Metaphor: ReFantazio is out on Steam and consoles. Unfortunately, the PC port is far from perfect. Despite using low-poly visuals, it can be quite taxing even on midrange hardware. Furthermore, there’s the game doesn’t offer many options to tweak the graphics settings. Luckily, there are fixes available from third-party sources.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Metaphor: ReFantazio encourage player agency, allowing an impressive level of nuance and creativity to team builds.
I hadn't played Metaphor until it was on GamePass and I can tell you I vastly prefer Clair Obscur. That said, I have never been a big fan of the Persona games.
I personaly really disliked ReFantazio, couldn’t get into it and i loved P5 back in the day. Clair Obscur is much, much better IMO. It cuts all the nonsense and bloat, focuses on fun, it’s much more intuitive, waaaay more focused and much better paced and it doesn’t have incoherent anime nonsense. And i found Refantazio take on the racism and classism to be very shallow. So no i don’t agree that they are two sides of the same coin.. i mean why? Just because they’re both turn based games? Get out of here with that.
For me it was like demon souls to blood Bourne.
I know not the same game but it’s the best example for me.
Just like bloodborne, expedition 33 was faster and more fluid.
And metaphor, just like demon/dark souls, it’s much slower.
For me I like the faster pace combat.
The success of numerous original titles and the failure of several live service games demonstrate a strong demand for story-driven experiences.
Three months into 2025 is as good a time as any to celebrate the best games of 2024.