After more than a decade of waiting, fans of the Mana video game saga will be happy to welcome a new opus. Square Enix has decided to launch a new entry after working on a few remakes and remasters. Visions of Mana promises to bring the franchise into a modern era, with its 30 years of existence and 16 previous games.
The title was revealed in a trailer explained by its designers a few months ago, and since then, we have been able to get our hands on it. Two demos were offered to us by Square Enix, showing us different facets of the game, but mainly its exploration and its visual universe. Here is our first review of Visions of Mana, several months before its launch.
Everything for its players
A colorful universe, dynamic combats and an atmosphere a la Final Fantasy, that's all that Visions of Mana promises to offer us. Highlighting a rather common story about devotion and the Mana tree, players find themselves facing a magical open world, full of color, and full of possibilities. The first demo we were able to play showed us an extremely important aspect for the rest of the gameplay.
The player can embody three members of the team of heroes. Each has different qualities and classes, which allows us to find the style that suits us best. It is possible to change protagonists at any time in the adventure, which is very interesting during the combat phases. While some RPGs have adopted this feature in recent years, it must be said that the one in Visions of Mana is clear, complete and is particularly optimized for beginners.
We had no trouble understanding who was doing what, and switching between the different characters to use their specific skills, heal them or come to their aid. The information, visible on the side, makes it easier to understand the status of each member of the team.
Masaru Oyamada, the producer of Visions of Mana says that this title “encompasses the essence of the game”, that it’s all a question of point of view, of vision. The gameplay and story allow players to shape their adventure according to the different options and perspectives given by the characters. This opus, compared to the previous ones, transports players into a modern era, more vertical with “much larger locations and a much larger world”.
A world as far as the eye can see
Even when strategy and the plurality of perspectives are at the heart of the gameplay, we cannot ignore its exploratory and contemplative dimension. The player can move wherever he wants without the story guiding him too much in his discovery. We found the HUD rather minimalist in terms of the quest aspect, and the observation is similar for the game map.
To facilitate movement, Visions of Mana introduces the addition of mounts, half-wolf, half-Pokémon creatures inspired by Anubis that allow us to cross the map in a few seconds. On foot or on “horseback” it is completely possible to avoid any kind of conflict, a pleasant option in this kind of game where exploration can make sense.
The open world forced the integration of an interesting mechanic. This is the adaptive music, an element managed automatically by the game. It makes the transition between the exploration phases and the combat phases, adapting in a few notes the tone and rhythm of the music. It is a feature that reinforces the immersion and that we find particularly successful.
Despite everything, the atmosphere of Visions of Mana is never really one of epic confrontations. Even in the boss fights we keep this playful and cheerful spirit that we find in the rest of the game. We do not know how this will translate to the level of the narration which nevertheless seems to address mature themes.
During our play session, we were only able to see a fraction of what Visions of Mana will be. It is obvious that its world is full of countless possibilities and that we will have to take the time to explore it well to form a definitive opinion. But our first impression is that of a comfortable, vast game, with a deep and personalized RPG part. Although it is the 17th game in the franchise, it seems just as accessible to beginners as to old fans. It is clear that it still has a lot to show us, so let's not get carried away yet. It is recalled that it has a release window set for summer 2024 on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
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