Heart.
That's the first word that comes to mind when I think of the Mana series. Similar to Dragon Quest are Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana and how they are not all called far from the demands of numerous other modern role-playing games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Dragon's Dogma 2 and especially western products like Baldur's Gate 3 removed.
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But just: heart. Even more than Dragon Quest, Mana retains the spirit of the NES and SNES origins, and that heart contains great emotion, accessibility, a certain childlike charm and, even when it's once again about the impending end of the world, a wonderful one Basic optimism.
Welcome back, Mana
But will it still work in 2024? I especially thought Trials of Mana from 2020 was wonderful, but it was “just” a very complex remake of an SNES adventure. The last main part called Dawn of Mana is an impressive 18 years old, after which only a few spin-offs were released, some with significantly different gameplay approaches, as well as a handful of remasters and remakes.
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Is “just like before, only nicer” enough these days? The answer is apparently: no. When playing Visions of Mana (buy now €69.99 )the title that is supposed to bring the series back to the big role-playing stage with a completely new game, I clearly saw the new approaches, the fresh additions, all the elements that were incorporated to make the game 2024 compatible .
But the answer is also: yes. Because the core of what defines the Mana series is still there and completely unchanged; Emotions, accessibility, charm, basic optimism – just heart.
Demo of Mana
What was I allowed to play? Two demo sections that deliberately revealed little about the story. But we already know the premise – and I don't expect any massive twists or other huge surprises:
Main hero and abdominal model Val makes his way to the Mana Tree in the role of a so-called soul guardian as the protective companion of his childhood friend Hina, as she is supposed to hold a special ceremony there as the chosen fire guardian.
Source: Square Enix
They are accompanied by the other party members Carina, a female redhead, and Morley, a kind of cat person with a jaunty page boy haircut. And of course, to quote from the press material, they cannot foresee “what an incredible adventure lies ahead of them.”
So far, so JRPG, and if you've played any of the Mana installments, it immediately feels like you're meeting old friends again, even if the characters are brand new.
Go for it, be happy
Purely in terms of the fights, Visions is very similar to Trials of Mana, on whose DNA it is clearly based. You can expect a simple, very accessible real-time combat system with normal attacks and all sorts of special attacks and items that you can place on the various front or shoulder buttons on the controller and select via quick access or alternatively via the ring menu.
In addition, you take care of dodging, hop happily around and switch between the playable characters Val, Carina and Morley at any time at the push of a button, while the other heroes are then controlled by the AI.
Compared to trials, where I was able to blame my very rare game overs on the somewhat stupid artificial intelligence, the computer comrades seem to have learned something new, at least from my brief insight into their behavior:
You dodge better and no longer stand in the way of every area attack that an enemy casts. However, there is still no way around keeping an eye on the life bar and status effects of your fellow combatants. Connoisseurs of similar Japanese role-playing games will rarely feel overwhelmed, but at least a pinch of tactical skill is required.