Metaphor: ReFantazio - A fantasy persona-like game. It kind of works...

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a turn-based RPG developed by Studio Zero and published by Atlus. Released late in 2024, it managed to grab everyone's attention with quite a unique storyline and generally well-designed gameplay.

The story is set in the United Kingdom of Euchronia, a medieval fantasy country where multiple races live together. The situation mirrors the real world with issues of racism and discrimination, while the people live under the constant threat of monstrous creatures called "humans".

Things are set in motion when the current King is assassinated by Louis Guiabern (years after the Prince was also cursed), causing a power vacuum that various groups want to exploit to take control of the country. The issue for them is that the King prepared a special magic for this exact situation that creates a "Royal Tournament" to decide who becomes the next King.

The idea is simple: the candidate that is supported by the highest number of citizens gets to be King at the end of the time period. No violence is allowed against the top candidates (the magic physically stops anyone) to prevent it from becoming a bloodbath. Therefore, various groups (including our protagonist) set up their campaigns and try to impress their fellow citizens to prove they are the right choice.

Louis, being a powerful military leader, is at the top of the race, followed by Aestivum Forden, the leader of the Sanctist Church. Our protagonist is nowhere near the top, but that is basically the story setup as the team tries their best to increase their reputation for a chance to catch up.

The goal of the protagonist is not really to win the race for himself, but to remove the curse on the Prince. This would allow the Prince to be the rightful heir to the throne and skip the whole election altogether. Of course, there are lots of intermediate steps and various antagonists to face before gaining the ability to challenge the two top candidates.

Under the hood, this is really a Persona-like game with bonds, protagonist stats, and side stories. It is quite a solid clone, too, as there is a lot of variety in content between the many cities and settlements you can visit during your "electoral campaign".

Your team starts small but ends up having a member of all 8 races as you keep recruiting new characters until very near the end of the story. All the characters' personalities and visual designs are very distinct, and each one of them has enough depth given in their personal bond stories.

My favorite character in the main cast is a tie between Eupha (Euphausia), a Mustari priestess, and Junah (Junah Cygnus), a famous singer. Eupha shows quite a lot of growth during the main plot and her personal bond story, so it is hard not to like her. Junah is instead already quite an interesting character from the start; she is determined and ready to take things into her own hands instead of waiting for someone to save her.

I have to admit that the storyline (aside from the premise) goes through very standard RPG tenets and tropes. You won't be surprised by most of the events of the main story (even the main reveal was kind of obvious from the start), but they are still written in a way that makes them enjoyable.

If you like the premise, I really suggest you give it a shot. It is a solid experience with really memorable characters. Now I wonder if the company is preparing a new Persona game too...