More of Visions of Mana has been shown off, including its new release window, a large cute dog companion, action combat, and more.
During today’s Xbox Developer Direct, Square Enix brought Visions of Mana along for a surprise appearance as Mana series producer Masaru Oyamada led the presentation by going through several features of the game before announcing the release window of Summer 2024.
During the presentation, Oyamada gave a brief look at the franchise’s history and noted that Visions of Mana will incorporate everything the developers had learned from 30 years of developing the Mana series and “create a game brimming with everything that makes the series unique.”
Oyamada also emphasized the word “action” when representing the game’s combat system, now featuring aerial combat and the series staple Elemental system will mark its return.
Series creator Koichi Ishii also made an appearance during the presentation and went through the iconic creatures from the franchise as well as detailing the pikuls, a new adorable dog as companion mount being introduced in Visions of Mana.
Our new companion, pikuls, was designed based on a mix of a Yorkshire Terrier and a pangolin while having elements inspired by the Egyptian deity Anubis.
The game’s soundtrack was also highlighted in the presentation and will feature an adaptive music system that seamlessly transitions the tracks as players enter or exit combat.
Furthermore, the full soundtrack list is said to feature over 100 songs by composers who had worked on previous Mana games, including Hiroki Kikuta, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Ryo Yamazaki.
Visions of Mana was first revealed at The Game Awards 2023 and is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.