After years of speculation over what it was or if it had been canceled, Atlus’Project Re Fantasywas unveiled asMetaphor: ReFantazio. The new RPG wasannounced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023and is being developed byCatherinedevelopers Studio Zero at Atlus. For RPG fans and fans of the studio behindShin Megami TenseiandPersona, this announcement was no doubt the biggest surprise of the showcase since practically nothing had been said about the game since its 2016 announcement.
No doubt someDNA fromPersonaandShin Megami Tenseiwill be inMetaphor: ReFantazio. Several long-time contributors from both seriesare involved in the game, includingPersonaseries director Katsura Hoshino leading the project, and characters designed by Shigenori Soejima. Long-time composer Shoji Meguro is also behind the music in the game, as despite officially leaving Atlus in 2021, he still works with it often. Still, with the gap between the initial announcement and the reveal, roughly seven years had passed with almost nothing said about the game. This made it ripe for rumors to spread about its status, with a couple being true and others disproved.
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Xbox Games Showcase Was Left with Little Surprise from Atlus
One of the most prominent rumors that ended up being true also happened to be the most recent, as there had been murmurings ofAtlus announcing an RPG at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023. While the focus had been on what is now known asPersona 3 ReloadandPersona 5 Tactics,Metaphor: ReFantaziocan be lumped in with those titles as it fits the specifications of being a brand-new RPG from Atlus and had been announced at the showcase.
Beyond that one, whose discussionsrevolved aroundPersona 3 Reload, every other rumor about the game falls closer to speculation rather than anything substantial. This came down to how tight-lipped Atlus had been, seeing as the game had spent so many years under wraps without any leaks.
One rumor that ended up being false came from a couple of years ago when in an interview, developer Shinjirou Takada stated that Atlus hoped to release a game that wouldbecome a “pillar” of the company in 2022. Some wondered if this would beProject Re Fantasyor another new IP, but it ended up beingSoul Hackers 2which received a lukewarm reception on release.
Theexistence ofSoul Hackers 2even fueled some of the discussionsurrounding the new IP, as some speculated that the 2022 RPG meantProject Re Fantasywas still nowhere near completion. It cannot be confirmed or denied as no evidence has surfaced proving that the game’s development had been pushed back in favor of another title. Even if this was the case, it had not been affected much sinceMetaphor: ReFantaziois slated for a 2024 release window.
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Development Hell Engulfed Discussions About Metaphor: ReFantazio
Another rumor that may or may not be true is that the game might have been in development hell for a few years, but the only weight behind this claim comes from the extensive time between trailers and the scant updates given over the better half of a decade. The concept seems to mirror the one shown in the 2017 trailer as the latest one also references modern-day society and hints towards various factions fighting over a throne.
The simplest explanation behind the long wait between updates is that the game was announced too early, as the initial reveal was made shortly after director Katsura Hashino announced that he would be forming Studio Zero within Atlus. Since the team’s first released project wasCatherine: Full Bodyin 2019, the focus could have been on that game before beginning full production forMetaphor: ReFantazio.
Beyond minor updates to remind anyone waiting that the game existed,Atluscould have held off on announcing anything, including any notion of a release date, until it was certain there would not be even more of an extensive wait. This could have been done to not repeat any mistakes made withPersona 5’s marketing.
Persona 5was originally announced for a 2014 release date but got pushed back to 2016 in Japan and 2017 in North America as the game needed significantly more development time than anticipated. Something similar happened withShin Megami Tensei 5, as that game had several trailers in 2017 and 2018 before dropping off for almost 3 years to the fan’s frustrations.
There is a possibility the game could have been revealed sometime earlier as Hashino stated that he wished to reveal the game in 2020, with the only thing to come from that statement being that development had reached its “climax” in December of that year. Plans could have been made to reveal the title in 2021, but it likely ran into similar circumstances asPersona 5as the team realized more time needed to be dedicated to the project and delayed it internally.
This reasoning can even explain whyPersona 6has not been revealed yet. Atlus could have developed a new strategy to only officially announce games when there is the confidence it can meet its release window. There was only a 6-month gap between whenSoul Hackers 2was announced to when it was released, showing that there is at least some more caution behind Atlus' latest announcements. At the very least, the game’s existence disproves the direst rumor claiming the game had been quietly canceled.
Metaphor: ReFantaziowill come out in 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
