is a 2024 role-playing video game developed by Studio Zero and published by Sega. Metaphor: ReFantazio was first announced under the working title Project Re:Fantasy in December 2016, with no further information revealed until 2023, and was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S by Atlus in Japan and by Sega internationally on October 11, 2024. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will be released on November 12, 2026.
The game is set in the United Kingdom of Euchronia, a medieval fantasy realm mirroring the contemporary real world, after the assassination of its former King. Years earlier, an assassination attempt on the Prince resulted in him being cursed and falling into a long slumber. The protagonist, an orphaned boy of the magic-wielding Elda tribe and the Prince's childhood friend, participates in the Royal Tournament held to decide the throne's successor, journeying across Euchronia to rally support from its people while searching for a way to lift the curse.
Metaphor: ReFantazio sold one million copies on release day across all platforms and received widespread acclaim, with praise being directed towards its narrative, worldbuilding, visuals, gameplay, and themes reflecting real-world issues both politically and socially, although it received some criticism regarding its technical problems at launch. It was nominated for several awards, including Game of the Year from several outlets and awards ceremonies, and won the Game Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Role-Playing Game, won the D.I.C.E. Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and won the Grand Prize at the 2025 Japan Game Awards.
Gameplay
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game that incorporates multiple systems previously used in other Atlus titles, including dungeon crawling and social simulation. The game follows a male protagonist, named by the player, who is accompanied by his fairy guide, as he uncovers the secrets behind the previous king's assassination.
Players are free to choose how the protagonist spends his day, including exploration, spending time with allies, fulfilling requests for other people, and bettering his skills, though they need to be wary of any time restrictions. The game revolves around a day-night cycle and weather system, which dictates specific behavior in-game. The game features time-sensitive activities structured after a day-to-day calendar, which determines the availability of specific characters and events; this is also tied to the story, in which not completing a major story event before a deadline will result in a game over, forcing the player to return to a previous save. The calendar and weather systems previously originated from the Persona series. Also originating from Persona is the "Travellers' Voice" feature, a minor, asynchronous multiplayer element where players can see what activities other players did in a given day.
The game features several social simulation elements prominently used in the Persona series. Alongside the aforementioned calendar system, the game features the "Follower" system, a system building on the Social Links and Confidants in previous Persona titles, in which the player forges bonds with the locals of Euchronia's regions, including members of their party, in order to increase public favor towards the protagonist ahead of the election to decide the next King. Ranking up each follower unlocks benefits for the player and their party, whether it be in battle, traversing dungeons, or overall.
Traveling between locations will use up time; in this time, the player can opt to improve their royal virtues, a system based on the Social Stats from the Persona series, spend time with followers, or improve their own stats. The player can take on requests, which consist of side-quests that can reward the player with items and broaden their five aforementioned "Royal Virtues". They are based on the Social Stats from the Persona series: Courage, Wisdom, Tolerance, Eloquence, and Imagination. These are obtainable through doing in-game activities and, in some cases, are needed to progress through certain follower bonds.
Archetypes The player and their party members assume the role of an Archetype, similar to Personas from the Persona series. Archetypes are physical manifestations brought about by one’s own insecurities. Acting as the game's job system, each archetype has their own unique skills that can be further gained by leveling their rank, and can also evolve into stronger ones depending on the desired rank. New archetypes are acquired as the player forges bonds with their followers, and can be purchased, assigned, and modified for any party member. Unlike Personas, which are restricted to one for each party member, the protagonist's party members can wield more than one archetype.
When a party member possesses two or more different archetypes, they can inherit skills from any others based on the archetype they are currently assigned to, and if two or more compatible archetypes are present in battle, party members can perform stronger skills known as synthesis skills. However, while powerful, synthesis skills will consume more turn icons. MAG, the currency that can be used in Akademeia to purchase and modify Archetypes, can be exchanged for Reeve, the game's currency, in large cities. The current weather dictates the exchange rate; the worse it is, the higher the exchange rate will be.
Exploration and combat All of the dungeons in the game are story-specific and are populated by enemies of many kinds, with "humans" being the strongest. Humans may also be encountered in boss fights. Exploring dungeons and defeating enemies allow the player to obtain loot, experience points, and Reeve. Some dungeons are affected by the weather in the region, with worse weather strengthening enemies, and feature platforming and stealth, both of which were introduced to dungeons in Persona 5 (2016). While exploring dungeons, the protagonist can activate an ability similar to Joker's "third eye" ability from Persona 5, that allows him to highlight interactable objects and enemy strength. All dungeons hold safe rooms, called "Magla hollows", where the player can save their progress, talk to allies, or fast travel to other magla hollows or the dungeon entrance.
