Highlights

  • Atlus has an impressive slate of releases in 2023, and 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for the Persona franchise with the release of Persona 3 Reload and the new IP Metaphor: ReFantazio.
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio's extended trailer revealed that the game is aiming for a fall 2024 launch, positioning it as one of the later highlights of 2024 and a perfect stopgap between Persona 3 Reload and Persona 6.
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio bridges the gap for Persona 6 hype, offering a different yet similar experience to the Persona games, whetting fans' appetites without causing franchise fatigue and suggesting an official announcement of Persona 6 next year.

As if the publisher's slate of releases in 2023 wasn't already impressive, 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for Atlus and its Persona franchise. The highly anticipated remake of Persona 3, Persona 3 Reload, is set to release in early 2024, and Atlus' strategy and tactics hybrid in collaboration with developer Vanillaware, Unicorn Overlord, arrives just a few weeks later. Perhaps the most interesting game in Atlus' release calendar for 2024 is its upcoming new IP from the team behind Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and its release date couldn't be better-timed.

Since its initial reveal earlier in the year, Metaphor: ReFantazio has continued to look like a promising new entry into Atlus' library of RPG franchises, and the recent extended trailer premiering at The Game Awards 2023 only served to stoke the flames of anticipation for the game's release. Even though a concrete release date hasn't been announced, the recent trailer revealed that the game is aiming for a fall 2024 launch. Not only does a projected fall release help position Metaphor: ReFantazio as one of 2024's later highlights, but it's the perfect stopgap between the release of Persona 3 Reloaded and the as-yet-unannounced Persona 6.

Metaphor: ReFantazio Action Elements Prove It's More Than a Persona Clone
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Metaphor: ReFantazio's Action Elements Prove It's More Than a Persona Clone

Metaphor: ReFantazio surprised at TGA2023 by supplementing its turn-based battles with action combat, something Persona has never tried before.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is Set to Be a Perfect Halfway Point to Persona 6's Release

Hot on the heels of this year's excellent Persona 5 Tactica, the Persona series is getting a major reimagining of one of the most beloved entries in the franchise with February's Persona 3 Reload. Ahead of Persona 3 Reload's release, the game continues to look impressive with the way that it takes the setting and characters of the PSP classic and reinvents them using the slick presentation and eye-popping visuals of Persona 5. What's less known at this point, though, is where the next mainline game in the franchise stands in terms of Atlus' future release schedule.

A recent leak purported to reveal that Atlus has Persona 6 projected for a 2025 release date, and even though Atlus itself hasn't made any official announcements, it's not far-fetched to imagine the game not releasing in 2024. Without an official reveal arriving before the end of 2023, there's not likely to be any new information or an official announcement of Persona 6 until later in 2024. However, what is known is what Atlus has planned for fall 2024, roughly 6 months after the release of Persona 3 Reload.

Metaphor: ReFantazio's projected fall release puts it almost exactly at the halfway point between the release of Persona 3 Reload and the rumored release of Persona 6 in 2025. And, with the game's many obvious similarities to the Persona series evident in the trailers and footage revealed for the game up to this point, it's shaping up to be the exact kind of holdover that the Persona series spin-offs traditionally are. Whether this means that players have seen the last of the Persona 5 spin-offs remains to be seen, but it could be the sign of Atlus shifting gears ahead of the next major release in its social-sim-RPG juggernaut.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is just different enough from the Persona games in some ways, yet similar enough in others, for it to whet the appetites of fans without allowing fatigue for the franchise to set in ahead of Persona 6. And, with the timing of its release date, it certainly helps to give some credence to the idea that players will see an official announcement of Persona 6 next year and have a 2025 release date to look forward to. In addition to it being an exciting new IP from a much-loved publisher, Metaphor: ReFantazio is bridging the gap for Persona 6 hype.