UIs in Hashino’s games have been avant-garde for a while now, but Persona 5 was the first time I thought the over-the-top design was essential to the game. Persona 5 makes for an amazing case study in top-down game design, where every last piece of it feeds back into the concept of a bunch of idealistic little shits running around causing upheaval in crusty old power structures by way of thievery. The menus were a big part of the constant reinforcement of this theme.

After playing the demo, I’m not sure how to feel about the menus in Metaphor just yet. I feel like a lot of it relates to things I haven’t seen yet in the game, though the use of the MC’s body–the artwork is literally him from head to toe as you proceed down the menu–is interesting. Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man is referenced in multiple spots in the game, and there’s also some body horror stuff going on with some of the enemies, so I imagine the sense of one’s human (humanoid?) body is important somehow. It feels a little bit form-over-function overall, but given the game’s pedigree, I’m giving them a lot of latitude once I delve into the game this weekend.