Fantasy Lives On: The Power of Fiction in Gaming

"Music was the first magic this world ever knew, after all." This is one of the opening lines of the fantasy JRPG Metaphor: ReFantazio. It is fittingly spoken by the protagonist's fairy companion Gallica right after their caravan was ambushed by bandits and they are forced to flee. With a flick of her wrist, Gallica brings the game's bombastic orchestral soundtrack right to the forefront, setting the perfect tone for the game going forward.

This will be a bit different from my usual editions, being more of a review than anything else. I suppose it's a testament to how much this game resonated with me; indeed, it's rare to see a game so unapologetically sincere and straightforward in its presentation while also handling heavy concepts, like racial tensions and conflicts, the role of the people in shaping a country's future and blazing a path forward regardless of what autocrat stands in the way.

The game takes place in a fantasy kingdom divided into three states and 8 different 'tribes' (basically the different sentient races of the games). The world is also plagued by horrific monsters that are somewhat ironically called 'humans.'

The plot kicks off when the King is assassinated in a military coup led by the Kingdom's most accomplished and youngest ever general, Count Louis. Louis, charismatic and terrifying in equal measures, serves as the game's main antagonist. The protagonist and his plucky band of heroes have other reasons to see Louis cast down: Years ago, Louis cursed the Crown Prince with magic that slowly ate away at the young Prince's life. So it falls to the heroes to kill Louis, break the curse and see the rightful heir back on the throne.

The party aims to kill Louis at the King's funeral but is disrupted by Louis himself, dragging a massive corpse of a human to the event and declaring his bid for the throne. Just then, the royal palace itself rises from the ground and marked on it is a massive stone face of the late King, animated by the powerful royal magic. The King's avatar declares that the next ruler will be one that manages to win the most favor from the people, regardless of which tribe they hail from. And thus the journey begins.

Past the grand setup, the plot feels familiar, almost nostalgic. It honestly felt like reading a fantasy novel from the 20th century, one full of wonder, whimsy and an earnestness in a better brighter future if people are willing to fight for it. The main party marches on relentlessly, through countless tragedies--of others and their own--all with the purpose of toppling a man hellbent on destroying everything for his own goals.

Unlike similar stories, however, Metaphor manages to tell its story with plenty of nuance. Eliminating discrimination is not something that can be done overnight after all and the game fully acknowledges the tremendous effort such an endeavor would require.

This nuance is present with the various other candidates for the throne that the player meets on their journey: from a military commander who intends to establish an ethnostate where his tribe rules supreme to a bounty hunter who wants to see her downtrodden tribe see justice by gutting the rich in droves and distributing their wealth.

The party's own bid for the throne is spurred along by a simple slogan: "We help everyone in need, regardless of who they are." The party even notes how simple it is and yet it somehow stirs the public into believing them. And therein lies the game's appeal: ruling not for the sake of power but simply out of a need to help. Simple, but sometimes simplicity is the best.

The party accomplishes the goal by awakening to a special and forgotten form of magic known as Archetypes, which are basically their willpower made manifest. Using these Archetypes, the protagonist and his friend aim to fix their country and quell the chaos.

Throughout the story, the protagonist reads from a 'fantasy' novel that he carries around, a novel that depicts a world very much like the real world, a world of equality and freedom where nobody is persecuted and everyone is free to pursue their own dreams. It might seem ridiculous to us that our world is seen as a fantastical ideal to admire but that novel forms the basis of much of the protagonist's own hope for the future. After all, you can hardly expect a game called Metaphor to be subtle about its message, can you?

The first lines you hear in the game are something of a disclaimer, telling you that the story you are about to witness is a fantasy, a fable, a fiction. Then it asks you a question that, like the game, is simple yet profound: Do you believe in the power of fantasy to change reality? And therein lies the game's meaning, one where fiction, where fantasy, shapes the way we look at the world around us. Fantasy and fiction have always been reflections of our reality, no matter how much people would claim otherwise and Metaphor wears this idea proudly on its sleeve. At the very lowest point in the game, when all hope seems lost, the protagonist is roused to action by the music spell that his fairy friend Gallica cast for him: Music, fantasy and fiction are not dead just yet.