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The best of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei in one. Three levels of reviews for you:

NEW TO THE SERIES
A picaresque story about the difficulties of diversity, unity, and hope. The franchise has long been known for breaching difficult topics, and Metaphor is no exception. Four party members manage magical powers in turn-based combat that rewards exploiting enemy weaknesses. This game is more difficult than Persona, but not quite as difficult as their notorious Shin Megami Tensei games. Unlike other JRPGS, combat isn't the only mechanic. Metaphor has a day/night time management cycle that can test your executive function. Being sociable will make a difference as it directly affects what powers you have access to, so planning friends is important.

“I’VE ONLY PLAYED PERSONA”
Imagine Persona with more tactical combat, an entire party that can switch Personas, and a dark fantasy setting. The bosses are closest to Persona 5s, but are more "what to hit in what order" challenging than "hit like a truck" challenging.
The game is more mature than Persona, with both more adult party members and tone. I don’t mean “adult” in the same way as Rise’s dungeon. I mean they’re a little more subtle (I said a little), and more nuanced in ideas. There's also no Teddy/Morgana's bad pickup lines, which is a VAST improvement.
Finally, this game has much better pacing. Both to start, with a truncated beginning, but also to play. There is always a lot going on, but unlike the older games (Persona 3, 4) there aren't as many lulls where the plot is going through the motion without advancement. The game also prevents you from frontloading your combat and spending weeks increasing stats or socializing by giving you short bursts of down time and lots of smaller dungeons to complete.

LONG-TIME SMT/PERSONA FAN
Imagine Persona with the press-turn system and the same undertones as SMT4 and 4A. I won't say Persona isn't serious, but SMT has much less dialogue and humor overall. Metaphor is closer to the Persona spectrum (everyone talks all the time) but has fewer pun/joking interactions to break things up. It will still have funny scenes, don't get me wrong, but they didn't insert a major comic relief as your guide and that makes all the difference. Best party navigator so far in that she both might care about you at all AND isn't hitting on your party members.

There are much less, but still some "fish out of water" scenes. Overall, they're more cultural nuances or character quirks rather than straight up being unfamiliar with the environment. Even the usual Gale/Aigis/Logical questioner is toned down dramatically. But the biggest social difference is in how they wrote the main character. He is still, effectively, a silent protagonist there to give the player a semblance of agency. But the way your party members respond to him feels far more natural. From checking in on him after a hard day to a laugh or surprise, you feel as if you’re interacting with people and not just answering a test.

There are lots of smaller dungeons to level and do side quests in. The map scope isn't something they've tackled before, and I welcome their linearity because half of these games is knowing where the heck you're going (I'm looking at you, PS2 and 3DS era SMT games that are almost impossible to navigate.) I wouldn’t say Metaphor is a dungeon crawler like their earlier games. I can feel Etrian Odyssey’s influence in the short, square exploration dungeons. And it is welcome. Little enemy surprises, from tougher dudes that can burry underground or swoop down from above, hint at some of the challenges I’ve faced in Strange Journey or Nocturne. I can’t say if they reach far enough into that toolbox to pull out teleporters, poison areas, or other dungeon puzzle BS, but I wouldn’t mind and it wouldn’t feel out of place. I have a feeling they left those challenges behind in favor of less begrudged features, though.

I don't believe Studio Zero broke the mold so much as refined it, here. The pre-combat smacking around feels like a natural evolution of their budget and SMT's Esoma abilities without recasting it every moon. Your party's flexibility prevents Persona's MC carrying everyone to victory with endless "One Mores" into an "All Out Attack." Having set party members instead of feeder fish demons makes it a crew to invest in. But Metaphor also keeps the "I just need this ability" grind focus in the job system with skill inheritance/borrowing. I always enjoy whatever they try in a nonmainline game, and I think Metaphor is an excellent iteration; truly growing beyond Persona or SMT in many welcome ways.