over the years, personaAtlus’ high school social simulation RPG series captured my heart as the quintessential “power of friendship” game. These games are about human connections, about high school students trying to save the world and still studying for finals. But even as the series promotes progressive ideals, like accepting your true self and overturning corrupt systems, it always finds a way to attack the very people it’s supposed to be championing. What I’m worried about is Metaphor: ReFantazioThis new fantasy role-playing game about a high-stakes election falls into the same trap. I’m happy to report that it doesn’t, and actually goes out of its way to subvert the tropes employed by its predecessors.
Mild non-story spoilers Metaphor: ReFantazio follow.
this persona The show has historically found time to denigrate queer people and women, even as it spends a lot of time advocating against the systems that suppress these people. Persona 5 Infamous portrayal of gay men as predators And it spends much of the game defending those at the feet of those in power. It also featured a teenage girl being sexually abused by her teacher, just for the sake of gaming Many times men cast their eyes on her during the remaining 100 hours of operation. Persona 3 There is an unnecessary trans panic scene. Persona 4 Start having meaningful discussions about gender roles before falling into homophobic jokes and gender absolutism. Catherinea puzzle/dating sim game with its own characteristics Messy trans storyline The team attempted to interrogate whole body Reposted but managed to I stepped on a few rakes along the way..
In recent years, persona Already starting to remedy these issues in the game Persona 5 Tactical Edition and Persona 3 Reloaded. Strategy allow players express romantic interest in men Without making it a joke. reload completely Reorganize cross-panic scenarios Omits the part where three high school students run away because they’re afraid of a woman with stubble, and makes some of the relationships decidedly weird. While it still works within the confines of the original story and thus doesn’t actually offer a gay romance option, it at least makes me think Atlus might be Be kinder to queer people Persona 6. That game hasn’t materialized yet, but Metaphor: ReFantazio It’s here, and at least, it doesn’t create the same derailing queerphobia.
That being said, metaphor It’s a pretty sexless game, and there isn’t much romance to speak of. There’s a strongly hinted romance at the end of one of the henchmen’s stories, but even that can come off as one-sided if you want. So this game doesn’t make great strides in how Atlus represents queer people in its world, it just doesn’t take a weird left turn to harm them. On the other hand, staying away from romance in the social simulation element means that the women you meet in the role-playing game won’t be dragged down the same dehumanizing leering and simplified friendship route persona Already famous. Actually, metaphor Go to great lengths to subvert that expectation early on.
The scene that best illustrates this is early in the game, when the team’s pilot, Neuras, becomes visibly excited in the background when they meet a famous singer named Junah. She’s clearly loved by everyone in the Euchronia world, and considering fans can’t give celebrities their personal space, I was prepared for the older man to be disgusted with her. However, I immediately let go when Neurath ran to her ship instead of running to her to see how advanced it was compared to the regular model. To my surprise and delight, Hulkenberg, the most stoic knight in the game, was (respectfully) smitten with Juna. This scenario is obviously based on people’s expectations that it would fall into the same weird game, e.g. persona Already, just coming out the other side made me like two characters that I’ve grown to love.
comprehensive, metaphor Feels like a more complex and mature take on a theme that Atlus has delved into persona Without an asterisk, I usually have to put it at the end of the suggestion. Omitting these storylines isn’t as forward-looking as including them thoughtfully, but I’m glad to see Atlus learning from the problems that have plagued other great games over the years.
