Metaphor: ReFantazio, the high-fantasy RPG from Persona's designers, now has a playable demo

Progress carries over to the full game

Metaphor: ReFantazio is either a high-fantasy Persona or a Shin Megami Tensei with cool fonts and a warm heart. Edwin dug its hybrid combat system, while James was moved by its mad libs monster design. It has an October 11th release date, but you don't have to wait until then to begin plotting it and you along these various axes. There's a demo you can play out now.

You'll find the prologue demo on the game's Steam page or on its own dedicated Steam page. You can write a review of the demo on the latter, maybe, as per Steam's recent changes for demos.

The demo features the beginning of Metaphor's story, where "the protagonist sets out on a journey to save his best friend, the prince" and participates in an election to become the new king. Is that how kings work now? You'll be able to fight through the game's first four dungeons and unlock seven of its 40 character classes, here called Archetypes. Your progress will carry over to the full game, should you choose to purchase it.

Metaphor has more than fonts to draw comparisons with Persona. Although not set on a school with a rigid class timetable, how you manage time remains important in the game, and you'll spend daylight hours adventurin', fightin', treasure-me-doin' and the evenings making friends. Maybe you can make friends with the tooth-with-a-face James was enamoured by, I do not know.

If it's not clear, this is made by Persona and Shin Megami Tensei developers Atlus, with its design led by Personas 3-5 director Katsura Hashino. They can crib from themselves, it's fine. Recommended, even.