Metaphor: ReFantaziois a massive adventure that takes a significant time commitment to complete, but even by the time you’re finally at the credits, you can be left wanting something similar. Luckily, if you loved Atlus' fantasy masterpiece, then there are a host of games to play if you want a similar satisfaction, but aren’t ready for a straight-up replay.
Whether you loved the time-management aspect, the sense of exploration, or are just looking for another fantastic RPG to sink your teeth into, there are a few options that are well-worth considering. So, with all the different genres and playstyles that Metaphor: ReFantazio leans into, which games are the best to play once you’ve finished it?
One element that helps Metaphor: ReFantazio stand out from other Atlus JRPGs before it is the litany of mini-dungeons sprinkled in between larger undertakings. If you loved theselow-commitment dungeons, and want some light time management mixed in too, then Dungeons of Hinterberg is well worth trying.
Contextualized as our heroes' holiday to get away from their day-to-day jobs, Dungeons of Hinterberg will challenge you with 25 mini-dungeons focused more on puzzle solving, with some combat sprinkled in every now and then. It’s much shorter than Metaphor: ReFantazio, so if you want something quick, it’s a great pick.
While they have a drastically different look, the feel of playing through the second part of the Final Fantasy remake trilogy and Metaphor: ReFantazio is surprisingly similar. Both feature a party of heroes traveling between semi-open areas of a wider continent on their adventures while learning about the citizens of each settlement they pass through.
The main difference is Rebirth’s signature strategic take on action gameplay, which is fun to learn but tricky to master thanks to the focus on timing. Following Cloud and his friends is plenty of fun, but it is recommended to play the more linear first part of the remake before to ensure you’re up-to-date with the story.
It’s no surprise that Persona 5 Royal is compared to Metaphor: ReFantazio, and while they stand apart in key ways, thanks to the massive crossover in developers, both games have some very similar feeling characteristics that no other games replicate (except maybe some other Persona games too).
While you’ll have turn-based combat, calendar-based time management, dungeon-crawling, and a focus on social stats, the contemporary Tokyo setting feels completely different to Metaphor: ReFantazio’s high fantasy. Similar teams of writers can be recognized insome moments with the characters, but the tone of the two titles feels noticeably different.
If you loved getting to know a loveable party of characters and the refined turn-based combat of Metaphor: ReFantazio, then Dragon Quest 11 is the perfect entry point to the series, and features a more classic-feeling JRPG adventure that is easy to move onto next.
While your party is a little less customizable, and the progression is more linear, exploring the world of Dragon Quest 11 is consistently engaging, and you’ll be surprised by both the unpredictable narrative, and by just how much you’ll be invested in each of the individual party members.
While Eternights was criticized before it even released as seeming to be a lower-budget take on Persona, it ended up being a lovingly made (while still undeniably lower-budget) action RPG thattakes inspiration from Persona’ssocial stats and calendar system to make a more condensed adventure.
The dodge-based action is snappy and satisfying, and feels like an extension of the overworld combat in Metaphor: ReFantazio. Your growing connections with your party members result in tactile buffs to the combat, and the more explicit focus on the romance aspect makes it feel a lot less tacked on than it does in some entries of the Persona series.
While the gameplay of Gravity Rush and Metaphor: ReFantazio are quite different,with the former’s unconventional actioncontrasting the latter’s turn-based RPG, their style and atmosphere are incredibly similar. Also, if you loved exploring the winding streets of Grand Trad especially, and want a more open-ended version of this, then Gravity Rush is the answer.
The core of it is Kat’s gravity-bending powers, which make exploring the diverse steampunk-style city feel liberating. While the adventure is quite open-ended thanks to how free-form the method of traversal is, you’ll get invested in the story, and if you’re left wanting even more, the sequel is just that, with a longer, more detailed experience.
One of the biggest strengths of Metaphor: ReFantazio is how alive and detailed the world feels thanks to Atlus' dedication to world-building, and if you want another detailed fantasy world that leans into the fantasy of it all, then Baldur’s Gate 3 is easy to move onto.
Being a similarly lengthy adventure, Baldur’s Gate 3 stands out thanks to its Dungeons And Dragons-inspired combat. If you found yourself occasionally frustrated by the linearity of Metaphor: ReFantazio’s overall narrative, then Baldur’s Gate will give you the chance to truly craft your own path in its world.
