4.5/5 ★ – Lammy's review of Visions of Mana.

Visions of Mana post-plat review: A note before we begin, I have not played any of the other Mana/Seiken Densetsu series games, so callbacks are mostly lost on me unless a hamster has previously explained them. Visions of Mana is an objectively very pretty game with characters I love that tries real hard to be a history-making JRPG and... doesn't quite make it. You play as Val, a Soul Guard warrior tasked with shepherding 8 divinely chosen sacrifices to a Mana Tree so they may offer their souls to the Goddess of Mana and preserve their civilization. That's a pretty dour plot hook, and yet, the game could fool you into thinking it's Captain Planet or something similarly colorful and cheery. There's a sense of welcoming in this game, a hopeful vibe to the characters and the world and even the color palette that makes you feel like you're SUPPOSED to be here, and that everything will end up okay in the end, even when you're doubting that's true. Everything from the music to the scenery to the squirrel woman is just so damn beautiful, man, and the game could receive a solid recommendation on these alone. Combat is fun and action-y, with enough depth to make high difficulty settings feel rewarding and meaningful as long as you don't overlevel early. The story is... well... Visions reaches for some narrative and emotional heights that it doesn't achieve 100% of the time, but the effort is there and the parts that do land, LAND. The game left me feeling oddly melancholic at the end, and I found myself wishing for more time to spend with this flawed story and wonderful cast. It's a shame that the studio contracted to make it closed a week after release, so this is all we get from this iteration of Mana. Quick performance notes, the game DOES have longer than typical load times on the PS5 and did crash a few times, mostly shortly after an area transition. This isn't a Triple-A, first-party, infinity budget title so I'm cutting it some slack here, but it's also 2024 and a PS5 so I do generally expect a bit more. Overall, I'm giving Visions of Mana a VERY respectable 9/10. This is a game you should play and see if you can love past its flaws, like I do.