Persona devs’ Metaphor: ReFantazio out in October

Metaphor: ReFantazio will be released on Oct. 11, developer Studio Zero and publisher Atlus announced Friday at Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. Atlus artistic designer Shigenori Soejima and art director Katsura Hashino appeared on stage at the event to introduce the game.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game where you can transform into a more powerful form based on your job, or archetype. ReFantazio is expected to have more than 40 different archetypes to choose from. The release date trailer shown at Summer Game Fest showed some of these archetypes in action, as a bunch of characters wielded magic to take on a source of evil. You’ll create a party to take on the bad guys and save the world, naturally.

It’s created by folks who made the Persona games, making it a seriously-anticipated title. You can see the Atlus DNA everywhere, such as in the stylish characters and splashy user design. Metaphor: ReFantazio is expected to be Atlus’ “first ever, full-scale fantasy RPG,” the developer said in 2023, when the game was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase. (The project was first teased, however, more than six years ago.)

Metaphor: ReFantazio will be released Oct. 11 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Pre-orders are open now on the Microsoft Store.