Metaphor: Refantazio is still one of my favorite games of all time. Specifically, the OST is phenomenal and it makes me feel like a hero every time it plays. One of the songs that I love more than anything is Wings of Freedom. Now Spoilers incoming:
Wings of Freedom plays near the end of the game after Neuras grants the Gauntlet Runner the ability to fly via wings. For context, Neuras goal to achieve flight via wings was foreshadowed since we first met him. It always his goal to achieve a Skyrunner, not via levitation magic like Louis’s Skyrunner Charadrius, but to fly on Wings. Hence this is where the name of this song comes from.
Neuras achieves his goal on 9/12 in order to escape Altabury and find Rella (fittingly she is a Ishika, people with Wings, but they can’t fly) in the Magic Academy. Rella is the one revealed to be responsible for the Prince’s curse (which has been the main goal of the characters throughout the game). In order to save the party from a potential fall to the death, Neuras pulls out all the stops to finally fulfill his dream.
For the rest of the game, the Gauntlet Runner theme changes to Wing of Freedom. This song is one of, if not, my favorite song in the game. Maiko Katagiri, the singer for this song did an excellent job giving this song its sense of finality as we move into the final parts of the game.
As the song that plays in the Gauntlet Runner from 9/12 onwards, it is a song that in its own expresses the themes of the Hero’s Journey that Will represents. And at the same time, it also expresses hope and resolve to fight Louis in order to save the country.
My overall viewpoint of the Metaphor OST as a whole is that the Chief Prist (the battle theme singer) represents Hythlodaeus V (the late king), Maiko Katagiri represents Will’s mother, the Eldan Queen (who awoken the Archetypes of the party members), and Glory Chorus Tokyo represents the people and the hero of souls of the Archetypes.
It is Will’s mother who has done everything within her power to ensure Will would live on and become king. She gave Will’s soul, extracted from the Prince’s wish and Fantasy Novel, to ensure that Will the Prince would have the experience and resolve to become the true king.
The final time this song plays is when Storhl and the rest of the party members (save Gallica) by Will time to take the Skyrunner to chase after Louis while they hold off the Humans trying to obstruct them. Despite all hope seeming lost as Will dies in the fight against Louis, while all of the party members are seemingly overrun, it’s thanks to Will’s resolve to continue the fight against Louis that saves his friends and the world. I love the shot of Will, Eupha and the rest of party members flying with the Skyrunner as they celebrate their hard earned victory against Destroyer Charadrius.
