I was a little bummed I had to turn down an invitation to a preview for , the first new mainline entry in over 15 years. I had never played a Mana title before, but it’s one of many JRPG series that my best friend has been badgering me to check out for years. I’ve been an avid adventure RPG fan since I first left the Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time as a child in the late 90s. My friend swore I’d fall in love immediately, an✱d I’d been looking forward to the chance.

Thankfully, the stars aligned at PAX East, where Square Enix was showing two-hour demos of the game to the media. It was in a large meeting room at a hotel near the convention center, and I began day two by being tossed into the open-world area of Fallow Steppe and told to go wild. And speaking of “Wild,” as I stepped into Steppe, I got an unmi🧸stakable hint of Breath of the Wild, the notion that I could go off, explore, and find the story along the way. It felt intuitive in a comforting yet ex♛citingly refreshing way for my first venture into a brand new series.

We had twenty minutes to mess around in the overw🌸orld and experiment with the three combat characters – protagonist Val, fiery Southern belle Careena, and sassy cat-boy with a deep-voiced purr Morely. In the build we played, Val was using a massive two-handed sword, Careena was relying mostly on magic and her spear, and Morely moved nimbly across the battlefield with a one-handed sword.

⛎You could switch between the three at will to make for some awesome combat combos. As someone who loves her lanky little rogues in⛄ adventure games like this (looking at you, Link…), I tried everyone on for size but immediately gravitated to Morely. After defeating a group of enemies, he openly mocks them while your group walks away from their KO’d bodies as they disappear. And if there’s anything I love more than a good rogue, it’s a bitchy boy.

It took me a few minutes to find any foes to fight, since I was so taken in by the world. Vivid blue skies stretched forever past mountains looming in the distance, wildflowers dotted the sides of the pathways we walked as I made my way toward our objective, and diving head-first into a body of water soothingly ꧟puts you out when you’ve been inflicted with a ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚburn. Hell, when we first encountered enemies, I didn’t even realize the little blue porcupine pals were indeed not my pals at all – everything I found in the world was somehow more charming than whatever came before it.

After learning the ropes in Fallow Steppe, we got a brief overview of the next area on our Mana itinerary, Mt. Gala. This area, we were told, was a few hours ahead of where we’d just played, which meant our characters had unlocked plenty of additional spells, items, and gear. We’d been told in Fallow Steppe not to open the menu to avoid spoilers, but before ascending Mt. Gala, we were instead encouraged to see what we could tweak in there.

Each character had learned a series of six unique spells based on the class and element they were currently using. Val still had his massive sword, but he could now make enemies explode using his mana. Careena seemed primarily built for healing, bu💜t she maintained a couple mid-level fire spells for offense, too. Finally, Morley had gained powers based on the moon, accented with healing and buffing spells for both himself and his party.

Together, we worked on climbing Mt. Gala, using the elements to help us ascend. Bridges were broken in numerous places, but with 🐻the use of Sylphid’s Gale, an elemental ability summoning massive gusts of wind, we made it through, stopping every now and again for tiny tussles with foes along the way.

As you fight thro꧒ugh waves of enemies, your group works together to charge a special attack, and the damage type and effect changes based on which teammate uses it. Because of this, I used the small groupings of lower-level foes along the broken path up Mt. Gala to charge up, because a giant ant with a Venus fly trap for a butt and massive scythes for arms was waiting for us at the top.

Here, I had to use everything I’d learned about my trio to lay the smack down on this belligerent bug monster. I realized quickly🅘 that I could target different areas of his body, occasionally paralyzing him with explosions from Val’s magic attacks and then using the time to lay into him with Moꩵrley’s nimbleness and speed.

I was hungry when we arrived for our demo, and Square Enix had a brunch spread for us to enjoy. But as my colleague finished his battle on Mt. Gala and stepped aside to interview Masaru Oyamada, longtime series producer, I kicked the mountain demo back up from the start a second time. I had finished the fight while playing as Careena, and after defeating the boss and saving the wind elemental, Sylphid, he told her he sensed something about her and gave her a new power. My rumbling stomach could wait – I wanted to see if I’d get a different power-up if I finished the fight using a different one of my fighters.

I didn’t, but PR assured me that we’d see plenty more classes, power-ups, spells, boss battles, collectibles, and so much more come launch. And while I’ve never played a Mana title before PAX, to say they converted a new fan there is an understatement. After spending half my life singing Mana’s praises, my best friend is already so excited to finally have me along for the ride with ♚him when Visions of Mﷺana launches in June.