Atlus “actively working” to improve the Metaphor Refantazio Steam demo

Metaphor Refantazio's Steam demo has been hampered by performance issues, leading developers to assure fans that a patch is coming.

Dedicated Atlus fans were exhilarated when the upcoming Metaphor: ReFantazio was announced as getting a lengthy free demo on Steam. For PC players, ReFantazio is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, coming straight from the minds of the Persona series. However, since the free demo hit Steam, there have been more than a few issues with performance, leading the developers at Studio Zero to recognize the problems and promise to solve them quickly.

Metaphor: ReFantazio represents a wildcard in this year’s gaming release schedule. To say that the upcoming JRPG is highly anticipated is a genuine understatement, as fans of the Persona series do not play when it comes to their franchise and its new releases. While Metaphor is not technically a Persona game, many consider it Persona 6 as the lead developers of Persona 3, 4, and 5 are all at the helm of ReFantazio.

This was why, when the Metaphor: ReFantazio free demo was released to Steam on Wednesday September 25, fans were chomping at the bit to give it a try. This lengthy, eight-hour demo is quite a generous offering, mainly because your save will carry over to the main game when it fully releases.

Despite the free PC demo exciting fans, many ended up disappointed once they began playing it for the first time. Performance issues have troubled the launch of the trial. The problems were so apparent that the developers released a statement on Friday September 27, regarding the game’s performance on Steam. In the statement, they thank players for trying out the demo but note they are “aware there is an optimization issue on Steam and are actively working to address this problem.”

Hopefully, for the JRPG faithfuls planning to play the game on Steam, the issues will be fixed before the game’s full launch. Considering how many big titles are released to wonky performance problems, fans might be spooked by this early ominous sign.

As of now, there is no concrete date for when a patch for the demo will be released.

If you simply can’t wait for Metaphor: ReFantazio’s release, we’ve got a slew of the best RPGs and anime games you need to try instead.

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