After years of anticipation, Studio Zero’s first JRPG will finally arrive this October 11th, releasing on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and PS4. We’re talking about Metaphor: ReFantazio, a game that follows the style of the Persona series, featuring turn-based combat, character relationships, and a story centered around social themes. But this first game from the Atlus team, founded by the leading minds behind Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, has decided to take sociological ideas a bit further, even subtly breaking the fourth wall in ways different from what we’ve seen before. The thread that ties this adventure together is a journey through a fantasy world focused on a kind of electoral campaign where we need to gather allies to our cause. In the words of the director, Katsura Hashino, the game aims to “take something with you back to the real world.”
“What we didn’t want to do was create a fantasy world where you play, finish, and return to your daily life with nothing lasting. Instead, we wanted you to play in the fantasy world and take something back to the real world—something that helps, inspires, or sparks your imagination. Making this fantasy game an experience that could have real-world impact was something we thought would be very meaningful.”
Katsura Hashino, Director of Studio Zero / Atlus
“That’s why we do things like asking for the player’s name,” Hashino explains, referring to the beginning of the game when, aside from the protagonist’s name, players are asked for their own. Beyond this, there are other elements that break the fourth wall, such as something that could be seen in the demo, where the protagonist carries a book that talks about our world, which, within the context of the strong class and racial divisions in Metaphor, is viewed as a kind of utopia.
“About the book specifically, I can’t really talk about it without spoiling the story. What I can say is that the book the protagonist holds depicts our world as a utopia, but what we try to do with it is make you question things a bit. We could see the fantasy world of Metaphor as a utopia with all those beautiful places, but here, we make the people of that fantasy world see our world as a utopia.”
“We wanted people to think: ‘Okay, they can see our world as a utopia, but how do we see our own world?’ Do we see our world as a utopia? Probably not. I think you’d hear many people even describe it as a dystopia. It’s an interesting contrast that, in a way, indirectly connects both worlds, and it’s not a direct connection, which I think makes it interesting.”
Katsura Hashino, Director of Studio Zero / Atlus
Anxiety as a Constant in Life
The director assures that there are no deliberate nods to the issues our society is facing: “There is no direct connection to real-world issues like discrimination, political discrepancies, or things like that.” The approach is broader and capable of connecting with anyone: “What we try to focus on is the fact that people everywhere have anxiety and fear in their lives, and dealing with that, and how to do so, is one of the main points of this game. And of course, how anxiety and fear can change people, change you, and then all of this connects with the game’s choices.“
The way to weave all these themes together is through the journey across the fantasy world of Eucronia, encountering its different cultures and characters: “The people you meet on your journey have their own lives, live in their own areas of the world, and have their own problems. As you progress on the journey and get to know them, you can build relationships with them, and they can become allies. The other characters in your group are also allies in a way, but each one has their own relationship with the protagonist.“
“Developing relationships with group members and the people of the world is a central point of the story in this game. When you’re in the real world and go on a trip, you might meet people you would never encounter in your normal daily life, and you might say things or have conversations you would never have with the people you know in your daily life.”
Katsura Hashino, Director of Studio Zero / Atlus
This narrative aspect of the game ties into the new combat system, an innovative blend of turn-based action and real-time elements. “This might be something that could serve as advice from the game, advice for the character but also for the players: by learning about how people think and what life is like in different areas of Eucronia, you can unlock new potential within yourself, which then unlocks these archetypes that connect with the combat system.“
Metaphor: ReFantazio has big plans for you, or at least aims for something more than most of the games you can play today. Breaking the fourth wall has never carried such deep meanings as in this case. Katsura Hashino aims for our gaming experience to transcend beyond its own limits, making us question new ways of seeing things in the real world. Certainly an ambitious yet positive goal, if it is achieved as intended, don’t you think?
And now, how about you drop by the comments and share your opinion on this proposal? You know, gamer, we’ll be reading you! 😉
Images Source: IGN Official YouTube Channel, Reddit
