{"id":14981,"date":"2025-05-03T00:35:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T00:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14981"},"modified":"2025-05-03T00:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T00:35:48","slug":"the-game-informer-issue-that-never-was-metaphor-refantazio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14981","title":{"rendered":"The Game Informer Issue That Never Was \u2013 Metaphor: ReFantazio"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Don\u2019t be alarmed \u2013 Game Informer is here now and we\u2019re hard at work at getting the magazine back up and running<\/a> (sign up for an account to be alerted to when we will be selling subscriptions again!<\/a>). But back in August, we were unexpectedly shut down and at the time, we had made significant progress on the next issue, an issue that would ultimately never see the light of day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I made reference to the fact that we were about 70% done with the next issue when the publication was closed<\/span><\/span><\/a>, and many mistakenly assumed I was referring to our Casting of Frank Stone issue, which was not the case. That issue was completed and went out to subscribers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Game Informer has been closed down by GameStop and the entire, incredibly talented staff (including myself) have all been laid off. A frustrating turn of events (especially considering we were about 70% done with the next issue and it was going to have a GREAT cover).<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kyle Hilliard (@kylehilliard.bsky.social<\/a>) August 2, 2024 at 1:14 PM<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The issue that we never got a chance to bring to the finish line was going to feature Metaphor: ReFantazio on the cover. We were ecstatic to feature an Atlus game on the cover. A few months prior we had been speaking with Atlus about potentially featuring Persona 3: Reload as the cover story. Timing didn’t quite work out for that, but Metaphor would finally give us a chance to feature Shigenori Soejima\u2019s amazing character art on the cover.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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We locked in the cover story and Brian Shea traveled to Japan to see the game and interview the team. When we learned Game Informer was shutting down, Brian had already fully written the expansive cover story. It was in the process of being edited and laid out. The issue never came to be, but Brian was able to share some of that planned content via his own channels. Now, however, you can read the whole story here on GameInformer.com<\/a> (you can also read it here on Brian’s personal Medium account<\/a>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Brian also created a pair of videos about the trip, one with Soejima sketching characters from the game (seen below)<\/span><\/span>, and another about exploring Toky with Soejima and game director Katsura Hashino<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n