What if Persona had you shift into jobs, instead of summoning Stand-like beings to fight for you? That’s pretty much the setup that Metaphor: ReFantazio puts to you. The upcoming role-playing game (developed by Studio Zero and published by Atlus) comes from alumni of the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series, and is the publisher’s first wholly entirely original game since the studio’s establishment in 2016.
I said back in December, as part of The Game Awards, that Metaphor: ReFantazio feels like an SMT game in all but name. The latest trailer from the Game Awards 2023 really shows this off; between the battle system, the over-dramatic story, and that incredible world… this is a fantasy epic that eschews the ruined post-apocalypse of Tokyo in favour of something much more fantastic, much more original, much more… well, Studio Ghibli (and yes, I do say that because of the weird British accents).
The new trailer showed us more, though; it showed us that there’s a lot to look forward to in the battle systems and jobs, more than anything – you’ll be using the power of archetypes to fight your enemies and libreate the world here. Think the job system in some Final Fantasy games, and you’ll have a pretty solid idea of what to expect.
