![Visions of Mana Hands On Preview](https://images.pushsquare.com/55da62914d998/visions-of-mana-hands-on-preview.900x.jpg)
2020's Trials of Mana remake showed us that the series' classic formula can be adapted into a full 3D adventure — and Visions of Mana clearly intends to push things forward. A brand new instalment in Square Enix's longstanding franchise, Visions seems to retain the fantastical charm of its predecessors, while also expanding the boundaries of what we've typically come to expect from a Mana title.
Based on our time with the game's demo version — which you can download right now from the PS Store — we're confident in saying that this one's got potential. Purely in terms of scope, Visions seems surprisingly ambitious, offering up vast, open world-style environments and sizeable towns that actually feel quite busy. It's obviously been a long time since an all-new Mana release, but so far, this instalment presents a fairly modernised take on the property.
Having said that, the storytelling is still very Mana. The overarching plot involves a pilgrimage to the titular Tree of Mana — a recurring goal in just about every prior title — and the main characters are pretty damn dry. Protagonist Val and his childhood friend Hinna are just about the most generic do-gooder duo you can imagine, and honestly, we'd be shocked if they end up offering any notable depth in the full game.
Fortunately, their surrounding party members appear to be a little more intriguing. The cat-featured Morley is your calm and collected type, while Careena, a chirpy priestess, brings some much needed bite to the group. The hope is that as more heroes join Val's cause, fun character dynamics and interactions will carry the otherwise basic narrative.
Visions doesn't want to abandon its old school storytelling roots — and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that — but we do wonder whether that's the right call when it comes to hooking new players.
Moving on, we do really like the aforementioned scope of the game's outdoor areas. The demo gives you a rather large spread of land to explore, and it certainly looks the part, with a lot of colourful vegetation dotting the landscape. Interestingly, the game actually indicates points of interest on your map, be they treasure chests or combat trials — and honestly, we found ourselves appreciating this approach. It's not that traversing the environment is boring, but the size of the place does mean that without markers, uncovering every chest would be a serious chore.
Of course, this wouldn't be Mana without various monsters prowling the countryside, and you'll encounter plenty of the beasts as you march from town to town. Battle begins when you get close enough to your enemies, and then it's a case of engaging in Visions' action combat system, which will feel familiar to anyone who's dabbled in the series before.
It's a very straightforward system consisting of one-button combos, heavy attacks, dodge rolls, and magic spells. Thankfully, the demo hands you three distinct party members, so you can get a decent grasp on the ebb and flow of battle. Overall, we'd say it's nicely paced and pretty engaging, despite its simplistic mechanics. We're hesitant to call it a meaningful evolution of classic Mana combat, but we did enjoy taking on the demo's tougher opponents — several of which can be hunted down in certain locations.
However, the undisputed highlight has to be the big boss fight that occurs at the end of the demo. In predictable RPG fashion, Val and the gang are ambushed by a massive squid just minutes after boarding a ship towards their next destination. We've lost count of how many times we've seen this exact scenario unfold, but it still makes for a great boss battle, complete with bullet-hell bubbles and cinematic attacks. More of these in the full game, please.
![Visions of Mana 12](https://images.pushsquare.com/7a8c4f6186614/visions-of-mana-12.900x.jpg)
With moment-to-moment combat covered, we should detail Visions' class system, which could genuinely be the game's biggest win. The gist of it is that as the story progresses, you'll gain access to a growing roster of elemental spirits, and by channeling these entities, each party member can unlock new classes. Admittedly, the demo doesn't give you much to work with, but there's abundant potential here for in-depth party customisation, as classes come with their own fighting styles, weapon types, and abilities.
Val, for example, wields a comically large greatsword when he's commanding the wind elemental, allowing him to specialise as a crowd-clearing warrior. Swap to the moon elemental, though, and he'll opt for a much more defensive lance and shield loadout. These two classes play much differently from one another, and it's got us excited to see what the full release has up its sleeve.
Based on the demo alone, it's easy to argue that Visions of Mana isn't going to blow anyone away. It's very much a continuation of the series' classic RPG structure — complete with what seems to be a wholly predictable story — but those looking for a more whimsical, old school adventure could be in for a treat. In any case, we're looking forward to the full thing, even though this demo has served to keep our expectations in check.
Have you tried the Visions of Mana demo? What do you think of it? Are you looking forward to the full game? Have your say in our poll, and then embark on an epic quest in the comments section below.
