ReFantazio Focuses On “Fear And Anxiety” To Be Relatable To All Demographics

Highlights

Metaphor: ReFantazio offers a unique blend of turn-based combat with real-time action and a high-stakes Royal Tournament.
The game focuses on exploring human imagination and feelings, aiming to help players grow and be better people.
Developed by the team behind Persona, the game delves into themes of fear and anxiety to create a relatable story for a broader audience.

The acclaimed trio of devs behind the Persona series are promoting their upcoming game, Metaphor: ReFantazio, sharing the combat and concept details tailored to set this new IP apart from the popular Atlus and Sega-owned franchise. Taking inspiration from several Persona elements, Metaphor also boasts a unique approach to welcoming novices.

The anime-styled dark fantasy touches on a Game of Thrones-esque premise where contenders for the throne fight to claim their seat after the king’s assassination. A blend of turn-based combat with real-time action, dungeon quests, and a “high-stakes” Royal Tournament await players in this original fantasy world.

Metaphor: ReFantazio Looks Like A New Breed Of Fantasy Game

Hashino aims to create a fantasy game that goes beyond empty worlds of fiction and helps players reimagine their lives.

In an interview with Game Informer, director Katsura Hashino and art director Shigenori Soejima explained the differences that set this game and the Persona franchise apart. The latter very much framed “a young, kind of naïve person growing up and entering into the world of adulthood” and explored the challenges involved in that growth.

However, Hashino confirmed Metaphor is “not really so much about that sense of growth. It’s more about how we can explore the concept of human imagination and human feelings and thoughts, and how we can learn from these experiences to grow and be better people.”

Furthermore, Metaphor’s devs wanted to expand on a concept that would appeal to a broader audience to make the story and characters more relatable, which is where one of the primary concepts of fear and anxiety came into the mix: “We are trying to achieve something where we’re talking about things that affect people of all times, all ages, everywhere in the world. That’s why we focus on this concept of fear and anxiety because I don’t think there’s anybody at any time who hasn’t lived with some fear or anxiety.”

Persona’s goal was not to challenge social problems, but instead hone in on the characters’ coming-of-age journey and the growth involved. “So by facing difficult problems in those characters’ lives, they can grow into being who they are and figure out who they want to be”, Hashino expanded.

Deciding on a unique art style was also a challenge faced by Hashino and his team because he wondered: “What can I bring to the fantasy genre? How can I add to it and use what I know, use my own style, and bring my own riff on it?” Hashino and art director, Soejima, soon developed a visual flair that was not only “cool in the real world that people like and enjoy” but also a design to “bring it in to the medium of the game.”

Metaphor: ReFantazio is scheduled to be released on October 11, 2024.