One of my most anticipated games this year is Metaphor: ReFantazio. I recently played the demo earlier this week before the game came out on Friday.
Combat
Combat is a mix of 99% turn based with a sprinkle of action based combat. The action based combat comes into play when you encounter enemies in a dungeon. You can attempt to strike the enemy and stun them, or immediately enter into turn based combat. Stunning the enemy and then entering combat will give deal additional damage to the enemy and they will be stunned. If the enemy you hit is weaker than you, hitting them will instantly defeat them.
As previously mentioned, combat is turn based. On your turn you have several different options. You can attack, defend, use spells, pass your turn, or do a team attack. One of the aspects of combat that I like is that if the main character falls in battle, the game does not end. You can continue a battle with the other characters. Another aspect of combat I like is that there is a front and back row. Moving your character to the back row reduces damage taken from physical attacks. Hitting an enemies weakness or getting a critical hit will give you an extra turn. Missing an enemy with an attack will cause you to lose turns.
What’s an Archetype?
Archetypes are aspects of heroes that you can equip on a character. Characters aren’t restricted to one specific archetype so you can create different combinations depending on the situation. Each Archetype is different with varying stats, skills, resistances, and weaknesses. As you finish battles the Archetype you have equipped will gain levels and you’ll get access to more skills and team attacks. One important thing to remember is that levels for Archetypes aren’t shred between characters. If you have one Archetype at level 10 for your main character, it will not be that level if another character uses that Archetype. It will be at level 1 one for them.
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed the demo and wish that it had been just a little bit longer. I enjoyed the combat and the ways that you can strategize with the different Archetypes. Not getting a game over if the main character falls in combat was a great decision, makes battles just a little bit easier. So far I like the setting and the art style. The music and characters are also great so far. The combat and game play in Metaphor feels like a perfect mixture between the Shin Megami Tensei games and the Persona games. The only negative I can think of is that I’ve seen that the demo had some issues on PC, I’m not sure if those issues have been resolved or not as I played on my PS5.
Conclusion
I’m pretty excited to start playing the full game. By the time this goes up I’ll probably already be playing it. This is one of my most anticipated games of this year. If you played the demo for Metaphor, what did you think? As always thank you all for reading.
If you want to keep up with blog updates, you can follow me on BlueSky.