Get the latest tech news

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the rare fantasy game that goes beyond racism 101

DEI in my JRPGs? It’s more likely than you’d think.

But Metaphor: ReFantazio has done the work, and its willingness to go beyond surface-level treatments of tired fantasy tropes to dig at the heart of the real issues with racism and discrimination is exactly what makes it a phenomenal game. Metaphor takes place in a world where our reality of “equality” between different ethnic groups is presented as an unattainable-but-nice-to-think-about idyllic fantasy, while discrimination, classism, and the struggle against monstrous creatures called “humans” rule the day. It’s the first time I’ve seen a video game acknowledge that simply stopping the big bad evil racist won’t magically make up for the countless generations of oppression.

Get the Android app