Metaphor, The New Game From Persona Developer Atlus, Looks Amazing

Metaphor ReFantazio character

Persona developer Atlus – specifically its Studio Zero subsidiary – has shown off its next big game. No, not Persona 3 Reloaded, it’s called Metaphor: ReFantazio, and it looks like it could give the Persona series a run for its money.

A new trailer for Metaphor premiered at The Game Awards 2023, showing off some of the gameplay, story, and more for the game. Take a look for yourself, it looks lovely.

It’s a fairly big departure from Persona, taking place in a fantasy world loosely inspired by late medieval Europe, with some stunning old architecture mixed with some very futuristic structures. It’s a striking contrast, and one we’re excited to explore.

In terms of gameplay, it seems to be a bit of a mix between Persona’s turn-based combat and Tales of-style action RPG combat. How, exactly, that’s going to work is anyone’s guess, but we definitely see both in the trailer.

It’s got the very stylized UI from Persona, some very weird enemy designs, and by the looks of it, some kind of tokusatsu transformation nonsense going on with the playable characters? Honestly, I’m not really sure, but it looks like a blast.

We also got introduced to a bunch of characters, including the main protagonist, the Seeker who goes by Traveling Boy, as well as the Warrior Strohl, the Navigator Gallica, the Thief Heismay, and the Knight Kulkenberg. Y’know, just in case you weren’t already certain it’s based on Europe.

No firm release date has been announced for Metaphor: ReFantazio yet, but Atlus and Sega say it’ll be out in 2024. We’re inclined to believe that, and Atlus tends not to delay its games after they’ve been given release windows… with a few exceptions. Plus, it looks pretty far along, so we feel confident saying it’ll hit its target.

Metaphor: ReFantazio will launch on Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC.