Metaphor: ReFantazio was initially supposed to be a conventional Tolkien-inspired high fantasy, but the team couldn’t “get into it” 

Atlus’s Metaphor: ReFantazio boasts an unusual and very modern-looking fantasy world and character designs. However, the game’s director recently revealed that Metaphor was originally going to look like a traditional Tolkienesque high fantasy, but development went through a “reset” in its early stages. In an interview with Famitsu, Katsura Hashino talked about the early concepts Studio Zero had in mind for Metaphor’s worldbuilding and why these got changed. 

“In the early stages, we were considering a high fantasy setting – with elves, dwarves and the like,” the director revealed. With such a concept in mind, the developers took to rewatching the movie adaptation of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings for inspiration. However, it seems that reproducing conventional high fantasy didn’t sit right with Metaphor ReFantazio’s team. 

“We had Soejima (Persona series’ artist Shigenori Soejima) come up with a bunch of sketches, but it kind of felt ordinary. It didn’t look like something that was unique to us. Then, as we discussed how to make the characters stand out and what to be more flexible about, things gradually started changing, shaping up to our liking. However, I wouldn’t say that we strayed on to an unexpected path, but rather, I feel like we settled on [Metaphor: ReFantazio’s] current style just by pursuing what we wanted to do,” Hashino explains. 

Although he originally “aspired to make a so-called traditional high fantasy,” Hashino realized that sticking to a traditional format left little room for free thinking. “This approach didn’t last long, and the staff couldn’t get into it either.” Interestingly, he suggests that if the game had been a smaller 6-month project that the team could have completed in 6 months or so, he might have been more open to pursuing the original idea. 

“There are already so many great fantasy works out there. Rather than a traditional approach, we decided to focus on our unique take on fantasy, and were careful not to stray from that. From there, well… we just let things take their course.” 

Metaphor: ReFantazio is available for the PC (Steam/Microsoft store), PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.