If there’s any takeaway you can gather from Square Enix’s latest revival of the Mana series that isn’t a remake of past titles, is that it’s really trying its best to recreate a 90s action JRPG in 3D form.

From the lush colourful backdrops to the rather frequent use of cutscenes that clearly need to have money put into it, it’s clear as day that this is what passes for a Mana game from Square Enix what with their resources being diverted fully towards anything with the name “Final Fantasy” or “Dragon Quest” tacked onto it. Our 6-hours with the full version of the game brought us through snow plains, water ruins, grassy knolls, and deserts straight out of a 90s fantasy anime, right down to the cute-but-weird iconic creatures that happen to be Mana series staples.

All of these areas are large and sprawling, filled with a few sidequests to find and loads of enemies to fight, and telegraphed chests and collectibles to artificially pad out your playtime.

Making Magic

Of course, the meat of any Mana game is its gameplay and combat, and Visions have that in spades. You have four characters you can switch between in your three-person team -Val, Careena, Morley, and Palamena- each with their own strengths and class skills. Classes are determined by the vessels given; in our playthrough we had Wind, Moon, and Water.

Stock do-gooder helper hero Val is the tank and damage-dealer of the group, and depending on which class he’s assigned with, he can either take hits for you or just deal massive damage. Careena has her mana beast as an assist for her heavy attacks (and a Southern accent since she’s a spitfire country bumpkin), while the classy Morley dapperly fights as either a samurai with a sword or a ninja/rogue with three blades.

Palamena is the resident spellcaster who speaks in alliterations like it’s going out of style. However, she can act as a fast-kicking fighter if she is given the Moon or Wind vessel. Careena fights with fans and has more buffs/debuff spells available if she’s given the Moon or Wind vessel, while Val gets big damage options if given the Wind or Water vessel.

My favourite for Val for my preview experience is the Wind vessel; as a Rune Knight class, Val can enchant anyone with elemental powers, take some hits, and deal more damage to anything in his way. Complement him with another DPS character and a healer-spellcaster for support, and you pretty much can trample the opposition most of the time. Elemental plots (the horizontal skill trees for each character) will unlock more passives and active skills if you have enough Elemental Points, and you can unlock further skill tree buffs if you find each character’s specific plot items.

Best of all, you can mix and match whatever skills you unlocked to a different class, similar to the Job system in past Final Fantasy games but in an action RPG context. You can basically load up your constitution-weak spellcaster with buffs from other classes so that they can take in a few hits or even have better evade stats. Or just give your close-ranged Monk class a wind projectile or moon slice attack for some ranged options on the fly.

And that’s just with three Mana Vessels! Thanks to these, I had a lot more options and passives to unlock and play around with, as there’s potential to make a pretty OP party with the Elemental Plot skill system and unlocks. Of course, I cannot talk about the other Mana vessels save for the first three I found since I’m not allowed to, but let’s just say that you’ll definitely find a class you’ll main for each of the five characters in the game that may change your mind about how “sluggish” the game feels.

Visions of Mana is not a one-to-one re-enactment of the combo-heavy and button-mashy battle system of the Trials of Mana 3D remake. Rather, it attempts to be its own sacred beast with its new team, new engine, and new class-based system. It’s different, but I can assure you that you’ll have a ball of a time juggling enemies and dogpiling them once you get into the groove. While it’s too early to tell, the last 6 hours of my hands-on with the final version of the game proves that the early demo really undersells what it offers: a fun and freeform action RPG that entertains while using the Mana name.

Check out the video of us pummeling the bosses with our deft use of the Mana Class system and Mana item abilities like Slow Time and the Water ability where I just make bubbles form out of nowhere and buff/debuff anything in our way.

Visions of Mana will be out for PC and consoles on 30th August. Stay tuned for our full review.