Metaphor blends Atlus's press-turn combat with a calendar. Exploit weaknesses to earn extra turns, and spend your limited days building bonds and stats — the two halves of the game feed each other, and mastering both is how you thrive.
The core loop
Hit weaknesses for more turns
Striking an enemy's weakness (or landing a crit) grants extra icons — a full team of weakness hits can double your actions.
Match Archetypes to the fight
Swap each character's Archetype before a dungeon to cover the elements and roles you'll need.
Use the field advantage
Stagger weaker foes in real time to start battle with a free turn, or ambush to skip fights entirely.
Spend your days wisely
Dungeons have deadlines. Budget time between exploring, building Follower bonds, and raising your Royal Virtues.
Grow your bonds
Deepening Follower bonds unlocks new Archetypes and, eventually, the powerful Royal Archetypes.
Early tips
- Always carry a Healer Archetype and elemental coverage into a new dungeon.
- Synthesis skills combine two party members for big damage — set them up on tough fights.
- Raise your Royal Virtues (Courage, Wisdom, Tolerance, Eloquence, Imagination) to unlock bonds and options.
- Don't hoard MAG — spend it to inherit skills across Archetypes as you unlock them.
If you've played Persona
- The calendar, Followers (Confidants) and social stats will feel instantly familiar.
- Archetypes replace Personas — but here the whole party swaps jobs, not just the hero.
- Press-turn (extra icons for weaknesses) is closer to SMT than Persona's One More.
- Time pressure is gentler than Persona in places, but dungeon deadlines still matter — plan ahead.
First-dungeon habits
- Set each character's Archetype to cover the dungeon's element before you enter.
- Bring a Healer and a revive item — press-turn punishes an unprepared party fast.
- Analyse new enemies once so their weaknesses show next time.
- Clear the dungeon a couple of days early to bank time for bonds.
Difficulty settings
- Five settings exist: Storyteller, Easy, Normal, Hard and Regicide — but Regicide only opens on a New Game+ after the true ending, so a first run picks from the other four.
- Storyteller removes any real threat of death, and it is the one setting you cannot change once chosen.
- Every other setting can be swapped at any time, including mid-dungeon, so a fight that is going badly is never a reason to restart.
- Regicide sits at the other extreme: once selected it cannot be lowered again.