Metaphor: ReFantazio director wants to turn it into "Atlus' third RPG series after Shin Megami Tensei and Persona"

Metaphor: ReFantazio was developer Atlus’ first original game since 2011’s twisted love triangle Catherine, but its world might extend further than just a single game as director Katsura Hashino hopes it can become a series.

Shin Megami Tensei and its now-more-popular offshoot Persona have been steadily chugging along for decades, but Atlus decided to take its JRPG chops and apply it to an all-new setting in this year’s acclaimed Metaphor: ReFantazio, which mixes a high fantasy world, a politically charged plot, and the developer’s signature in-game calendar system – a concoction that turned it into the studio’s fastest-selling game of all time.

While the standalone story of Metaphor: ReFantazio is now complete – and while a sequel isn’t in active development – its director isn’t ruling anything out.

In an interview with Famitsu magazine, with translations from Automaton, director Katsura Hashino says that “it would be good to make a sequel” because the team “started Metaphor ReFantazio with the plan of growing it into Atlus’ third RPG series after Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, so, we would like to develop Metaphor ReFantazio into a signature IP that represents our company.”

Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn’t roll credits in a way that’s begging for a follow-up, but we don’t necessarily need to see these characters again. Persona and Shin Megami Tensei might exist in the same worlds, but the casts and settings and villains get swapped out in nearly every entry. So, there’s nothing stopping Metaphor from becoming a Final Fantasy-like anthology series.

“If I decide that the best setting for a future title is the Sengoku period, it might turn into a JRPG with a world like the Basara series,” Hashino joked.

See where Metaphor: ReFantazio lands on our best games of 2024 and best RPGs of the year lists.

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