Forget Persona, Metaphor: ReFantazio is Atlus' fastest-selling game of all time, as well as its most-played game of the year

Atlus is clearly on to a winner with Metaphor: ReFantazio, as the game is now the developer's fastest selling game ever.

We obviously know Atlus is going to keep milking the Persona series, with new numbered entries, re-releases, and spin-offs, but considering how well the completely new Metaphor: ReFantazio is doing, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot more of that world too. Atlus shared earlier this week that the game had surpassed a million units sold by the day the game had released - Persona 3 Reload managed to hit the same sales number quite quickly earlier this year, but it took a few days longer to reach it. The news also came with a fresh illustration from character designer Shigenori Soejima too, if you fancy taking a look.

It's not just in the speed of sales where Metaphor: ReFantazio is doing well, as on Steam numbers are looking very healthy. As of today, the game has hit a concurrent player count peak of almost 78,500 people (via SteamDB), a very healthy figure for a massive single-player RPG like this one. For comparison, Persona 3 Reload had a player count peak of 45,000, still very strong, but a whole 30,000 less people than Metaphor: ReFantazio. I think it's safe to say that this is a new franchise for Atlus, if it's managing to do better than a Persona game (even if that one was a remake).

Metaphor: ReFantazio has been reviewing incredibly well too, including by our own Dom who gave it 5/5 stars, writing, "Every individual strand weaves together to form something utterly exceptional in Metaphor. It may well be Atlus’ masterpiece; well-presented, well-realised, and totally unashamed to be a big, silly, fantastical piece of role-playing genius. Don’t be put off by the fact it isn’t wearing the Persona moniker; chances are, if you love anything about the Persona games, you’re going to find it in Metaphor - but better. As a foundation for a new IP, I don’t think the developer could have done better."

You can pick up Metaphor: ReFantazio on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC now.