Why Persona’s longtime director made an epic fantasy RPG

Persona 5 helped the roleplaying franchise break out with mainstream audiences, and it’s also a game that was in the works for a long time. Early work began in 2008, just after Persona 4 came out, with full development kicking off three years later. So, just ahead of the game’s launch in 2016, director Katsura Hashino — steward of the franchise since Persona 3 — asked the team what they wanted to do next. “Everyone said fantasy,” he tells The Verge.

That game would turn out to be Metaphor: ReFantazio, an epic RPG that launches on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on October 11th. In a lot of ways, it’s reminiscent of Persona, with slick menus, turn-based combat, and gameplay systems forged through making meaningful connections with characters….

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