It's been a really long time since the Mana series has received a new entry. It's been almost 20 years since the release of the last mainline game, the rather lamentable Dawn of Mana. Since then, there've been remakes and collections and the occasional mobile game, but the franchise has been relatively dormant. Visions of Mana represents the first brand-new entry in the franchise in quite some time. We got some hands-on time with a preview build, and thankfully, the title shows a lot of potential in being the best Mana game yet.

Visions of Mana follows a young duo named Val and Hinna. The duo is on an adventure to find the sacred Mana Tree, and along the way, they must collect various elemental alms to show their worthiness. They'll be accompanied on their journey by a variety of different characters, two of whom appeared in the preview build. The catman, Morley, is the survivor of a tragic incident and seems upright and honest, while the half-dragon southern belle Careena seems to trend toward the comical. The preview build begins with the foursome having just collected one of the alms and setting off on an adventure.

Mana has always been an action-RPG franchise, and Visions is no different. Combat starts when you attack or are attacked by an enemy as you explore the world. You have a party of three members who you can swap between at will, with the other two fighting alongside you as AI companions. Attacks boil down to standard Square attacks and special Triangle attacks that you can mesh together in a variety of ways. Careena can summon a small dragon who attacks alongside her with Triangle attacks, but the specific details of how it works change depending on her class. Magic spells are equipped to a "ring" that you can bring up to pause the game while you select who you want to use them on, but you can also set shortcuts to instantly cast spells.

Probably the coolest feature in Visions of Mana so far is the class system. Mana games have had class systems before, but this one has the potential to be the deepest. As the game progresses, you unlock elemental vessels. They can be used in combat for special effects, such as the time-controlling moon vessel that allows you to temporarily freeze enemies in place. In addition to that, anyone who is equipped with one of the vessels undergoes a class change that alters their looks, abilities and weapons. Some classes may share weapons, but even if they do, they use them differently.

Each vessel can be equipped to one character at a time. For example, Val defaults to being a guard, a standard sword-using class. If you give him the wind vessel, he'll transform into a greatsword-wielding rune knight who exchanges speed for power. On the other hand, the moon vessel transforms him into a shield- and lance-wielding aegis class. Each character also has their own set of classes. Morley is a katana-wielding ranger by default, but the wind vessel makes him a buff-enhanced nomad who wields three swords at once. (Of course, the third sword is held in his tail.) The moon vessel makes him a nightblade who focuses heavily on dealing critical hits and rapid attacks, and also uses the "triblade" weapon type. These classes will also level up using a skill tree that gradually unlocks new abilities that can be carried over to other classes.

The classes offer a lot of potential room to build your characters. Even in the preview build, where only two elements were available, it was easy to see potential builds. The aegis class can buff its own shield to enhance its attacks, but it can also use a powerful shout attack to draw aggro from enemies, so the squishier fighters are at less risk. The preview build only gave us a little room to play around with these builds, but with an entirely unique set of skills and abilities available to each character, it is easy to see how this could quickly become complex and in-depth.

The preview build also gave us some time to explore the open world. The first area we explored was an icy and mostly linear dungeon, while the second was a large grassy field. The dungeon was mostly straightforward but did have a twist in the form of spots where you can use an elemental vessel to slow down a raging river, enabling you to hop across ice platforms. It's hard to judge how the dungeons will be, since the dialogue made it clear that this was an early game area. The grass field was much larger and contained side-quests, hidden areas that I lacked the ability to explore at the time, and even a mount system where you can ride adorable dog-foxes.

Visions of Mana made a strong impression. Despite being from an early part in the game, the preview build clearly shows a lot of potential, and the combat system feels like it will grow more in-depth as the game progresses. There's a genuine sense of exploration and adventure that makes the title feel right at home in the Mana franchise. Thankfully, we won't have to wait much longer to see if the rest of the game lives up to the preview build. Visions of Mana is coming to PC, PlayStation4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on Aug. 29, 2024.