is an elda, or what seems to be human (with the game’s world using the term “humans,” which is a little confusing). From the outset, it’s obvious he’s an outsider, yet whatever worries he carries internally can be turned into confidence when he chooses acceptance.
Tanaka also noted that the game looks closely at the different ways people handle anxiety when it takes hold. “With that concept in mind, we chose to separate these tribes from the actual ethnicities we observe in the real world,” he said. “We’ve removed all these pre-existing notions of race and developed these new tribes for this game with that foundation. We believe that this is a uniquely original concept for this game and something we take pride in.”
Where the Persona games blend everyday life with bizarre fantasies and political echoes, Metaphor goes in the opposite direction—which fits its symbolic name. The protagonist carries a fantasy book of his own, which feels like a softened, idealized vision of our world: a utopia where everyone lives together on equal footing. That idea stands in sharp contrast to the clearly drawn divisions within Euchronia. The big question is whether this kind of fantasy can truly become real for the people living there—or for us.
On top of that, while some portrayals in the Persona series may come across as dated or rooted in stereotypes by Western standards (changes that were later made in re-releases), it seems Atlus has been more mindful of a worldwide audience with Metaphor. The high-fantasy framing delivers a broader—and easier to connect with—experience. Meanwhile, earlier titles often reshaped classical ideas through a distinctly modern lens of Japanese culture.
Metaphor also includes plenty of familiar connections to earlier Atlus RPGs. The turn-based combat system builds from SMT3, placing extra emphasis on exploiting weaknesses. Akademeia fills the role of the new Velvet Room, where Archetypes are selected and developed; these Archetypes then act as the game’s new Personas, granting elemental abilities. Social statistics have now become royal attributes that help ensure the protagonist is fit for votes. And all of it comes wrapped in style, from a polished UI to dramatic set pieces.
So far, it sounds a lot like Persona, doesn’t it? But Metaphor adjusts these ideas into a more modern, bigger, and more layered experience. Take relationships: the protagonist
It will draw in fresh followers, and by reinforcing those connections, he can uncover new powers and Archetypes—linking back to the central storyline to support his goal of becoming the next monarch…
Alternatively, you can look at the Archetypes themselves: they develop on their own and can be assigned to any character, which makes it possible to fine-tune your party lineup in a lot of different ways.
This carries over into Synthesis, a key part of combat where character skills merge into entirely new capabilities. It reshapes solo attacks into multi-hit sequences and other powerful techniques, often paired with elaborate animations. It also reminded me of Chrono Trigger’s approach to techniques—where trying different combinations with party members and Archetypes paid off. With more than 40 Archetypes, they operate much like a job or class framework, showcasing each character’s inner hero. And yes, that includes a generally disturbing moment as characters awaken to what they’re capable of.
Elsewhere, the turn-based fighting system feels close to Persona or SMT: you swap between characters to attack, defend, or unleash Archetype powers; foes come with distinct weaknesses you can exploit to earn an extra turn; and there are features that can automatically lock onto weak points or auto-heal after battles. It’s a sign of how carefully these games are built that very little about the combat loop seems to have changed.
Still, there’s one major shift: the addition of real-time combat. As an extension of actions taken before the fight, you can not only strike enemies ahead of time to trigger a surprise attack, but also wipe them out completely, with the results shaped by the Archetype you select. That nudges Metaphor toward a faster hack-and-slash feel, and it cuts down on the need to grind, since low-level opponents can be dispatched with little trouble (while higher-level enemies and bosses, naturally, still demand smart turn-based planning). With the speed of regular encounters, Metaphor feels more streamlined and energetic—though you do end up hearing less of its standout music.
Dungeons also won’t be procedurally generated, something Atlus confirmed during the preview. That means no Tartarus or Mementos—just tightly designed dungeons built for exploration, each with its own puzzles. The opening segment of the preview leaned into a familiar medieval castle setting, topped off with a terrifying “human” boss: a genuinely unsettling nightmare of limbs, wings, and vines bearing fruit, capped by an enormous tongue. Later, I moved through an underground waterway with a water-level puzzle and a shadowy giant baby lurking through the corridors. Metaphor often dives into the truly distorted.
Metaphor brings back the calendar system from Persona, though it appears to be more flexible. As before, players can decide how to spend their days—but rather than choosing only between city activities and friendships, you pick which quests and side stories to prioritize, and each one may stretch across multiple days. In the second half of the preview, for instance, events began in a castle town where different characters offered multiple options: one route led to the waterway, while another pointed toward a treasure hunt in a hidden tomb. As a result, the world feels wide-ranging because players have to think carefully about where their time goes—and not every goal is reachable. While Persona titles can start to feel predictable, Metaphor seems to promise a bigger journey that encourages you to take action instead of simply letting the days pass.
So what Atlus seems to have done with Metaphor isn’t just revisiting its own formula, but reworking the concept of high-fantasy RPGs more broadly. That’s especially noticeable in the presentation. The main hub blends Parisian sophistication with futuristic skyscrapers, and elsewhere you’ll see swords and magic paired with steampunk machinery—for example, the walking Gauntlet Runner vehicles that carry the party. The visuals have a slightly gritty texture that can feel a bit busy at times, yet it also gives them a grounded, old-fashioned charm.
Fans of SMT and Persona will likely settle into Metaphor quickly. But importantly, this also marks a fresh start for both Atlus and for players who are new to these games. This large-scale, highly detailed, and layered RPG—judging by both its structure and themes—feels genuinely ambitious. Even just from the preview, though, it’s clear this could set a new standard for Atlus, and if the finished game lands well, it may even influence the RPG genre as a whole.