Atlus games are now renowned for their gorgeous UI, but Metaphor: ReFantazio in particular was inspired by a lesser known cult classic from 25 years ago.
GamesRadar+'s Metaphor: ReFantazio review said the whole darn thing was "enhanced by the painted appearance of the ridiculously pretty menus," and over the years, almost all of Atlus's RPGs have spilled an unbelievable amount of sauce onto the pages of your level up screens, inventory lists, and so on.
And it's not hard to see why. So much of your time in a JRPG is spent scrolling through various menus or staring at UI during turn-based battles, and Atlus at some point came to understand that even pressing a button to check stats in a game like Persona or Shin Megami, let's say, should be rewarded with a kind of sugar rush of beautiful art.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ after GDC 2025, Metaphor's lead UI designer Koji Ise said he was at least partly inspired by another fantasy PS2 roleplaying game, this time from a quarter century ago, Seven: Molmorth no Kiheitai.
I'm a nerd for obscure, old-school JRPGs but his answer even took me by surprise. Having gone down a few internet rabbit holes since and seen the game in action, though, Ise's answer also makes perfect sense. Speech bubbles look like they're being laid onto the screen like pieces of parchment, and all of the menus have this papery quality that suits the game's storybook art style - seriously, the pre-rendered backgrounds look like they've been ripped straight out of a child's fairytale and I love it.
"The game features a unique system where you rotate the formation between the front, middle, and back rows each turn to battle," he said. "I found the strategic thinking required around rotation timing quite engaging. The UI was also carefully crafted to match the game's world, leaving a strong impression on me."
The lead UI designer on Metaphor: ReFantazio had never designed for a game before – he just rolled up and made some of the best UI I've ever seen in a JRPG