Combat against enemies can be triggered in three ways: triggering the fight manually, getting ambushed, or having the advantage. The game has two battle systems: real-time action combat occurs while exploring, with traditional turn-based battle mechanics (prominently used in the Megami Tensei series, of which the Persona series originates from) occurring during initiated encounters and boss fights, dubbed Fast & Squad. Attacking enemies in real-time can be chained into a player advantage state, where their party stuns the opponents for the majority of the player’s first two phases. In traditional turn-based combat, the "Press Turn" system rewards extra turns for hitting enemy weaknesses, but the player can also lose turns if an attack misses. The player is also able to switch party formations, use any consumable items, restart the fight at any point, swap out party members, or escape. In battle, party members can use their equipped weapons or their Archetypes' abilities to attack, and can strike an enemy's weakness to knock them down. Winning battles will grant experience to all party members, and the game ends when all party members lose their health points and are knocked out. Unlike previous Atlus titles, however, the protagonist being knocked out in turn-based combat does not end the battle.
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Metaphor: ReFantazio takes place in the United Kingdom of Euchronia, a medieval fantasy realm inhabited by various races called Tribes, including the horned clemar, the long-eared roussainte, the grey-skinned and white-haired rhoag, the winged ishkia, the bright-eyed and luminescent-haired nidia, the bestial paripus, the bat-like eugief, the three-eyed mustari, and the humanoid elda. Despite efforts to unite the Tribes as equals, discrimination is rampant, with some Tribes, such as the paripus and elda, suffering the most. Notable groups include the Sanctist Church, a state religion led by Sanctifex Forden that is rivaled by general Louis Guiabern, who follows an ideology of social darwinism, atheism, and meritocracy, and the Resistance, who has been guarding the prince since he was cursed. Following the death of the king, Hythlodaeus V, who possessed exclusive access to Royal Magic, without an apparent heir, the country is plunged into chaos amidst political tensions. The country is also terrorized by mysterious monsters called Humans.
The protagonist, named Will by default, is a boy of the elda tribe who has been ostracized by society and endures discrimination and prejudice for being "tainted" with the inheritance of forbidden magic. Along with his fairy companion Gallica, who assists him with her knowledge and ability to sense Magla, a substance that is the source of magic and is formed from anxiety, he embarks on a quest to lift the curse placed on his childhood friend, the prince of Euchronia. He and other party members also gain the power to call upon Archetypes, the souls of ancient heroes, while the mysterious author More, who resides in the isolated realm of Akademeia, helps them improve their Archetypes and unlock new ones.
Plot After Louis Guiabern assassinates Hythlodaeus V, the Resistance sends Will and Gallica to find rhoag mercenary Arvid Grius. Along the way, they meet clemar and former noble Leon Strohl da Haliaetus, and Will awakens to the power of Archetypes. That night, after meeting Grius, Will travels in his dreams to the mystical library Akademeia and meets More, the enigmatic author of a novel he always carries with him.
Grius, who was present the night the prince was attacked, infers that Louis cast the curse and that killing him will break it. Upon returning to the capital of Grand Trad, the party plans to assassinate Louis at the king's funeral. During the event, Louis arrives and makes a claim to the throne; however, the palace levitates into the sky with the king's face carved into the rock beneath it. Hythlodaeus' spirit announces that his successor will be chosen based on popular support. Grius attacks Louis, but the Royal Magic stops him, protecting Louis as a popular candidate for king. Louis kills Grius and sends the necromancer Zorba to retrieve the Royal Sceptre from beneath the palace. Will and Strohl recruit roussainte Eiselin Hulkenberg, a former Kingsguard who served the prince, and defeat Zorba, who falls to his presumed death while the Royal Sceptre levitates into the palace. The party decides to participate in the Tournament for the Throne, a competition organized by Forden and the Church that is rigged to favor Forden, to gain Louis' support so they can infiltrate his inner circle and steal the curse's formula.
The first task calls for the head of a monster, and the party decides to take the head of a rogue knight who is kidnapping children. They confront the knight, eugief Heismay Noctule, but learn that Sanctist priestess Joanna, distraught after the murder of her child, was feeding the town's children to a human and framed him for it. Heismay convinces Joanna to confess her crimes, resulting in her execution, and humiliating Forden. Afterwards, Louis accepts Will's request to serve under him. During a soiree, Will steals the curse's formula and recruits nidia performer and undercover Resistance agent Juani "Junah" Cygnus.