Heartwarming to see it overcome the handicap that is its name.
The PC Gamer work chat has been buzzing about Metaphor: ReFantazio, and contributor Lewis Parker had nothing but praise for the game in his 95% review. But this is also shaping up to be one of those special moments when everybody reviewing a game shows their cards and realizes they all reached the same conclusion. Here’s a breakdown of some of the reviews from other major outlets:
Metacritic: 92% PC / 94% PS5OpenCritic: 93%GameSpot: 10/10VGC: 5/5Eurogamer: 5/5GamesRadar: 4.5/5IGN: 9/10PCGamesN: 9/10
Metaphor: ReFantazio has particularly gotten praise from reviewers for its handling of themes of racial and political oppression. Writing for GameSpot, Jessica Cogswell argued that “Metaphor is Atlus at its strongest and most sincere. It’s the type of game that reminds you of the idealist you were, the person you’d like to be, and how fantasy can shape reality.” Eurogamer‘s Ed Nightingale and Lewis Parker in our own review singled out how Metaphor explores oppression by having the game’s protagonist be a member of an oppressed group in the game’s fantasy society.
Gameplay-wise, reviewers compared Metaphor favorably to Persona 5, with particular emphasis on its version of Persona’s social link system. Lewis called Metaphor “a social simulator first and a turn-based RPG second” in our review. In IGN‘s Metaphor review, Michael Higham wrote that the game’s Bond/Follower and Royal Virtue systems “are adaptations of Persona’s social links and social stats, but refined.”
Rock Paper Shotgun‘s Ed Thorn offers a dissenting, more cool review, criticizing Metaphor’s emphasis on combat and negatively contrasting its sincerity and seriousness with Persona’s cool factor and sense of humor: “If you’re an anime-liker, you’ll get on with Metaphor’s earnestness and its overarching lesson: Racism is bad! Be nice to each other! Democracy Rules!”
But even Thorn’s review is ultimately pretty positive, and it looks like Studio Zero has continued its string of back to back JRPG dingers. Metaphor: ReFantazio will launch later this week on October 10, and you can wishlist it or check out its demo on Steam.
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