A new rumor has come up in relation to The Game Awards.
As shared by Okami13 on Twitter, Metaphor ReFantazio is expected to be shown at the awards show.
Atlus’ silence on this title thus far has lent a long aura of mystery, but following its initial unveiling this year, we may be getting most, if not all, of our questions answered with this presentation.
What we do know is that Metaphor ReFantazio has been in development since 2016, and involved Atlus deciding to form a new studio for the project, named Studio Zero. To put this in context, this was the same year that saw the release of the PlayStation 4 Slim, the Xbox One S, and various VR and AR headsets. The Nintendo Switch would be released the following year.
So this game has gone way past a reasonable timeframe for AAA game development, but the previews we have seen so far do seem to indicate that that time was well spent on graphics, music, and overall presentation. There is certainly no question that this game must be ready to release.
Studio Zero itself is comprised of many former members of the P-Team, such as director Katsura Hashino, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and musician Shoji Meguro. This distinction is important, as it reflects Atlus’ decision to have their senior P-Team staff, who made their name on the Persona games, to move on with a new concept. Of course, P-Team is now composed of some people who were previously under the Studio Zero people.
Metaphor ReFantazio has a fantasy vs reality theme, that does allow it to retain some similarities with the Persona games, and for that matter, the Shin Megami Tensei games before them. But it seems the key difference here is bringing the game directly to Xbox.
While the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games definitely have followings in the West, Atlus seems to want to aim for a bigger Western presence. There is no better way to signal that intent than to partner with Xbox, a platform very well known for not being popular in Atlus’ native Japan.
While Atlus under Sega has been more than capable of making successful releases, they actually haven’t hit that goal of a broader Western following that their Japanese peers, such as Konami and Capcom, have managed to do through the years. This looks like Studio Zero’s attempt to do exactly that, and we’ll see how far they can go with it.
Metaphor ReFantazio will be released in 2024 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam.
