Visions of Mana is the first new game in Square Enix's legendary JRPG Mana series, and it looks absolutely incredible.
Revealed during The Game Awards 2023, Visions of Mana looks like it could be on the verge of having a similar revival to Square Enix's other revered JRPG series, Dragon Quest, which found worldwide acclaim for its 2017 entry, Echoes of an Elusive Age. While Mana has always been an extremely popular franchise, the fact that it's been so long since a proper, brand new mainline entry means a ton of folks have missed out on its greatness. Similarly, Dragon Quest 11 was the first new mainline entry since the 2009 Nintendo DS game Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Dragon Quest 10 being a Japan-exclusive MMO.
Visions of Mana takes place in a semi-open world and stars new hero Val, a newly appointed soul guard accompanying his buddy on her pilgrimage to the Tree of Mana. The visuals are straight-up JRPG candy, filling the screen with sweeping vistas of diverse landscapes, dynamic colors, cozy towns, and beautifully updated, but still classic Mana character models.
There isn't a whole lot of the real-time combat shown, but what we do see looks like what you'd expect from a Mana game but modernized with smoother animations and snappier response times. In other words, it looks damn good. We also get to see a couple unique traversal methods, one showing Val summon a wind tunnel to ascend up a higher platform, and another where he's swimming through an underwater area from the inside of a bubble.
Visions of Mana is due out on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Windows and Steam sometime in 2024.
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