Metaphor: ReFantazio is the uncommon fantasy recreation that goes past racism 101

I not count on video video games that deal with the themes of racism and discrimination by way of fantasy — as Metaphor: ReFantazio does — to shock me. These tales by no means transcend well-trodden depictions of “racism is unhealthy,” and I tune them out like a lot white noise. However Metaphor: ReFantazio has executed the work, and its willingness to transcend surface-level remedies of drained fantasy tropes to dig on the coronary heart of the actual points with racism and discrimination is precisely what makes it an outstanding recreation. Metaphor is a intelligent evolution of the Persona sequence, however it wouldn’t be as fascinating or excellent as it’s with out its refreshingly progressive message.

Metaphor takes place in a world the place our actuality of “equality” between completely different ethnic teams is offered as an unattainable-but-nice-to-think-about idyllic fantasy, whereas discrimination, classism, and the wrestle in opposition to monstrous creatures referred to as “people” rule the day. 

The world of Metaphor is stratified in line with a hierarchy of various tribes labeled by their bodily traits, like wings, horns, or elfin-like lengthy ears. Then there’s the protagonist, who comes from essentially the most hated tribe, which, to our eyes, resemble real-world people with no distinct bodily options. Atlus calling this recreation “Metaphor” is about as unsubtle as a brick thrown at a protest.

The world is thrown into chaos when the dogmatic king is murdered, abandoning no inheritor, as his idealistic son mysteriously vanished years earlier than. His loss of life triggers a nationwide contest whereby anybody, irrespective of their start or circumstance, can compete to win the throne, offered they’ve the love and help of the individuals. Your job is to earn that love by way of a wide range of contests within the hope of placing that idealistic prince on the throne in order that he might change this hateful racist world for the higher.

In Metaphor, the characters make the most of a job class system referred to as archetypes. Every social gathering member begins with a particular archetype — warrior, healer, mage, and so forth. — and by creating relationships with different NPCs, unlock extra. Like Persona, fight is centered on exploiting an enemy’s weak point whereas mitigating your personal. There’s additionally a fully fabulous overworld fight function the place when you strike a weaker enemy, they merely die, forgoing a transition right into a battle scene. Nonetheless, if an enemy is your degree or stronger, you should utilize overworld fight to shock assault and weaken them, providing you with a critical benefit within the battle to return. 

I am keen on these enhancements over Persona’s fight as a result of it considerably cuts down on the time wanted to grind expertise. It additionally makes fight harrowing as hell as a result of whilst you’re in a position to ambush monsters, they will do the identical to you. Metaphor’s fight excels, exceeding its RPG cohort, as a result of it calls for that I believe extra strategically. Arrogantly operating round a dungeon or into boss fights along with your greatest, highest-level weapons blazing will not be all the time the successful technique, and it’s additionally a great way to get you killed.

My higher-level social gathering was incessantly worn out by an enemy I’d in any other case mop the ground with just because they received the drop on me. Conversely, I’ve been in a position to soundly defeat enemies eight and 9 ranges larger than me with freshly unlocked level-one archetypes as a result of their particular talents have been uniquely suited to use a weak point. Metaphor is the one single-player recreation that made me really feel like a raid chief in an MMO like Last Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft.

Metaphor additionally feels good from a tactile perspective. The animations that play as you fluidly zip between completely different choices in fight add a kinetic power that made me really feel like I used to be enjoying an motion recreation as an alternative of a turn-based RPG. This expertise is enhanced by the slick-as-hell, extremely stylized menus and the killer soundtrack — particularly the principle battle music. I don’t know what that man is saying, however the way in which he says it will get me hype as hell.

However Metaphor is greater than only a fashionable, dynamic RPG — it’s additionally the uncommon fantasy story that tackles discrimination with nuance.

In a whole lot of fantasy, I’m aggravated by the storytelling conceit of utilizing discrimination in opposition to fantasy races as an allegory for real-world racism. Tales that includes this trope normally cease on the “racism is unhealthy” floor degree, demonstrating that with ugly over-the-top shows of violence (hey there, Dragon Age) whereas ignoring the subtleties that make racism so heinous and pervasive. Metaphor manages to include and deal with each features of this actuality. 

There’s a second whenever you’re studying a fantasy e-book with a companion, they usually point out that realizing their aim of a world the place everyone seems to be handled equally gained’t be sufficient. “Equal competitors doesn’t imply equal footing,” Heismay says. It’s the primary time I’ve seen a online game acknowledge that merely stopping the massive unhealthy evil racist gained’t magically make up for the numerous generations of oppression. The sport does the identical with class and wealth. There’s a personality vying for the throne who needs to primarily “eat the wealthy” and redistribute their wealth on the level of a guillotine. However by advantage of her extraordinarily low standing, she sees everyone with various cash to rub collectively as her ideological enemy. It’s identical to when individuals in poverty lash out at different individuals a bit of bit much less in poverty when their actual enemies are the rich powerholders who exploit that animosity. It’s superior that the sport calls that out.

There’s an virtually reflexive intuition to name Metaphor: ReFantazio “Persona with swords.” The sport has the hallmarks of a Persona, which lend it an air of familiarity, to not point out a lot of the identical artistic expertise. However this characterization doesn’t really feel appropriate. These acquainted methods have been remixed to really feel contemporary whereas the sport’s message is vibrating on ranges the Persona video games brush up in opposition to however by no means fairly attain. 

The upsetting factor about racism, classism, homophobia, and the like is that there’s a reluctance in the actual world to acknowledge that it’s not solely the violence of particular person actors that perpetuates this oppression however establishments and methods as effectively. We problem these particular person actors and name them out as a result of that’s a lot simpler and faster to do than the troublesome generational work it takes to dismantle racist methods and construct equitable ones. Video games with that form of message do the identical — ending with the climactic defeat of the unhealthy guys. Metaphor is without doubt one of the first instances a high-profile recreation acknowledges the actual, a lot more durable, and fewer glamorous work of dismantling methods.

And at a time when you possibly can’t even name out the person actors anymore with out getting gaslit to hell and again — it’s shifting, as an individual of shade, to see Metaphor go the additional mile to say, “These methods have to go, too.” That’s what makes Metaphor: ReFantazio so highly effective, resonant, and in each sense of a phrase that’s sadly been bastardized into meaninglessness, woke as fuck.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is out now on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.