Spoilers ahead for Metaphor: ReFantazio.
For years, Atlus has been known primarily for its two mainstay JRPG franchises: Shin Megami Tensei and Personathe last of which separated from SMT for starters. In 2024 however Metaphor: ReFantazio changed that by launching a new Atlus franchise and garnering critical acclaim, including multiple wins at The Game Awards 2024. Metaphor: ReFantazio they share a ton of DNA SMT and Personaespecially when lending PersonaSocial sim elements and how party members awaken to magical power through the power of their hearts. In exchange for the inevitable Personality 6 could borrow some ideas Metaphorand if so, it should draw especially from the Summoner Archetype.
The Summoner belongs to a long tradition of JRPG characters, classes, and jobs that revolve around conjuring a powerful monster to attack enemies. Many Summoner incarnations have special requirements for unlocking new abilities and Metaphor is no different, asking fans to craft vessels and gain new Summoner skills. Persona already has extensive “summoning” themes thanks to the titular Personas, but still has room for a more traditional summoning mechanic inspired by the Summoner Archetype in Metaphor: ReFantazio. Like Archetype, it refers to classic monsters from Atlus history such as Jack Frost, Personality 6 they could celebrate the franchise's history and highlight its own big encounters with the summoning power.

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Metaphor: ReFantazio has high hopes of becoming a new persona
Metaphor: ReFantazio combines high fantasy, innovative combat, and psychological depth, making it a strong contender to join Atlus' RPG franchises.
Broad strokes Personality 6 It seems pretty obvious – the turn-based combat, dungeon crawling and calendar-based social system are guaranteed to return. However, after games like Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Reload introduced mechanics like Hold Ups, Showtimes, and Theurgy to increase its depth of strategy, Atlus put some pressure on themselves to build some special combat tricks into it. Personality 6 to separate it. One way to do this could be a combination of Theurgy from Persona 3 Reload with the Summoner Archetype.
Theurgical attacks revolve around Persona 3 ReloadParty members supercharge their Personas using a special technique. Rather than focusing on Personas, Persona 6 Reload could allow players to charge up an attack that allows them to summon a powerful shadow to attack an enemy. Persona features a number of Persona user antagonists who use the shadows to further their own interests, either directly manipulating them or simply scheming them, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility that P6The party could also figure out a way to do this, especially if P6 preserves Person 5'with SMT– inspired intelligent shadows.
There are a number of ways to Personality 6 players can unlock Shadow summons:
- Personality 6 may feature a very traditional Summoner mechanic where fans must fight tough optional bosses to earn the right to summon that boss later in battle.
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The protagonist can unlock a Persona-based summon by fusing that Persona in the Velvet Room, which encourages the player to complete the overview (and play the P3Runlockable Theurgies for protagonist)
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Completion of non-partisan social links v Personality 6 they could reward the player with a special summon inspired by that character—essentially conjuring a Shadow version of their unawakened Persona in battle without physically bringing that character into the Shadow world
The Persona 3 Reload The protagonist's Theurgy skill is actually a bit similar to the Summoner Archetype already in that it calls for help from Personas it has used in the past that don't need to be in the player's current inventory of Personas to be used in Theurgy.
Perhaps the biggest question for the Shadow summon mechanic would be whether the whole party can use it. It certainly looks like a property that could be unique PersonaWild Card Protagonists because it's so unorthodox, but that would be disappointingly limited, especially compared to Theurgy. Given how little precedent there is for a feature like this, Atlus could certainly find a narrative reason to open it up to the entire party. Eupha's role as a resource MetaphorThe Summoner archetype is deeply connected to her life as a priestess and the mustari culture, but the wider lore of the Archetype still makes it perfectly justified for her companions to be able to use the power of the Summoner. Similarly, Personality 6 could make Shadow summoning a technique that starts exclusively in the Wild Card's hands during the tutorial battle to play into his own lore, but then quickly have the protagonist teach the technique to his allies.
Persona it's already so rich in summoning that the more classic Summoner mechanics just seem like a logical progression. Shin Megami Tensei and its spin-offs already deal a lot with mortals consorting with shadows or demons, so it would hardly be inappropriate Personality 6 equip players with their own shadow allies and minions. Nothing is guaranteed Personality 6 for now, but given its monumental success, it would be wise to draw on its exceptional features Metaphor: ReFantazio as the Summoner Archetype.