After nearly seven years,Atlus' Project Re Fantasy has finally resurfaced as Metaphor Re Fantazio, a fantasy RPG that takes a lot of cues from Persona and Shin Megami Tensei.
We already knew that Atlus would have a big presence at the Xbox Showcasethanks to Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tacticia leaking earlier this week, but it had one more big surprise up its sleeve - Project Re Fantasy, which is now named Metaphor Re Fantazio and is aiming to release in 2024.
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For those who don’t remember,Atlus originally announced Project Re Fantasy all the way back in 2017 with a strange concept trailer that set the stage for the tone and focus of the game, but didn’t show any actual footage. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard about the project, but Atlus has finally re-revealed it as part of the Xbox Showcase.
The reveal trailer for Metaphor Re Fantazio showed a world that appears to be a modern fantasy, something that was backed up by real-world footage asking, “What if the world we live in today is their utopia?”. The trailer also made it clear that Metaphor is taking a lot of cues from Persona 5 in regard to both its art direction and gameplay. One of the key examples of this is the UI, which looks just as stylish as Persona’s, just with its own fantasy flair.
Interestingly, it appears that Metaphor is going to be exclusive to Xbox and PC as it wasn’t confirmed at any point during the trailer to be coming to PlayStation as well. That being said, Persona 3 Reload was revealed at the Xbox Showcase but was quickly confirmed to be coming to other consoles as well, which could be the case with Metaphor as well.
Following the game’s announcement at the Xbox Showcase, Atlus released a synopsis that gives a bit more detail about Metaphor’s story, “Write your destiny and rise above fear as you step into a fantasy world unlike anything you’ve seen before. Fraught with unsettling mystery, the kingdom stands on a precipice. Now, you must embark on a journey, overcoming obstacles and forging bonds with friends”.
Atlus also revealed some more details on the team behind Metaphor, including director Katsura Hashino, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and composer Shoji Meguro. As previously confirmed when Metaphor was still titled Project Re Fantasy, the development team behind the game is Studio Zero.
