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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Emma Withington

Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 5 director wants to usher in the age of 'JRPG 3.0', which will change 'the genre's structure and presentation at a fundamental level'

JRPG Katsura Hashino Atlus
Several characters from Metaphor: ReFantazio in profile, one of which appears to be a humanoid sugar glider.

At the Korean gaming conference G-Star 2025, Katsura Hashino, creative producer and game director at Atlus, presented a talk alongside fellow Atlus art director, Shigenori Soejima exploring the impact of visual storytelling: "When experience becomes memory—designing lasting impressions through art and structure".

Hashino also discussed how he's gearing up for what sounds like a literal upgrade to the JRPG genre, except there are no patch notes yet. As reported by 4gamer and translated by GamesRadar, Hashino sees the genre as three distinct eras—the past (JRPG 1.0), present (JRPG 2.0), and future (JRPG 3.0). The 'ghosts of JRPG past, present, and future' would have switched up the story of A Christmas Carol a bit, and now I'm wondering what that looks like.

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