The Visions Of Mana Demo Is Out

We’re officially one month away from the release of the first fully original Mana game in over a decade: Visions of Mana! And what a pretty vision it is. But you don’t have to wait to see that beauty. A demo for the game was just released a few hours ago….and it’s available for every system it’s on! (Alas, that doesn’t include Switch.)

Though a typical party in a Mana title is a three person crew, you will have five party members to choose from at any given time: Soul Guard Val (voiced by Stephen Fu), Oracle of Wind Careena (voiced by Rachel Rial), Radiant Sword Morley, (voiced by Kaiji Tang), Queen of the Deep Palamena (voiced by Vanessa Lemonides) and Woodland Custodian Julei (voiced by Amber Aviles). Val, Careena, and Morley are playable in the demo. The monsters you meet will bear elemental strengths and weaknesses, and by switching to the fighter with the opposing elemental type, you can gain an advantage.

It’s become a hot new trend for demos to count toward your progress in the retail game. Does the Visions of Mana demo do this? Uhh…not exactly. Square chose to place the demo’s content in the middle of Chapter 1, after the game begins and after you’ve met everyone. While this gets you to the action more quickly, it means your progress won’t count because you didn’t play those earlier parts of the game. But you do get something in the final game for completing the demo: Gladius, Falx, and Horn Lance, three bonus weapons for Val. It’ll have to do.

The Visions of Mana demo begins in snowy Rime Falls and takes you through Fallow Steppe and Rhata Harbor before ending with a boss battle against a Kraken. We’ve played a bit of it already and it’s great! Find out yourself by grabbing it for your system of choice. The full game will be released August 29 for Playstation 5, Playstation 4 (digital only), XBox Series X and PC.