I guess we’ll start with a bit of a history lesson. Before Persona, there was Shin Megami Tensei, an offshoot of the Megami Tensei series that dealt with teenagers in modern Japan who were usually faced with cataclysmic events that threatened to tear apart the entire world. Persona originated as an offshoot of SMT, and the first two games still leaned heavily into the darker tones of SMT, but with Persona 3, everything changed.
All of a sudden, the Persona series had become synonymous with school life and dating sims, strong character-driven stories, and never-ending debates about who the best waifu was. Persona 3 started that trend, Persona 4 solidified it, and with the release of Persona 5, it’s become abundantly clear that Atlus knows they’ve got something good here and they’re gonna keep rolling with it.
But what of the Shin Megami Tensei fans who have been around since the beginning? It’s no secret that Persona is oft seen as the more “casual” series, not just in terms of gameplay difficulty, but in tone as well. Shin Megami Tensei is less concerned with character motivations, and instead opts to explore broader themes of duality, good and chaos, and the road in-between. Enter Atlus’s brand new game, Metaphor: ReFantazio (not the catchiest name, we’ll admit), and maybe, just maybe, we’ve finally got a middle ground for the company’s two tentpole series.
Granted, we don’t have all the details just yet. But just looking at the reveal trailer for Metaphor: ReFantazio, the premise itself shares some strong similarities with Shin Megami Tensei. There’s the duality and juxtaposition of modern-day Tokyo with a fantasy underworld, and more crucially, the ability to affect the story by making key decisions that may set you down a different path. These are just a couple of key elements that you’ll spot in all SMT games, but it’s clear that Atlus is also determined to sprinkle in even more Persona-isms here as well.
For starters, the trailer hints at a bond system between the main character and the other allies you’ll meet along the way, not unlike the Social Link and Confidant systems we’ve seen in Persona. And instead of recruiting demons and putting them in your party, you have actual party members instead, which suggests that Metaphor: ReFantazio will have a greater emphasis on character interactions and development than your typical SMT game.
And perhaps most importantly, Metaphor: ReFantazio also incorporates all of the style and flourishes of Persona 5 into one neat fantasy package. This has long been one of my biggest gripes with Shin Megami Tensei, that even as Persona has evolved and moved forward by leaps and bounds, SMT still feels woefully outdated and sluggish. Even the series’ latest entry, Shin Megami Tensei V, doesn’t quite feel like a modern game, which is a huge disappointment, considering that it came out after Persona 5.
As an SMT fan myself, I’ve been waiting for Atlus to finally tackle more mature stories and settings while retaining the Persona formula. Instead of always trapping the player in high school, being able to explore different environments and situations while keeping the core gameplay mechanics intact sounds like an absolute dream, and Metaphor: ReFantazio has the potential to be just that. It may not be the souped up mainline SMT game that we’ve been hoping for, but it’s at least a step closer to that vision.
With a release window of early 2024, we don’t have all that long to wait to see what Atlus has in store for SMT and Persona fans. Considering that the game has been in development for six years at this point (with only the vague Project Re:Fantasy tease to sustain us all this time), this may very well be a culmination of everything the Persona team has learned over the past decade and end up being one of the most exciting JRPG releases in recent years.
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