Does the new game live up to venerated titles of the series history?
Well, thatll all depend on what kind of experience youre looking for.
Off the jump, the most noticeable thing aboutVisions of Manais its jaw-dropping visuals.
This is easilyVisions strongest selling point, and worth checking out for alone.
With that all said, I cant in good conscience say thatVisions of Manawill stand the test of time.
Sell your soul
Visions of Manais set in a beautiful world with an unenviable burden.
Thats especially so considering regions that fail to deliver an alm to the Mana Tree are met with catastrophe.
Our protagonist, Val, has been chosen as the Soul Guard for the latest pilgrimage.
Unfortunately, I found thatVisions of Manasnarrative doesnt quite explore its themes as well as it should.
The games darker moments dont really land due to some extremely static cutscenes with near-unchanging facial expressions.
Fight it out
Combat, similarly, is quite the mixed bag.
This simplicity is let down by some pretty clunky movement and combat feel.
Visions of Manasclass system is easily the games most impressive feature.
Each of the games five party members has a base class when you first meet them.
That makes for a total of 45 classes, with each party member having access to nine each.
Classes get stronger by unlocking new abilities in the Elemental Plot skill tree.
As an example, I was able to turn Palamena into a damage powerhouse with the Darkness-aligned Reaper class.
Characters can then further be augmented with the use of Ability Seeds.
Youve got plenty of options when it comes to character builds, then, and thats awesome.
Sadly, the act of combat itself can be a bit cumbersome.
Overall movement feels quite slow and occasionally unresponsive.
Heres hoping Square Enix can apply some finer touches via post-launch patches.
Take a hike
Visions of Manaabsolutely nails it in the presentation department.
This is a richly colorful game, and the vibrant palette really helps its world to feel alive.
It very much takes a back seat and sounds quite low in the mix at default tweaks.
Some later boss and area themes really do slap, however, so its not a total dud.
Its just not up to the very high standard set here by the likes ofSecret of ManaorTrials of Mana.
In better news,Visions of Manais superbly optimized on PlayStation 5.
Accessibility
Visions of Manahas a very basic - but welcome - accessibility suite.
you might also fully customize the games control scheme and adjust camera sensitivity tweaks.
Should I play Visions of Mana?
First reviewed August 2024.
