Metaphor: ReFantazio may be one of the most stylish-looking games ever made, even more so than Persona 5, the incredibly flashy Atlus RPG that preceded it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out the menus that play a huge role in establishing the visual identities of these games are very hard to make.Suggested ReadingDiablo IV's Big Expansion Faces 'Small Delay' On Launch DayWe Spoiled Joker 2 For Ourselves And Here’s What We Think About That Wild EndingDragon Ball Z Voice Famous For 'Find Out Next Time' Has DiedThe Best Resident Evil Goes VR And More New Releases | The Week In Games
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CCShare SubtitlesOffEnglishShare this VideoFacebookTwitterEmailRedditLinkThe Week In Games: The Best Resident Evil Goes VR And More New ReleasesSee Metaphor: ReFantazio on Humble Bundle AdvertisementRelated ContentMetaphor: ReFantazio Is Persona Without All The Ugly BaggageMetaphor: ReFantazio: The Kotaku ReviewRelated ContentMetaphor: ReFantazio Is Persona Without All The Ugly BaggageMetaphor: ReFantazio: The Kotaku ReviewLongtime Persona series director Katsura Hashino was recently asked by The Verge about Metaphor: ReFantazio’s brain-melting UI, which builds on menu systems that have only gotten more vibrant and lively with each new Persona sequel and spin-off. While the Persona-like fantasy game out this week has the benefit of building on the past work the team has done for the series, creating those menus is still a very involved process.Metaphor ReFantazio – Menu Showcase“In general, the way most game developers make UI is very simple,” Hashino said. “That’s what we try to do as well—we try to keep things simple, practical, and usable. But maybe the reason that we’ve achieved both [functionality and beauty] is that we have unique designs that we make for each and every menu. This is actually really annoying to do.”Advertisement Hashino said there are separate programs running for each of the game’s menus, presumably to help with keeping the interface snappy and the action moving. “Whether it’s the shop menu or the main menu, when you open them up there’s a whole separate program running and a separate design that goes into making it,” he explained. “It takes a lot of time.”Maybe that’s why so few other games take UI from merely being elegant and functional to being a spectacle in and of itself. Flashy menus can also present new problems, like being really hard to read. Apparently that was an issue with Persona 5 until the team did a lot of iteration and refinement on the angular black, red, and white text boxes. In my opinion at least, it was totally worth it.