Metaphor: ReFantazio, like many other Atlus JRPGs, is massive, with a story that, at its quickest, will take around 60 hours, and at longestup to 100 hours to complete. However, also like other Atlus JRPGs, your adventure can end prematurely if you fail some dialogue decisions.

As with any game of this type, you may stumble into these bad endings by accident, or may completely avoiud them but simply be curious about what they are. There are three of these alternate bad endings throughout Metaphor: ReFantazio and we look at what they are, where to find them and how to avoid them.

The prince asleep in Metaphor ReFantazio.

Heavy Spoilers Throughout For Metaphor: ReFantazio

Fantasy Is Dead

You won’t reach a game-ending decision in Metaphor: ReFantazio until abouttwo thirds of your way through the game,when thefinal actstarts to kick in. You’ve played the whole game as the protagonist under the assumption thatyou’re an elda boywho is on a mission to revive his childhood friend, the Prince of Euchronia, who’s stuck in a comatose cursed state after a semi-failed assassination attempt a decade prior.

However, as you return to the elda village to check on the Prince’s body- after another assassin was sent after him by the game’s main antagonist, Louis - things start to turn in a strange direction for our hero. As he gets closer to the inner sanctum of the elda village, the protagonist starts toexperience visions and hear voices that hint at a hidden truth that is on the brink of being uncovered.

Metaphor ReFantazio Gallica on a blurred background.

Upon reaching the Prince’s body, which was attacked by Louis' assassin Zorba, the protagonist sinks into a dreamlike state where the mysterious voice (the same one thatspeaks to party membersonce they unlock their archetype powers) starts to hint to the protagonist that they are actuallyan extension of the Prince’s conscience.

The protagonist was created as Gallica and headed off to start the game’s mission. Their creation not only formedfake memories that he is just a childhood friend of the Prince, but was even capable of implanting fake memories in Gallica that they already knew each other and were meant to go on the mission together.

Metaphor ReFantazio Louis on a blurred background.

With all these fake memories swirling around inside the protagonist, with him growing more and more aware of the fact that there areplenty of gaps when it comes to what he remembersof events from before the game started, he is stuck in a mental dilemma.

Staring down the corpse-like Prince, the game prompts the hero tomove past his doubts, and reunite with his other halfto carry on the adventure as the Prince. However,there are a couple of chances during this internal dialogue where you candeny this fate.

More from Metaphor ReFantazio.

If youaccept the Prince, the game continues towards thetrue ending, but if youreject this identity, you instead reach theFantasy is Dead ending.

Since this is not the intended ending, andmost players will likely glide right past it,that means that this ending is pretty abrupt, and you’ll beprompted to try again.The description of this ending tells you thatwithout proper opposition, Louis was easily able to become King and ran Euchronia into the groundso thoroughly that the kingdom has been forgotten in history.

Louis' true final form staring down the party before beginning the final confrontation in Metaphor ReFantazio.

Fantasy Is Ruined

If youaccept the protagonist’s fate as the Prince, you’ll continue into the final arc of the game, working through the last dungeon and towards thefinal encounter with Louis. If you manage to reach him in time, you’ll get to hear thevillains' horrendous planfor Euchronia once he is able touse the Royal Sceptre without any outside interference, in a lengthy speech that seems to be his signature.

Unlike other villainous speeches you’ll hear throughout Metaphor: ReFantazio, this time you get achance to agree with Louis' mantra, and actually side with him. Of course,Louis' plan is not seen as the correct fate for Euchroniaby the powers that be, so this is seen asanother bad ending.

metaphor-refantazio-tag-page-cover-art.jpg

This ending is described asFantasy is Ruined, and while it is just as abrupt as the first bad ending, it doesn’t give you the same description, since the events are slightly different this time. Instead of Louis taking Kinghood without any opposition, this time theprotagonist will side with him.

The pair become thejoint rulers of Euchronia, but it doesn’t seem like the protagonist had any positive influence on Louis, and everything goes exactly to his plan.Euchronia is transformed into acountry full of mutated humans, falling in line with Louis' vision for ‘true equality’.

A testament to the party’s loyalty to the protagonist, while they are of course doubtful of his decision, they do end up falling in line with him.

Fantasy Is Only Fiction

While there was quite asignificant gap between the first and second bad endingsof Metaphor: ReFantazio, the third comesincredibly soon after the second.

If youchoose to defy Louis(at the same point where you may side with him), he willattack the protagonist,prompting him to attempt to summon his archetype, but instead of this happening, hefalls into a comatose state and wakes up in Akademia.

HereMore will tell the protagonist that the world he has been living in is just an illusion, and the world that he wrote in his fantasy novel is actually reality instead. Thewalls of the library fall down,and it’s revealed that the pair are standing in the middle of a contemporary-lookingworld resembling Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo.

More is sympathetic to Louis and the cycle of oppression taking place in Euchronia, and tells the protagonist that this world is free of discrimination, and he canchoose to abandon life as he knows it and start living in this new world.

If you choose toabandon the world you’ve been playing throughfor the whole game, you willreach thelast bad ending; Fantasy Is Only Fiction, and everything will come to a halt following a short conversation with the supposed author.

Once again, this isquite easy to avoid if you stick to your guns,and if you pass the conversation, you can continue with the main story after More reveals that what he presented to the protagonist wasjust a test to prove that he has the mettle to finish his journeycorrectly. After this, you continue onwards to take on thefinal encounter with Louis.

True Ending

After passing More’s test, you willtake on the tough final encounter against Louis,and if you’re prepared enough, you’ll be able to beat him.

Once you do this, you’llachieve the true ending of Metaphor: ReFantazio. This includes theprotagonist becoming King,the threat ofLouis and the Royal Sceptre being out of the picture,and we even get atime-skip epiloguewhere we get to explore Grand Trad and chat with all the completed bonds to see how the first year of the protagonist’s reign has been.