Shacknews Art Style of 2024 - Metaphor: ReFantazio

Metaphor: ReFantazio's vibrant colors and unique designs delivered 2024's best art style.

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The team behind the Persona series, now known as Studio Zero, is famous for the style that oozes from everything they make. Their latest effort, Metaphor: ReFantazio, is no exception. This fantasy story about political turmoil and societal oppression could’ve easily been a dreary, dull video game, but it’s the complete opposite.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a moving portrait. You could screenshot just about any frame of the game, make it your desktop wallpaper, and it’d be beautiful. The cities and towns are gorgeous, colorful areas to explore. The Archetypes have a striking, royal look to them, and every NPC stands out with their own signature traits and features.

These qualities even extend to the menus. Every page pops with color, and the use of paint-style art of the party members makes the gear pages even more vibrant. Metaphor is a dense RPG, and you’ll likely spend hours digging through menus before the credits roll, so the fact that these screens are never boring to look at is an accomplishment in its own right.

Throughout Metaphor: ReFantazio, something is always moving on screen. The team at Studio Zero has poured so much into making this game evoke emotion through art style, and it’s one we’ll be thinking about for a long time.


Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2024 feature.

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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