Metaphor: ReFantazio is an upcoming fantasy RPG from the team behind the Persona series, and it looks like it’s taking all the best parts from the wildly popular series. A new 14-minute-long breakdown trailer shows how it’s adapting different Persona games’ social and time management systems to tell a political story in its brand-new fantasy setting.
The “Creator’s Voice” video features interviews with members of the development team talking about how they were able to tweak Persona’s systems to fit a very different story and setting. Metaphor: ReFantazio is all about characters taking part in an important election in this fantastical world. Just like Persona characters strengthen bonds to receive new abilities and perks, Metaphor’s hero, attempting to gain the support of the masses, uses social link-style relationship building to bolster their standing in the race and gain new abilities. The developers describe this phenomenon as being “inspired” by characters you meet and build relationships with, which means a warrior-like character might give you abilities in-line with that archetype.
Check out the full trailer below:
But talking to people and learning their backstories is only one of Persona’s social mechanics that Metaphor draws from. Persona factors in time, forcing you to manage your daily schedule and prioritize certain meet-ups or activities each day before heading back to a dungeon or initiating a climactic boss fight. Metaphor takes a page from its spiritual predecessor on this front, as well, as you’ll have to travel across the world for your political campaign, and traveling takes in-game time.
Metaphor: ReFantazio will also riff on Persona’s turn-based battles by allowing you to take on enemies with hack-and-slash action mechanics to take out low-level foes as opposed to fighting them all in turn-based fights. The developers said this option is meant for enemies you’re reasonably sure you can defeat quickly, as opposed to engaging in slower-paced battles, which can take up more of your time if you’re doing repetitive fights.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S next fall, but it won’t be the only Persona-style game from Atlus next year. Persona 3 Reload, a complete remake of the original Persona 3, will launch on February 2.