REVOLUTION! Seize Power from the Villains in Metaphor: ReFantazio | Adli's Quick Games Review

Header for Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Credit to ATLUS, SEGA, embedded from Steam.

This article is in English. Untuk membaca versi Bahasa Indonesia, klik di sini.

Notice and Specs

• This article aims to share information about this game.
• There is no intention to infringe on any copyright.
• The copyright for any images, videos, or other media used in this article belongs to their respective owners, whether developers or publishers of this game, unless otherwise stated.
• The author is not an employee, internal staff member, or official representative of the game's developer or publisher. The author's relationship with the game's team is limited to that of an independent creator partner through the SEGA/ATLUS Summer Sale campaign.
• This article purely reflects the author's own perspective.
• This article is based on the author's personal experience playing this game. Future patches or changes to this game may not be reflected in this article.
• This article was translated from Indonesian to English with the assistance of Claude, an AI by Anthropic. Translation quality may not be on par with that of a human translator.

Introduction

As a player who... wasn't very fond of Persona 4 Golden's slow pace — you can read my short review here. Honestly... I was a bit hesitant to play more ATLUS games. Because looking at the ATLUS catalog, the themes of their games feel quite similar. Even some fans of ATLUS titles have said that their gameplay mechanics and systems tend to follow the same formula. So if someone requests an ATLUS game for me to play, I might be a bit on the fence about whether to actually play it or not.

Then one evening, an opportunity came up to play some other ATLUS titles, and I was given two options. Try Metaphor: ReFantazio, or Persona 3 Reload? After weighing my options... and reading one review article from Catholic Game Reviews, I decided to go with Metaphor: ReFantazio. Was it the right call?

Game Details

Detail

Trailer

Check out the game's trailer below :)

Metaphor: ReFantazio - Official Launch Trailer

Credit to IGN channel on YouTube.

Adli's Gameplay

Want to watch my gameplay video? You can check it out below:

Teller's Duty, Yakuza 0: Director's Cut, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and 6 other games!

Credit to Adli_HM channel on YouTube.

Review and Recommendation

Short Review

Honestly... As mentioned above, I was genuinely hesitant to play ATLUS games. Given that my experience playing Persona 4 Golden wasn't all that great. The pacing, the gameplay, everything just felt incredibly sloooooow. On top of that, there are so many features and concepts — tarot cards, character relationships, and so much more. For someone playing Persona on PC for the very first time, it felt extremely complex and overwhelming. Lots of terminology that wasn't easy to grasp, and spending around two and a half hours before even reaching a combat session felt painfully loooooong compared to modern games that get you into combat within under an hour, sometimes even 15 or 30 minutes after the intro.

Then came the decision to take the opportunity to play Metaphor: ReFantazio... With all the awards visible on its Steam page... Was it really that good?

In short, Yes. For more details, I'll explain below in the Why Should You Buy It? section.

Adli's Recommendation

[VERDICT: MUSTPLAY]

Why Should You Buy It?

So, why should you buy this title?

Stunning visuals!

The visuals here are a real mix. There's 3D, hand-drawn anime-style artwork, an ultra-modern UI, and more. Everything is displayed with extraordinary beauty that will leave you captivated while playing.

Breathtaking cutscenes

As I touched on above, one of the styles used in this game is anime-esque. The cutscenes are dominated by anime-style visuals at a 16:9 or 21:9 ratio, like watching a film at the cinema. The quality is stunning — reminiscent of high-budget anime productions. The effects, voice acting, SFX, music, and story are all spectacular and deeply entertaining.

Story and concepts that are easy to follow

One weakness of fantasy-genre games is sometimes using overly heavy terminology, leading to a story that's hard for players to digest at a glance. And... this was honestly one of the things that made Persona 4 Golden, aka P4G, hard for me to follow. P4G dumps an enormous amount of terminology and story at you right at the start — arcana systems, monsters, personas, tarot-themed cards, and so on — which I found to be a massive amount of very complex information to process upfront. Unfortunately, when faced with that much complexity right at the beginning, I tend to feel overwhelmed and end up tuning it all out. The analogy might be something like this: how do you understand Advanced Chemistry if you don't even have a grasp of Basic Chemistry? That's exactly why it felt so hard to follow P4G with all that information thrown at you from the start.

