I expected Metaphor: ReFantazio to start slowly. I’ve been burned before by epic JRPG fantasy games that incorporate action combat into a series most known for turn-based battles while telling a Game of Thrones-inspired grimdark tale about feuding factions, royalty, and the politics of the few governing the politics of the masses inside a pseudo-Great Britain complete with a range of regional accents. Which, when you think about it, is weirdly specific.
However, having given up on Final Fantasy 16, I was braced for a little bit of grinning and bearing it with Metaphor. When Final Fantasy 16 launched, I wrote that the opening four hours were far too slow and featured too many uninspiring cutscenes, and was derided for writing a review after only four hours. To be clear, that was not a review. Neither is this. But four hours into Metaphor, I am already hooked.
I keep trying to lower my expectations, to keep my anticipation in check. This is one of the highest reviewed games of the year, but more than that, it has drawn comparisons to being the best middle ground between two of my favourite JRPG series (Persona and Final Fantasy), and is highly recommended by people I trust. While it’s obviously a positive to be excited about a game and want to play it, coronating a game as Game of the Year in your mind before you’ve played it can cloud your judgement.
And yet, everything in Metaphor so far has been spectacular. I’ve fought a human (the same one I fought at SGF, but still), seen a lot of depth to the worldbuilding already in the racism my Travelling Boy faces as an Elda, and met Hulkenberg. This was a little meta, as she was in an early cutscene but then vanished – outside of the game, I know she is coming back. She is coming back and she shall be my wife. Or maybe Junah will. Or Catherina…
You can’t romance people in this game?! That’s it, zero stars!
It feels like I have just scratched the surface, with so much more to come. I remember being at this point in Final Fantasy 16 and hearing so many of my colleagues say the same about how the game would open up. But I just wasn’t interested. I kept going, but never made it to the end and just faded away. This is not meant as a sleight on Final Fantasy 16, it’s just clear that despite their similarities they appeal in slightly different ways. For me, for whatever reason, Metaphor has caught me in its spell.
I think the answer is in the world itself. If we bring in a third game for comparison – Dragon Age: The Veilguard. BioWare’s latest RPG is the reason I have only just started Metaphor. It was my most anticipated game of the year, and while I still had a great time with it, it didn’t reach the lofty heights of my expectations. The answer to that may also be in the world itself.
All three games start with an inciting incident. This is just storytelling 101. In Final Fantasy 16 it’s the battle of the Eikons, in Metaphor it’s the murder of the king, and in Dragon Age it’s Solas’ ritual. For Final Fantasy 16’s to work, you need to know a decent chunk about Final Fantasy mythology and what summons even are. For Dragon Age’s to work, you need to know what Solas did in the last game, and what his motives are. For Metaphor’s to work… well, that’s just it. You don’t need anything. The king is killed by one of his council, and we as the player know who did it, but the council themselves do not. That is a very sharp hook.
As a result of these openings, Final Fantasy 16 spends a lot of time on exposition around the series’ fantastical elements, and that leaves the human side of the story feeling underbaked, even as tragedy strikes. Dragon Age similarly relies on exposition, and then offers some mild retcons to Solas’ nature and offers up a kinder, gentler world than the series is used to or needs. Metaphor does not waste time or pull punches.
Right from the start, Metaphor offers a world that will challenge you. It will put you in uncomfortable situations, it will force you into harsh decisions, and it will make you question everything you see. While I’ve had little of this yet on my jaunt through caves fighting very big butterflies, I know there is more waiting for me. This belief may be influenced by Metaphor’s reputation, but mostly it is rooted in my own experiences. Metaphor starts in a hurry, and offers a rich world to dive into. If it keeps its promise, this could be a very special world indeed.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
92/100
- Released
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October 11, 2024
- Developer(s)
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Studio Zero