Metaphor: ReFantazio's demo reveals the most vitally important information: The protagonist's canonical name

(Image credit: ATLUS / SEGA)

I take real beef with Atlus's continued tradition of not giving its protagonist an actual damn name. It was all fine and dandy back when JRPGs had no voice acting, but that's not the case anymore! Even back when Square Enix refused to slap everyone with the name Tidus in Final Fantasy 10—though, perhaps that spared us of the atrocious "official" pronunciation—it annoyed the hell out of me.

I'm very much a canon name gamer. I'm not here calling my protagonists Farts McGee or John Persona. I want that official name, baby. I got baited in Persona 5 when the manga declared Joker's name to be Akira Kurusu, only for every subsequent piece of media to decide it was Ren Amamiya instead. I refuse to let that happen to me with Metaphor: ReFantazio, the latest Atlus JRPG to give us an unnamed hero and declare we do it ourselves.

For some reason, I foolishly assumed we'd be given some kind of official name this time around, with the main character also being fully voiced for a change. As you've probably already guessed, that's not the case, and I've been eagerly anticipating any kind of media that will tell me what name I'm supposed to bestow upon my main goober for the next 150 hours.

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Well, we have that now thanks to the demo. Well, kinda anyway, if the system settings are to be trusted at all. You see, if you switch languages away from the one you originally chose on your save file, you'll be slapped with a default name for the protagonist and for yourself. If you switch to English from any of the other system languages, the protagonist gets given the name Will, while you get the very appropriate name You.

The system message when switching from a different language to English, which assigns the protagonist the default name "Will". — (Image credit: Atlus)

Now, does this mean that Will is definitively the name of the protagonist? Maybe not. Like I said before, names for Atlus protagonists have evolved with new media before, and with a manga adaptation on the horizon we could very well end up with something else.

It's also worth noting that according to this Reddit post, the names are different in a bunch of different languages. Dutch renames the protagonist to the sorta similar Wilhelm, while French throws a curveball with Éric. Previous footage we've seen has shown that the Japanese default name was also Will, though another screenshot from the PlayStation Store six months ago also showed it as being Rene.

I kinda like Will. It's almost comically plain, especially in a world of Hulkenbergs, Heismays, and Strohls (though to be fair his actual name is bloody Leon, so). I don't exactly think "Will" when I look at the main character, but I'm a stickler for the canon monikers 'til the end. Until the inevitable anime adaptation turns all that on its head, of course.

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.