Visions of Mana is the first brand new console entry in the Mana series in almost two decades. While the series has seen a resurgence of sorts with past remakes, especially the stunning Trials of Mana, this is finally the chance to bring it back to life.
The action RPG right around the corner, with an August 29 release date on PS4 and PS5. Before it comes, Square Enix has released a demo on PSN so we can get a closer look at the game. Here are some first impressions on it.
The journey of the Alms
The concept of Visions of Mana revolves around a group of young people travelling towards the Mana Tree. Chosen by the elements, they become “Alms” and must restore the mana flow. In the process, they’ll sacrifice their souls.
Our protagonist is Val, a young man from the fire village of Tianeea. His childhood friend, Hinna, becomes the Alm of Fire, and he must accompany her as a “soul guard”.
Val’s job is to protect her from harm so that the proper process happens. However, they are not alone in this journey, as they’ll meet other Alms who will become their close companions.
In the full game, we’ll have five playable characters to make teams of three. Allies such as Hinna, Ramcoh, and Aesh will also help in the sidelines.
During the demo, it was possible to test Val, Careena (the Alm of Wind), and Morley (the Alm of the Moon). Hinna also accompanied the group, providing HP and MP restoration from time to time.
Battle prowess and experimentation
Our three characters have different facets to their battle performance. Val is closer to the traditional fighter, Careena would be a magic-oriented dancer, and Morley an agile rogue.
Their basic styles can be combined with the elementals to make up an advanced class with other abilities. As Square Enix previously revealed, this aspect will be key when experimenting with battle options in Visions of Mana.
Thankfully, as the demo isn’t the exact beginning of the game, we get to see this in a little depth. There are two elementals we can experiment with in this portion of Chapter 1: Wind and Moon.
It’s a little surprising and a bit of a shame that we don’t get to play with Fire, as it’s the one tied with the protagonists. However, those two are enough to give us a good look at how everything works.
By equipping a character with a specific Elemental Vessel, we change their class. Val goes from base warrior to a powerful armored unit with a shield when he’s aligned with the Moon. This changes his equipment options and access to unlockable skills.
This has potential to offer a varied party customization system to explore in the final game. It’ll also be interesting to see how things evolve as players spend more points to unlock the stronger levels of each class.
Dynamic clashes
Battles in Visions of Mana revolve around teams of three, with the player directly controlling one character. The game itself handles the other ones automatically but we can swap them at any time.
Each ally has its own HP and MP and the group has a special gauge. By filling it up, players can use their special skills at the press of a button.
Magic, skills and items have two usage formats. The first one is the shortcut system, making them conveniently tied to a specific input combination. The other option is just using the ring menu, which pauses combat so players can evaluate what to do next.
The ring menu is a staple of the Mana franchise and it allows for quick visualization and access to skills or items. Thankfully, it’s just as easy to explore in the new game, at least as far as the demo goes.
Enemies have clearly visible levels and a special color tied to how strong they are. That’s helpful so you can pick your fights carefully.
One thing that seemed slightly off in the game was distance and movement during battles. It sometimes feels a little disjointed because the game doesn’t help keep combos going.
For instance, the titles in the Kingdom Hearts series or Trials of Mana correct player position with movement in the attacks. By helping the hits connect in a continuous fashion, combat feels more satisfactory. However, during my time with the demo, it felt like I needed to be more conscious of distance instead.
A promise of exploration
Another aspect the Visions of Mana demo covers is exploration. Even with only a few areas available, the demo displays a vast world to explore. The wolf-like mounts are also adorable.
Filled with hidden treasures and opportunities to encounter monsters, it feels like a promise for the full game. If the complete experience doesn’t offer even more rewards for going out of the main story’s way, it’ll be disappointing.
Right now, it nails having a beautiful world, with collectibles here and there. There’s a unique golden drop that works as an additional currency to get powerful restorative items or upgrades to base stats.
There were also multiple sidequests that encouraged me to go back and fight more monsters. In the way, I got to know even more aspects of the game, like the powerful unique monsters that are native to specific points of the map.
A vision for the future of the series
Going by the demo, Visions of Mana seems to be a promising entry to reignite the flame of the franchise. There are still some aspects that could use an extra polish but it feels like the game will be a solid action RPG option for August.