And this is where Metaphor: ReFantazio shines.

The concept is actually the same as P4G. There's More, similar to Igor in P4G; there's Bond, which carries the same concept as in P4G; and there are Archetypes, which are conceptually similar to the various Personas in P4G. However, this game introduces those complex concepts gradually to the player. Step by step, and even a newcomer like me can follow along and grasp the basics. And if you understand the basics, you can keep up going forward, right?

Yes, that's exactly what I felt playing this game. It feels smooth and enjoyable to follow, and not nearly as overwhelming as playing P4G was.

A unique, yet clear UI

Screenshot from Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Credit to ATLUS, SEGA, embedded from Steam.

Screenshot from Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Credit to ATLUS, SEGA, embedded from Steam.

The UI is... ultra-modern. Genuinely clear and unique. Personally, I don't think I've ever seen a UI styled quite like this before. From the very beginning, the UI is a genuine pleasure to look at — during gameplay, conversations, exploration, combat, and everything in between. Even when I was about to quit and opened the main menu for the first time, I was blown away by how beautiful the Main Menu looks.

The only downside, in my opinion, is in a few specific areas — like the Skill Point allocation, which lacks a bit of visual contrast, and the equipment section. I'm not quite sure why it doesn't hide equipment that's already been equipped by another character.

Magnificent audio!

The music, SFX, ambient sound, and voice acting in this game all feel extraordinarily polished and professional. The budget and production value really come through. Almost every piece of dialogue also has voice acting, making it deeply entertaining. Even the auto-conversation feature is excellent — it genuinely feels like a real conversation in progress, with no awkward pauses between lines, making everything feel truly natural as you play through and listen to the ongoing dialogue.

Snappy gameplay

One more difference... The gameplay here is snappy and responsive. Me likey 💙

Even though the concept is the same as P4G — Turn-Based Combat — this game makes you feel far more active than classic Turn-Based Combat. For example, if you encounter an enemy that's weaker than you, you can dispatch them quickly without needing to enter a full Turn-Based session first. And if you encounter an equal or even stronger enemy, you can strike first and trigger Squad Mode preemptively, making the advantages far more impactful. This is yet another thing that I find genuinely compelling about this game, compared to P4G, which is far more passive in terms of combat and slower in pace.

Utterly addictive!

For organic coverage — free promotion with a game key, but no payment involved — I usually only play for around 35–40 minutes for a first impression, and even that typically comes three to five weeks after receiving the key. For paid promotional coverage, I offer the benefit of a 65-minute session and can play as soon as payment is received. This game was, in fact, a paid promotion. So in theory... I should have only played it for around 65 minutes for the first impression. But...

I got completely hooked 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The reason, honestly, is that you can't save progress unless you're in a "safe" location, such as a town. So my playtime kept stretching longer and longer. I could have saved before entering the mine shaft at around the two-hour mark, and I did save. But because I was so hooked... I just kept going all the way to 2.6 hours 🤣🤣🤣

And I have absolutely no regrets.

Price and Playtime

WOW. THE PRICE IS... EXPENSIVE.

Looking at the Steam page, this game is priced at USD 70 at full price. That's pricey... Right now it's on sale at USD 28. Still expensive — that's six days' worth of meals...

But... Given the quality I experienced over 2.6 hours with this game... Honestly, it felt satisfying. Truly breathtaking...

Closing

Yeah... The price is expensive. Very. USD 70 could pay for two months of my internet. So buying a game at that price... might require some serious thought. Pay two months of internet, or play a great game?

But... If you can manage to save up, or have enough to spare, and you're looking for a Heavy-Narrative game that's still snappy and responsive, with stunning visuals, story, audio, and gameplay... I think you won't regret buying this game...