Visions of Mana review: visions of greatness

It's gorgeous and polished, but its cracks begin to show when it comes to the story.

Visions of Mana / Square Enix

Despite Secret of Mana being one of the most popular games of all time, the Mana series was considered done. Mana mobile games, spin-offs, and remakes have been released since Dawn of Mana, but it’s been almost two decades since this last mainline entry in the series. That was until Visions of Mana, a game that was overshadowed by some of the biggest releases of the year.

I found it hard to make time for Visions of Mana, and it appears that the developers did too. On the day that Visions of Mana was released, Bloomberg reported that Netease had shut down the studio and fired almost everyone on staff. While studios are often informed by decisions like this at the last moment, people who have been affected by similar layoffs say that they can see the warning signs. When playing Visions of Mana you get the feeling that development was rushed or that the team had less incentive to finish the game at the level of quality they were capable of.

Visions of Mana / Square Enix

Visions of Mana is gorgeous and up to the level of polish that you expect from Square Enix’s best RPGs. I loved the return of the ring menu that hallmarks the Mana series and its battle system. Basic attacks always take place in real time, but items and abilities can either be selected in real time from the quick menu, or you can pause the battle to choose them from the ring menu. It’s all about giving you options, and allowing you to switch up how you want to fight from battle to battle. The class system also returns with the ability to change each person’s job as you find more elementals, giving a lot of variety to the battle system.

The cracks begin to show when it comes to the story, even though it starts off strong. Every four years, each town has a person nominated to sacrifice themselves and bring prosperity to the land. Time has proven that the sacrifice is necessary as towns have become barren or fought back against those who refuse to give their lives. Because of this, the citizens have adopted a cult-like quality where they feel honored to be chosen for sacrifice, and defend the practice to their literal deaths. However, there are some that have found ancient texts suggesting that this sacrifice ritual is relatively new, and could therefore be unnecessary for the land’s well-being. It’s an intriguing plot that pits you against the main cast, and then it does nothing with it.

Visions of Mana / Square Enix

All of the mystery that is built up in Visions of Mana’s opening withers away to a noiseless fart. Everyone acts like there was never anything there, but you know it’s there, and you’re left wondering why no one is talking about it. Frankly, it stinks. The possibility of a better world without sacrifice is presented, and then not a single character investigates the idea further. It leaves for a frustrating rather than a satisfying arc, much like the level scaling.

If anything gives away the fact that not all was well at Mana headquarters it’s the ending section of the game. As the game progresses you are given more traversal options for land, sea, and eventually air that allow you to explore the world quickly and freely. Then near the end point you are funneled down a linear path, and you can no longer call your animal friends to whisk you away. This makes up several hours at the end of the game, rather than some final ending sequence.

Visions of Mana / Square Enix

Parts of the story are dribbled throughout this linear section, but it largely consists of a boss rush with repeats of the game’s lesser bosses. The level scaling goes almost vertical during this part, as while there are only short sections between each encounter, the bosses can increase by up to five levels each time. This all leads up to the final battle, which is infuriating when your items are depleted by this long stretch without the chance to resupply, and his level reaches impossible heights.

The ending didn’t sour me on Visions of Mana overall, but did leave me pondering its squandered potential. This is a game that could have brought the Mana series back to its former glory, but it appears that the development team weren’t given the room to shine. If you decide to try it for yourself, you’ll still find a beautiful game befitting of the Mana series, with some of the best battles it has to offer, but just be prepared for a story that goes nowhere.

Score: 7/10

Version tested: PS5