is a game with its 🐓own fantasy vibe, bu𝓰t it shares a good deal of DNA with Atlus' legendary Persona series. One of Persona"s strongest angles is surely its characterization, especially between your party members. Metaphor carries forward in this spirit while lending a more mature narrative to it all.

Six party members will join the protagonist on his quest to save the ꧂prince and unite Euchronia under a banner of peace. We have the facts on 'em all, from when they join the team, to t♛he Archetypes they introduce, to some excellent secondary Archetypes for each of them to rock, and more.

We're including Gallica, si🧜nce she helps you in fights despite not being a full-🔜fledged party member!

Gallica

Gallica is unique among "party members" in that, all things considered, she kind of isn't one. Rather than fighting alongside you, she provides tactical support; Persona fans might draw parallels to Fuuka, Rise, and Morgana - and they'd be correct.

Gallica introduces the Mage Archetype, which specializes in learning elemental magic spells, buffing Magic and MP stats, and similar fare.

Early on, you won't have any party members with an especially natural bend toward magic classes, but the protagonist makes a great Mage. While he's designed to be the most diverse ally of them all, you might want to give him the Mage (and Healer) classes.

Your faerie friend joins you at the very beginning of the game, and you'll gain the Mage Archetype about an hour or so into the story.

Strohl

The steadfast disaffected noble, Strohl, is the first true party member to join the team. He's your Junpei, Yosuke, Ryuji - if we're still doing silly Persona parallels - but he's quite the serious soul by comparison. He just slots into that close friend, surrogate brother, feel.

Strohl comes with the Warrior Archetype, and, as is unsurprisingly the case for all party members, his own Archetype is excellent for him. He has a high Attack, fairly high HP, and solid DEF.

Other great Archetypes for Strohl include the fist-fighting Brawler, the long-range, bow-wielding, Gunner, and the late-game, no-holds-barred, powerhouse Berserker.

You won't exactly have to wait long for Strohl. From the moment you arrive at the Northern Border Fort, roughly half an hour into Metaphor, he'll join the team.

Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg is the wielder of the Knight Archetype, which embodies virtuous defense with great HP and the highest DEF. The Knight Archetype is fantastic; the Knight's ability to draw aggro and block attacks can be quite useful during boss fights.

Our valiant, albeit disgraced, friend joins you shortly before the Regalith Grand Cathedral dungeon, rounding out your party of three early on. Regalith Grand Cathedral is Metaphor's first major dungeon.

We had Hulkenberg tap into the stellar Commander Archetype, which is acquired through Bardon after the Martira arc. Her tankiness blends well with the Commander, whose abilities center on rallying the party with buffs galore.

Heismay

Speaking of disgraced former knights - though this time, it's of the far smaller, and craftier, kind - Heismay is the wielder of the Thief Archetype. His sky-high AGI ensures immaculate hit rates and spectacular dodge rates.

The Thief Archetype is surely what you'll want him to stick with for some time. Stealing items is handy, but debuffing enemy attacks with Tarunda can be a surprisingly game-changing addition. He'll tap into Dark-elemental abilities more as the Thief advances into stronger classes.

Heismay is the best candidate for Faker, which showcases Metaphor's cunning trickery 𓄧with♛ plenty of debuffs that blend well with the Thief.

Heismay joins the crew just before the game's second major dungeon, Kriegante Castle.

Junah

The nationally famous songstress with ties to Louis, Junah is the wielder of the Masked Dancer Archetype. The Masked Dancer is great for giving enemies specific weaknesses - fabulous for all those tough foes w🍌ho otherwise lack one to exploit.

The Masked Dancer also uses your accessory slot to equip the skills of other classes, so long as you create those masks via Special Experiments. In other words, Junah can essentially double her capabilities.

Junah's high MAG and MP means she's probably best-served equipping something like Mage or Healer. Once she joins you just after the third major dungeon in mid-July, she can t𓄧ake the pressure off the protagonist to carry the magic-centric classes forward.

Eupha

Eupha's Summoner class does what's on the tin - you summon creatures to attack enemies with elementally-based skills. This involves creating new summons through Special Experiments, something Eupha shares in common with Junah.

Eupha also shares (and, in fact, exceeds) Junah's propensities toward high MAG and MP. Put plainly, Eupha is arguably the best magic-based fighter in the game.

This makes additional Archetypes for Eupha fairly easy to suss out. Mage and Healer are the perfect side gigs for her, and we also liked to give her the Wind-based skills from Seeker.

Our mustari friend joins the team a bit late, in August, at the end of the fourth major dungeon.

Basilio

You'll have met Basilio before Eupha, but he won't join until after the fifth major dungeon, about two-thirds of the way into Metaphor: ReFantazio. A Berserker, Basilio has the highest HP growth in the game. His ATK is similarly stellar.

Basilio is, thus, about as easy to choose other Archetypes for as Eupha, albeit in the opposite direction. Warrior and Brawler are best for this brutish pal, and you can't go wrong having him learn any powerful physical attacks from all other classes.