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The protagonist of the role-playing game Metaphor: ReFantazio wanders across the mythical United Kingdom of Euchronia for over 80 hours while carrying a novel. The novel presents a utopian city full of skyscrapers where equality is enshrined in the law. It is evident that this novel presents a perfect picture of our own world, and as our protagonist reads it, he becomes motivated to attempt to build a world that is similar to the author’s ideal. Metaphor: ReFantazio grabbed me by the neck in a matter of minutes, and I’m not new to immersing myself in the literature I read.
The most recent game from the creators of the Persona series has a lot to say, and it does it in a style that is surprisingly blunt and full-throated. Atlus’ popular life sim role-playing games serve as the basis for Metaphor, which does and expresses nearly everything it aims to more effectively than the games it relies upon. I’m glad I got a game from Atlus that I can recommend without the same disclaimers I usually have to make about Persona titles, even though it’s not perfect like the paradise in the book. This gives me hope for the company’s future endeavors, both inside and outside of this new, rich world it’s built.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a complex, explicitly political story, and the events in the United Kingdom of Euchronia are a metaphor for the biases and injustices of the real world, despite what Atlus would have you think. The inhabitants of this universe are divided into eight “tribes,” each of which is a distinct humanoid race with customs, cultures, and stereotypes that influence how they are seen in society. The protagonist, an Elda, is the ideal focal point for demonstrating this as his tribe has traditionally been marginalized by the present global system.
Because it highlights the power structures in its world, metaphor is overbearing. I observe a beast-like Paripus pleading for their lives as they are put to death in the town center with no a trial as I arrive in Grand Trad, the capital city. Nobody cares enough to search a little deeper when an easy scapegoat is standing in front of them, and nobody accepts a paripus when they claim they didn’t commit a crime. It’s only amusement to the elf-like Roussainte and the horn-wielding Clemar who observe. Being an Elda, the most hated tribe in the country, and the one held accountable for the hideous “human” beings that endanger their superiors’ safety, it serves as a reminder that one.
Since Atlus develops, well, metaphors for real-world problems, it has never been one to mince words. However, Metaphor produces a dystopian dream that reflects reality rather than utilizing the supernatural like Persona does. The protagonist of the game frequently reads the novel he is carrying about because it presents a view of the world that is starkly different from the reality of how it is. Of course, getting closer to a utopian reality is far from easy, and anyone who lives in this hellscape we all share has probably thought that realizing the grand dreams of a world free from injustice and prejudice, where people are “one tribe” and there is no real oppression or discrimination, Characters occasionally draw attention to this paradox, and metaphor doesn’t appear to be ignorant to it. For example, Eugief Heismay pointed out that the novel’s depiction of what a paradise might look like was flawed and full of blind spots when I showed him the book. Can we still aim for it, though? That’s the objective.
Metaphor gives more practical means to live by such an ethos than Persona 5, which had a similar topic eight years prior. It is both a tale about individuals who desire to improve their society and an ideological statement on the significance of such fights. The game’s story of people coming together to support anybody who is prepared to stand up for what’s right seems wonderfully genuine, despite its fanciful components. At the center of Metaphor is an election, one that is decided by a supernatural power that looks into the hearts of all Euchronia’s citizens rather than by checkmarks on a vote. The game begins with adversary Louis Guiabern, a well-known figure in the Euchronian military, who is dissatisfied with the royal family’s control and wants to take the throne. But a spell the monarch left behind after his death throws his plot into a loop. No one can usurp the throne since his magic is universal and guarantees that the people will be governed by someone they truly pick. Gaining the public’s favor is the only way to win since it stops political killings.This is where Persona’s social dynamics are twisted by Metaphor. The connections I make around the nation help me maintain my position in the election and make sure Louis can’t easily move up the ranks in spite of all his shady tactics and attempts to win. As a political drama, Metaphor is aware that those in positions of authority frequently overlook those at the bottom and that a route to political prominence begins at the grassroots level. The candidates for Euchronia’s crown have already forgotten the common person who elected them by the time they reach the top of the electoral ladder.