After 15 years, the next mainline entry in the cult classic Mana series has finally been revealed. Starting out as Mystic Quest or Final Fantasy Adventure in the West, the Mana games stood apart thanks to their unique approach to inserting action into the JRPG formula. Since it has been dormant for so long, many fans had long given up hope for any form of sequel. The announcement of Visions of Mana has gotten older fans excited, but it shouldn’t be ignored by those who have never touched a game in this series before. There’s a lot to see and secrets to discover, so let’s break down everything we know about Visions of Mana.
Release date
Visions of Mana will arrive on August 29, 2024.
Platforms
You can take part in this epic adventure on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. This is the first time the series has ever been on an Xbox platform.
Trailers
The announcement trailer showed very little aside from the new 3D art style of Visions of Mana, as well as several environments and some quick bits of the combat. We see some massive boss battles, as well as fights with the main character, Val, alone and with a party. What we know of the plot so far revolves around Val’s friend being chosen as an alm. An alm is a person chosen to travel to the Mana Tree to restore the flow of mana. Val volunteers to be their Soul Guard, tasked with protecting the alm during their journey. The Developer Direct gameplay reveal took us behind the scenes on the game at the studio, plus gave a deeper dive into the gameplay.
Gameplay
The action-focused styling has been ramped up in Visions of Mana. You will be running through environments and engaging with foes with standard attacks, launchers, and magic spells seamlessly. To help you get around, pikuls have been introduced as mounts to help you travel the massive maps. These are big creatures that combine features of a Yorkshire terrier, pangolins, and even Anubis from Egyptian mythology that you can ride and even ram through enemies with. Visions of Mana doesn’t have a fully open world but will have small loading sections between larger hubs.
A key feature in combat will be Elementals, described as items with unique properties. By using each Elemental against the proper foe, you can exploit weaknesses and unleash flashy ultimate attacks.
Preorder
There are three versions of Visions of Mana to preorder, but they vary wildly in price and content. Here’s how it works out.
*
Standard Edition – $60
* Visions of Mana
* Guardian Garment outfit for Val
* Brave Blade weapon for Val
* Experience-boost item pack
*
Digital Deluxe Edition – $80
* Everything from the previous edition
* Mana Superstars costume set
* Mana series BGM bundle
* 24 hour early access
*
Collector’s Edition – $200
* Everything from the previous versions
* Ramcoh plush
* 80 page artbook
* Six CD soundtrack
* Collector’s box
