Metaphor: ReFantazio is the culmination of decades of genre-defining expertise. Studio Zero has delivered a sprawling, politically charged epic that feels both comfortingly familiar and radically new. It is, quite simply, a 10/10 masterpiece.
The art direction is unparalleled.

The UI: Every menu feels like a hand-painted canvas.

The Gauntlet Runners: These massive, walking ships serve as your mobile base, making the journey across the United Kingdom of Euchronia feel like a true odyssey.

The "Humans": In a brilliant subversion, the "monsters" of this world are unsettling, Bosch-inspired creatures called "Humans," creating a sense of uncanny horror that permeates the world design.

At its heart, Metaphor is a story about anxiety and hope. It tackles heavy themes of racism, classism, and the corruptive nature of power, yet it never loses its sense of wonder. The protagonist’s journey to win a magical election for the throne is gripping from the first hour to the eightieth.

It's just as great but there are some minor frame dips in the City areas. And welp, the Anti-Aliasing is...nvm, the game was in development hell, soooo I can manage. And yeah, the Anti-Aliasing can be totally fixed using some mods.

Oh yall know what it is. And the innovative blend of real time and turn based combat was purely seamless.

Shoji Meguro delivers a haunting, choral-heavy score that is unlike anything else in the genre. That was something real heavy in this game man fr.

If you are into Persona or Shin Megami Tensei, this is a must, Trust.
10/10

My Guy in my Steam family bought the game. Thanks man, for getting me to experience this absolute cinema FANTASY.

Metaphor is the game that got me back into JRPGs after taking a 5+yr hiatus. It's like Persona, except more adult themes and focuses.

- Battle system is a great take on the turn-based combat system with a sort of turn economy that shifts based on actions you make or weaknesses exploited
- Leveling & class system are addictive and creative
- Great character design making each main character memorable and unique
- Art design of the game is unique and well drawn, everything ranging from the menu system to the enemy design
- Voice acting really brings a lot of the interactions to life

Warning:
- This game starts off S L O W you absolutely must give it time, or at least I had to, before it became addictive or the story caught my attention
- Not only does the game start off slow, it is long as all hells, for some people that's a good thing, but, be ready for 80+ hours (130 ish for me)

tldr mediocre, i'm kind of shocked people have been glazing this

The turn based combat and abilities are all fine, if that's what you are looking for. Good basic premise. The time system is one of the best things in the game and i wish theyd put it into something better.

All the things i disliked boil down to the story telling, exploration and world building (which is what i like rpgs for, so thats a problem). It's hard to rate the quality of the story as a whole because the telling part is so flawed.

- Bad character writing and dialogue, very filler heavy (i.e. characters make generic statements or obvious observations about events). There is a lot of dialogue and barely any of it has any substance. As a result characters are quite bland.

- Bad visuals (excluding character designs). I don't even mean there aren't enough high res textures or your rtx ons (which is the case however), but the designs of everything are incredibly boring; think bogstandard forest, catacombs that could be any game, basic cave. Also there are floating translucent triangles everywhere in a misguided attempt to add some visual interest. I know it's supposed to be magic-energy-stuff but it looks like ass. For some infernal reason dialogue frames have this drawing style flicker effect.

- Racism bad. Different groups dislike each other and there is a pecking order. You know this because they constantly tell you. Why that is? No clue. A bit weak for what is literally what the game is about. What do you expect, any depth or nuance in a 100 hour game? No time for that. It's like baby's first racism. It's more undercooked than the worst young adult dystopian novel published through author connections.

- Undercooked worldbuilding also extends to the whole thing, it's very generic fantasy type stuff, think your average isekai anime setting. Most quests are "go to x dungeon and kill y/ get some item", lack of interesting side stories.

- Pacing is not great, the playtime feels quite padded with little being added. Imagine somehow being both being overly padded and also not fleshing out anything with any kind of detail, it's remarkable.

- Questionable action combat. You can hit enemies before engaging them in turn based, and doing this well is quite important because it will take off half their health and give you 2 extra turns (first strike+ stun). For how essential this part is, the mechanics of it are not very good. I don't imagine many people who seek out turn based like spending their time perfecting mushy dodge rolls.

- I want to strangle the yappy fairy. She is constantly giving helpful tips in combat, like heal X character he took damage. Wow. Thanks i hadn't noticed. And by constantly i mean constantly, every 15 seconds-ish, yelling across the other characters speaking during their attacks. I genuinely don't understand how anyone could look at this and think yeah that's good let's ship it.

- Loading screens every 5 steps. I don't know what they are even loading, it's one corridor with the same generic rock texture....?

- This is a bit of a nitpick: the game lets you teleport everywhere. And that's really everywhere, every street, item shop, even to followers when they want to talk to you. Way to say your world is so boring that no one will want to see any of it. You may find this convenient, but i dislike it on immersion terms and if i wanted to play menu simulator i'd buy menu simulator.