Critics have given their verdict on Atlus’s role-playing game Metaphor: ReFantazio – a fantasy Persona or something more?

A few days before the official release, review aggregators were flooded with ratings for Metaphor: ReFantazio, a grandiose fantasy RPG from Atlus and lead Persona 5 developers Studio Zero.

Image source: atlus

Metacritic has already accumulated about seventy reviews of Metaphor: ReFantazio with an average rating of 91-94% depending on the platform. On OpenCritic the picture is similar – 93% with 51 reviews (98% of critics recommend the game).

According to the average score, Metaphor: ReFantazio is equal to the highest-rated game releases of 2024 on Metacritic – the platformer Astro Bot and the add-on Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (94% each).

Metaphor: ReFantazio received ratings at the level of Persona 5 Royal – it has from 91 to 95% on Metacritic

Reviewers were delighted with the mature story, well-written characters, well-developed fantasy setting, dynamic turn-based combat system, and stylish artistic and musical components.

The disadvantages included a slow start and a drawn-out final act, repetitive dungeons, excessive conservatism (intersections with Persona), a deliberate lack of voice acting in some scenes and an outdated technical component.

Critics agreed that with Metaphor: ReFantazio, Atlus has in many ways created a familiar Persona with a number of distinctive features, still capable of tearing you away from real life for a good hundred hours.

Metaphor: ReFantazio will be released on October 11 on PC (Steam, Microsoft Store), PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X and S. In anticipation of the release, a hefty demo version with content for five (or even more) hours of gameplay has become available on all platforms.