Visions Of Mana Preview: Classic Feel And Vivid Visuals Underpin The Return Of The Action-RPG Series
Despite being whimsical and colorful adventures with flexible action-RPG combat to boot, the Mana series has largely existed through remakes instead of new entries for the past 15 years. This is what makes Visions of Mana–the first fully-realized entry in the modern sense in a long time–such a big deal for fans of Square Enix’s dormant franchise.
Visions of Mana makes the most of its newest outing with vast regions to explore, breathtaking vistas to take in, and an emphasis on magical elements woven into both its combat mechanics and exploration that create synergy between the two.
Having had the chance to play a brief two-part demo for Visions of Mana, I was left eager to dig into its systems as that’s where the game’s real potential lies. I spent the first part of the demo exploring the open region of Fallow Steppe, which let me get my feet wet in basic battles against enemies sprinkled throughout. The three controllable characters–Val, Careena, and Morley–all had their own combat classes with their own assortment of magic spells, and I could switch between any of them on the fly. It felt like pretty simple action-RPG fare with light and heavy attack combos and a mix of magic, but after this warm-up, I got to play through the Mt. Gala dungeon, which is a more linear story-based scenario with greater combat challenges.