Metaphor: ReFantazio Metacritic score confirms a new certified JRPG banger, as the Persona devs' latest effort ties with Astro Bot as one of the best games of the year

The verdict is in, and Metaphor: ReFantazio is, to the delight of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei fans everywhere, a certified banger.

Critic reviews for the new JRPG by Studio Zero (directed by Persona 3, 4, and 5 mastermind Katsura Hashino) went live today, and they're overwhelmingly positive. At the time of writing, the game has an average Metacritic score of 94, which isn't just enough to beat the rating of Persona 5 (the original, that is, not Royal), but to match Astro Bot, which up to this point has been the highest scoring game of the year. If we're counting all new releases, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is also sharing that top spot with a score of 94.

In GamesRadar+'s own Metaphor: ReFantazio review, I gave the game four and a half stars out of five, and praised its phenomenal story, art direction, and balance of dungeon exploration and social sim elements. It's a whopper of a game – one that took me around 87 hours to complete – but is well and truly worth any JRPG fan's time, even if the opening acts feel like they take a while to get going in comparison to the slightly later events.

The great news is that for anyone wanting to get a head start on that chunky runtime, there's a free demo available that'll let you experience Metaphor: ReFantazio's prologue and transfer your progress to the full game. Depending on how thorough you are, you can expect this to take you around six to eight hours to complete, so it's a solid taster of what's to come. Some fans have been so engrossed in it that they've already put enough hours into the demo to beat a whole Persona game, which is true dedication. 

Persona's modern high school setting is "sort of limited," but going medieval fantasy with Metaphor: ReFantazio gave the JRPG's devs "a lot of freedom to explore."