Few do it better than Atlus when it comes to UI design, and while Metaphor: ReFantazio’s menus might be a small part of its overall charm (check out our review here if you want to know what else we loved about the game), they caused quite a bit of trouble.
Speaking with The Verge, game director Katsura Hashino explained why the menu design is simply annoying. “In general, the way most game developers make UI is very simple. 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,” he began.
“This is actually really annoying to do. We have separate programs running for each of them as well. 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. It takes a lot of time.”
It does seem to be time well-spent, as Metaphor: ReFantazio is winning over critics across the globe. Even if the menus aren’t the sole reason for that, keeping everything visually interesting is Atlus’ USP in a way.