Are you looking forward to Visions of Mana? (232 votes)
- Yes, it's one of my most anticipated games
- Yeah, it should be good
- Kind of, I'm intrigued
- Nah, I'm not sold
- No, it's just not my thing
Comments 22
I've never played this series, the combat in the demo was solid though. I just felt confused and overwhelmed with all of the characters and story elements, it seems a high barrier to entry for someone not familiar with the games and I don't think I'll be playing it any time soon
@Logonogo To be fair, the demo takes place a few hours into the game. I'm a Mana fan and I still found it quite overwhelming at first.
I would assume the full game will ease you into things a lot better.
@ShogunRok Thanks Robert! Maybe I will give it a go down the line pending reviews
Looking forward to this one. As much as I don't like the 2D-HD look so many JRPG have these days I'm also getting kind of burnt out on "photorealistic" and sometimes just want to play something colorful and fun.
Good timing for the release of this one while DQ12 hides away some where until who knows when.
Visually I found it stunning. I love the colorful art direction.
Played the demo for about an hour. Looks great, but just don't enjoy RPGs with computer controlled party members. Combat too chaotic for my taste, and boss battles in other similar games that I've played usually ended up being more of a battle to keep party members alive.
However, for those who like this kind of game, enjoy!
@Logonogo There were a lot of systems thrown at us all at once so I agree it was a bit overwhelming but as shogun said since its hours into the game I think they will give us little by little on out the system eventually will work
Tried it out this morning before work. I liked what I've experienced thus far. I've played all the Mana games but the only one I've ever actually beaten was Secret of Mana back on the SNES. It's funny because back then we just referred to these games as 'RPG's' not 'JRPG's'. But one of my biggest grievances of the JRPG genre are the absolutely nails-on-a-chalkboard voice acting for some of the characters ever since we made the jump from 2D/16-bit/32-bit to modern 3D games. So far I'm not too annoyed with the voices, but they're skating on thin ice with me.
I was super hyped for this. Demo killed it for me. Just made me miss Dark Cloud 3 not being a thing even more. I can never play a game like this again until I get Dark Cloud 3.
@MindfulGamer my sentiments exactly! Hate the AI companions in games like these.
It's a lovely game, and I'm pretty excited for it, but I have to admit that my hype was tempered quite a bit when I realised that none of the interiors are explorable. It really kills the immersion for me.
Really glad they released a demo for this game, genuinely appreciative of the way SE continue to do this. Confirmed to me that I should absolutely not get this game - clunky, overly chaotic combat & dull characters means a hard pass for me.
I'm really hyped for this after trying the demo. I needed a rock solid action jrpg with a colorful anime look and feel. This hits the spot. I can't wait. I really hope more games like this get made by other studios.
Most AAA games today are far from revolutionary but people still enjoy them anyway. Silly headline really and admittedly it annoyed me too.
I tried the demo for one hour and so far i liked it. SE clearly used Trials of Mana remake formula and it shows in gameplay and art direction. And a good RPG doesn't need to be "revolutionary".
@MindfulGamer You can control other party member manually if you don't want AI controlling them.
@PuppetMaster I know that you can switch the player controlled party member at any time, but unless I am missing something, the AI still has to control the other two party members.
I really enjoyed Trials despite the incredibly simplistic combat. This looks like a nice upgrade to that so I am looking forward to it.
@MindfulGamer Yes you can set the AI behaviour and so far the they aren't bad at all.
I’m not usually into this genre as for me it’s usually boring . Open chests , walk, open chests walk and so on. Last one I liked was eternal sonata cause of its colorful nature and the fact that it was reference to one of the greatest composers ever lived .
I tried this as it seemed colorful, but that battle system is messy and too chaotic. I had no idea what the hell was going on.
The demo was nice. I liked the cozy seaside town. It seems to be a good comfort food type of game.
I’m looking forward to trying this one out today. I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to get this one, but I practically enjoy all the things Square has put out this generation, so I’m tempted, even if the last couple attempts at rebooting interest in Mana felt underwhelming to me. I’m going to jump off the fence later today in either direction, I’m sure.
I really want to enjoy this one too. The palette they used for this one makes me think of DQ12, which I feel like I miss playing at the moment for some reason.
I didn't play the demo myself but saw about an hour of it. Looks fine but the combat didn't look like anything special and my god these inane characters do not take a single second to shut the hell up.
It's still on my radar but now I'll be picking SteamWorld Heist II over Mana for my August RPG.
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