Visions of Mana is exactly what it should be: mid-budget RPG comfort food

I’ve poured a lot of time into Square Enix action RPGs lately. Between Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and even 2020’s Trials of Mana, I expected Visions of Mana to play similarly when I demoed it this month. Yet what I saw was the opposite: Combat is slow-paced, even though enemies can bombard you with rapid attacks marked by AoEs. There’s no combo system, despite the fact that Trials of Mana, a 3D remake of a 1995 Super Famicom game, had one.

I should've known not to panic: Abandoning what I knew from the series’ previous game is the quintessential Mana experience.The Mana games have never been afraid to get a bit weird, so it was almost surreal to start Visions of Mana in a wide open field that structurally resembles many typical modern RPGs. Within five minutes I saw hidden treasure chests, side quests that pointed me towards optional battles, and collectibles I could reach with some light platforming.

That’s not an inherently bad approach in my book, and Visions of Mana does appear to be using the form to encourage exploration. I got in over my head against some powerful enemies after I acclimated to the combat, a lively moment coming from Trials of Mana’s tepid difficulty. There also appeared to be secrets that you’d have to return to later in the game to unlock, which harkens back to the world design of classic RPGs like Dragon Quest.

While I didn’t have a ton of toys to play with, I saw ample potential for customization. Each character has four dedicated magic spell slots, and these were all interchangeable regardless of class. Debuffs, healing over time, elemental attacks, all the classic RPG fundamentals were there. I didn’t have a ton of options in terms of customizing my loadout, but it was a nice amount of variety considering this demo took place in the early game.

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