Visions of Mana, the new entry in the Mana franchise, made its first appearance at The Game Awards last year with a short trailer. Since then, many have begun speculating Visions of Mana release date, and today, to everyone’s surprise, Square Enix made an unexpected appearance during the Xbox Developer Direct and announced that Visions of Mana release date on Xbox would be in the summer.
Initially, the main focus of the Xbox Developer Direct event would be on Microsoft’s upcoming Indiana Jones game, Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed and Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. However, with the unexpected appearance of Square Enix, the limelight fell on Visions of Mana release date and gameplay.
Square Enix Stole the Show With Visions of Mana Release Date and Behind-The-Scenes Announcement
As mentioned earlier, in its surprise appearance, Square Enix revealed new details about the upcoming Visions of Mana release date, confirming a summer 2024 release and bringing the Mana series to Xbox for the first time in the franchise’s 30-year history. Moreover, the video game publisher revealed a 6-minute behind-the-scenes video featuring Mana Series Producer Masaru Oyamada and Mana Series creator Koichi Ishii, teasing what people can expect from the game.
In the video, Masaru Oyamada talks about the action role-playing combat and exploration of the game, which includes new additions to the air combat system that will take players to new heights, allowing for magical attacks in the air and physical attacks with weapons. Furthermore, the game will maintain its staple Elementals, which are unique items that support the player’s battles, and each weapon has different combat effects depending on its attributes, allowing for speedy and flexible fighting styles.
In addition, he mentioned that the game will feature over 100 songs, many of which were composed by musical creators in previous games in the series. Lastly, to allow players to seamlessly transition from map exploration to combat, Visions of Mana will also feature a new adaptive music system, creating a sense of urgency through background music arrangements that change when players enter and leave combat.
New Travelling Mount Revealed by Koichi Ishii
As for series creator Koichi Ishii’s portion in the video, he touches upon the process and vision of creating the series’ iconic monsters. According to Ishii, the adorable new companion takes inspiration from animals and mythology and will help players traverse the game’s expansive ground map as they explore the vibrant world in Visions of Mana.
For example, he introduced his new self-designed “Pikul”, a dog-like creature, combining elements of a Yorkshire terrier, pangolin, and the mythological Anubis, which will serve as mounts as the player explores the world.
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Visions of Mana Release Date and Platforms
While Square Enix announced that Visions of Mana release date will be in the summer, sometime between June to September, they have not given us a precise date. However, they have unveiled that Visions of Mana will be heading to Xbox for the first time in 30 years and other gaming consoles such as PS5, PS4, Windows PC and Steam.
Thus, it gives us hope that Square Enix is keeping true to their promises of bringing more games to Xbox, especially with Windows Central’s Jez Corden’s confirmation during the Xbox Two Podcast. “I’ve got evidence tentatively that there are discussions about Final Fantasy VII Remake for Xbox.”
Additionally, with the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV Xbox Series X/S open beta on the horizon, with Square Enix planning to launch it on or around February 21, it is an exciting time for Xbox owners to be fans of the video gaming publishers. For more gaming, AI and tech-related articles, follow our Facebook and Instagram social media pages for daily updates on the trending news on the web.