The creators of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona are making a new JRPG with an actual job system. This was pretty much all I needed to hear to get on board with Metaphor: ReFantazio, which has quickly shot up my most-wanted list after an extended hands-on session at Summer Game Fest, as well as an interview with director Katsura Hashino and character designer Shigenori Soejima. It is, in many ways, more exciting than Persona 6 to me. Obviously I can't wait for Persona 6, but I also know what to expect from it, which is more Persona, more of the goodness refined in Persona 5 Royal. Great! But also, more.
Meanwhile, Metaphor feels like a new breed entirely, meaningfully distinct from recent releases like Persona 3 Reload and Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, but channeling much of what makes these games great, starting with untouchable UI. I love seeing established devs break from tradition with weird new projects, and everything I've seen of Metaphor suggests it could quietly become one of the best RPGs of 2024, as well as one of Atlus' best releases for the year – which is saying something, because the publisher's Unicorn Overlord is currently my GOTY.
