Have you seen The Garden of Earthly Delights by Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch? It’s a messy bric-a-brac, painted on three panels, representing human frailty, from the Garden of Eden to the wintry hellscape of our own making. Created in the early 1500s, the work was controversial. It depicts potentially blasphemous ideas about human nature and projects a bleak sense of apocalypse—rather than the pious optimism of other religious works of the era.
It’s interesting that Atlus’ latest RPG seems to rely heavily on Bosch’s influence, isn’t it? The game’s main enemies (especially the humans) all look like the work of Bosch’s fantasy heresy. Whether Atlus is letting you play around some racy nudes that look like they were ripped straight from his work, dueling with fantastical composite animals, figuring out how to mess with some oversized fruit, or just letting you explore Some mixed stone formations, you can’t escape Boss’s shadow throughout the 80+ hours of gameplay.
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Bosch created his work during a period of change. The Renaissance was in full swing, and Europe was torn between traditional medieval values and the dawn of progressive religious enlightenment. His work captures this tension well and is a totem of a world at odds with itself. Not surprisingly, Atlus explicitly references Bosch in this not-so-cleverly-named metaphor, since it’s doing the same thing. And it’s done very well.
Before Metaphor, I thought the best game to examine the tension between “the good of the people” and “the fucked-up nature of the state religion” was Final Fantasy X. A space whale and a band of agnostic demagogues dedicated to eradicating the source of all evil; do you think Square Enix is trying to say something? Now, Metaphor has proudly and boldly taken up the mantle, crafting a story in which you are somehow both a monarchist and an anti-religious demagogue, and use every step you take to correct the Errors in organized religion.
This is controversial. And it’s weird. At times, even its messaging is confusing. But that’s fine; plotting to assassinate politicians and dismantle church doctrine is never a straight line, is it? Like previous Persona games, Metaphor manages to balance these exciting big ideas with moments of genuine introspection – as well as some excellent character work.
You can break into the prince’s airship over 12 days to steal his special magic formula, or you can cook bread with magical bat creatures in an instant. You can jump into the deep end in the morning to build up your courage, and in the evening you can comfort a mother grieving over the death of her baby. This is a journey. It’s like you’re looking at the carefree nudes in the Beauce Gardens while seeing, out of the corner of your eye, frozen faces, convulsing with pain, to use a labored metaphor (pardon the pun).
You can enjoy the masterful design of the combat system as the story moves quickly, rotating from one bad plot point to another with the confidence and bravado of a drunk driver. If you’ve read my article on Atlus, you’ll know that I consider the turn-by-turn system to be the holy grail of RPG mechanics; it’s now featured in many games (from Shin Megami Tensei to Persona etc.), but I’m still not tired of it.
Each character gets a turn icon, and hitting a critical hit or exploiting a weakness will cause the icon to flash, meaning you can play again. Smart players can turn four turns into eight turns and do so consistently. In Metaphor, there’s also the option of gambling turns, thanks to some clever class abilities, and you can even add entire icons to your turn by killing certain enemies in a certain way. While built on the same foundation as Shin Megami Tensei 3’s original Press Turn system, Atlus has painted it with more detail and elegance, and I think Metaphor represents the best of this mechanic across all of Atlus’ titles Iterate.
Even in the most beige of encounters, turn-by-turn makes tactical thinking crucial, and you’ll be humming with pride if you can successfully fight off your enemies without letting them get a turn. In fact, in Metaphor, you’re rewarded meaningfully for this, and if you complete a battle without taking damage, you’ll gain more money and experience. Combined with the new job system (called “Archetypes” in the game), you’ll get some coveted RPG catnip (especially when playing on Hard mode).
The prototype itself feels a bit like Final Fantasy 5 or Bravely Default. Having each character master a different profession is crucial, because if you try to play the game with only four or five professions on hand, the enemy design will make your life very difficult. Do you know Goblins? hatred Mage? Did you know that in combat, a basilisk will basically kill anyone on the front line with one hit? Some enemies will even get enraged by seeing a class and performing some pointless ability, allowing them to go another four turns. And don’t think bosses are immune to this, oh no.
Atlus forces you to use its most complex system here, and it does so with aplomb. Even better, it also makes the world at large feel more alive and rounded in the novel. Throwing gold at a Mimic of the Merchant class will cause the monster to lose its turn as it scrambles to grab all the coins. Of course! This makes sense! World-building through game mechanics like this is at the core of the fun of video games, and Metaphor is full of it.
During your downtime, you’ll want to hang out with your friends and experience a dynamic somewhere between Persona 3 and Mass Effect 2; you know you’re on your way to something great, just like the rest Like people, you have to enjoy your free time there. There’s always this pressure (sometimes literally) and it makes all your social interactions feel stressful. There’s an uneasy, anxious atmosphere in Metaphor that struck me more than anything in Persona, but maybe that’s because I’m so far removed from school life that a game about more general anxiety , racial tension, and class warfare feel terrible.
I would complain about the lack of pace and layout of the dungeons, but a part of me, the part that used to draw games with pencil and paper, also enjoyed the stamina required to beat them. Even late in the game, regenerating mana and health can become stressful – even on Normal difficulty mode! The game as a whole is fairly simple, in line with Atlus’ plans for more core efforts, but there’s a trick to understanding the gimmick bosses it throws at you, and if you’re not fully engaged with the class-switching mechanics and skill trees, you’ll find most of the late-game optional The content is simply impossible for you.
Each individual thread is woven together to form something completely extraordinary in metaphor. It could very well be Atlus’ masterpiece; well acted, well implemented, and completely unafraid of being a great, goofy, fantasy role-playing genius. Don’t be put off by the fact that it doesn’t wear the Persona moniker; if you like anything about the Persona games, chances are you’ll find it in Metaphor – and better. As the basis for a new IP, I don’t think the developers could do any better.
Metaphor Refantazio will launch on October 11, 2024on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows.
This review is based on the Xbox Series X/S version of the game, which I tested on both consoles while playing. Code provided by publisher.
