More’s story in Metaphor: ReFantazio (Spoilers)

One of the most memorable moments in Metaphor: ReFantazio builds off of an early moment in Atlus’ latest fantasy RPG. A few dozen hours before you reach the end of the game, you learn that the protagonist you’ve been playing is essentially a character the prince envisioned and made corporeal. He is a projection of the hero the prince wants to see fight for a better world made real. Many hours later, you learn that More, the enigmatic guide who has helped you throughout your journey, is the physical manifestation of the king’s own hope, but turned to nihilism, escaping into a fictional paradise that sure does look like a modern-day Tokyo.

Metaphor: ReFantazio gradually works its way to this moment. The game uses its fantasy world as a mirror to ours to illustrate that escaping into a fictional world where things are better is a defeatist mindset. People use escapism to survive, but it means they will leave the world outside their window behind. The Tokyo reveal is the end stage of escapism. Someone who once had the power to steer the world in the right direction decided to instead bury himself in a world where the work was already done and he never had to fight for anything. Metaphor’s story of collective action can’t end until our hero has stared into the fictional utopia he’s been aspiring to create and still decided to go back to reality and fight for a better future. It is a poignant, haunting moment masquerading as the sight of a mundane, modern-day metropolis. More’s imagined world is possible, but only if we make the effort to reach it. And defying his easy answer is when Metaphor: ReFantazio truly gets to the meat of what it’s trying to say.