Secret of Mana

 PC
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 41
  3. Negative: 8 out of 41

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  1. Adreankael
    Apr 12, 2018
    5
    Pros: It's Secret of Mana with a fresh coat of paint.
    Cons: It's Secret of Mana with a fresh coat of paint and nothing else.
    Some things need more then a fresh coat of paint yet that's all this game got. The original game was great, for both the platform it was on and the time it was released, but they could have done so much to improve this. Suggested improvements would be increase    Pros: It's Secret of Mana with a fresh coat of paint.
    Cons: It's Secret of Mana with a fresh coat of paint and nothing else.

    Some things need more then a fresh coat of paint yet that's all this game got. The original game was great, for both the platform it was on and the time it was released, but they could have done so much to improve this. Suggested improvements would be increase the area rendered to eliminate alot of the loading screens, remove the invincibility monsters get after knocking them to the ground.

    What's completely baffling is how they actually made the game worse by making the menu ring open in the center of the screen instead of over the character's head, making it all the more difficult to use. The Voice acting is sub par at best and the character's mouths do not move when they're talking. This is unsettling and given that their mouths can and do move for expressions, it's all the more confusing they didn't include this feature.

    All in all it is secret of mana but this game's low rating is a case of not enough tough love. Yes, the original was awesome and we loved it but that doesn't mean there was no room for improvement. Keeping a game this close to the original and just slapping a new coat of paint on it was not the best way to go here.    … Expand
  2. TLuizSilva
    Feb 15, 2018
    9
    The original wording was a comment to a post querying if this game is as awful as (some) reviews say it is.

    The original game is not a "10" score to me, but my review is a "9" regarding the remake, as per the comments below. No, it isn't (as awful as the reviews say so). As a matter of fact, I have the impression that they tried to recreate the same experience from the original game    The original wording was a comment to a post querying if this game is as awful as (some) reviews say it is.

    The original game is not a "10" score to me, but my review is a "9" regarding the remake, as per the comments below.

    No, it isn't (as awful as the reviews say so). As a matter of fact, I have the impression that they tried to recreate the same experience from the original game but with updated graphics and some improvements. Indeed, it could have some minor controller/key maping/gameplay improvements (i.e. an autocollect function), however, the original experience is kept. Nonetheless, such improvements may come through patches (or modding).

    These possible improvement do not, AT ALL, spoil the experience for players of the original game. Maybe newcomers will find it a little bit old school, but I suppose that, if newcomers are attracted to this old school approach, they should have the same approach as when watching old movies. While watching the original Star Wars saga, I do not wonder that the cinematical/storytelling approach is not the same as today - if you choose this game for such purpose, obviousy you are in the wrong place.

    For everybody who have played the original and liked that game, please, try this one. It is really an effort from a producer that constantly tries to keep the fanbase wishes at bay - easter eggs in recent Final Fantasy games are proof of this, the Final Fantasy VII remake confirms this logic and they are constantly reminding the fanbase of aniversaries of such games, etcetera.

    In this game they tried hardly not to mess with the original experience, instead of trying to improve what could "be improved" without doing harm to the purists. I put the sentence "be improved" in quotes because everybody will have something to comment or suggest in any game, really - even the clothes or hair of characters. Proof of this fidelity is the soundtrack - you can choose which version you prefer. The voiceover is not that great, but people are expecting now a Pixar movie voiceover from any game - Mass Effect Andromed was proof of this. Ultimately, you could always turn the voiceover off without impact to the game at all, as subtitles cover the entirety of the dialogues.

    One question that I saw over and over the web is about the price. Despite having a game/script to base your graphics upon, don't think that the game was not created from the ground. The original game graphics probably was used as an inspiration and "sketch" for the newer graphics - please check with an architect the amount of work behind making a 3D example of any project, it's a several days challenge for EACH room.

    Really, I'm from Brazil. Square Enix doesn't even exist here, I'm a nostalgic lawyer that does not have any benefit from this review. I really strive to find games that are enjoyable as they were in the past. There are some really good new RPGs coming every year (The Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Dragon's Age, Tides of Numenera, Pillars of Torment, Diablo's - only some of the games that I found time to play). However, the reviews that I've read are totally out of place with this game. I've played this game from coast to coast, with all secrets, over 30 times. This new version may not have bring the game to new game playing standards, but, honestly, that is not why I chose to play it. Haters will hate, professional critics are being paid to have an opinion (an to have egos) that may say this is not a good game, but I think that, for the proposed time from its announcement to its launch, it has fully kept its promise to its fans. Really hoping that they repeat the feat for SNES Final Fantasies (VI first, please), Chrono Trigger (of course), Secret of Evermore (if you need priorities, please do all of the others first, kindly).    … Expand
  3. yosa1
    Feb 15, 2018
    8
    This is an older Super Nintendo game redone, its an RPG involving a story around mana dieing, you take up the role of hero and kick there badmouthing asses, its a linear game, but will offer some more open choices later on. Im a huge lover of older RPG tittles including this one, in a mere 2 hours of playing this PC version I'm already sold that this is an improvement, and let me explainThis is an older Super Nintendo game redone, its an RPG involving a story around mana dieing, you take up the role of hero and kick there badmouthing asses, its a linear game, but will offer some more open choices later on. Im a huge lover of older RPG tittles including this one, in a mere 2 hours of playing this PC version I'm already sold that this is an improvement, and let me explain why.

    Graphics- hands down they are better, I hate calling attention to graphics, because they do not make a game; between 32bit and full PC type support I don't mind indulging in better visuals, there are a lot of objects that are clearer as well.

    Sound- the music is better and I did sample a comparison, the voice acting is a nice addition, but its mediocre, the rest of in game sounds seems well done and consistent.

    Game play- is similar in most ways to the original, I love that your character is more directional mobile, it does make combat easier for map spawns, but hell its an RPG, combat should get easier the more you battle,

    Controls - you will definitely have to fiddle around with the settings to find something you like, the game does support all of keyboard, most mouse type function and many joystick functions.

    Certainly look into a video of the game play style before deciding its an RPG must have, this reiteration is well worth playing to any fans of the series, and certainly worth a look to anyone not familiar with the game.    … Expand
  4. Mstango
    Feb 19, 2018
    10
    Pros
    -Auto Save!
    -Gameplay intact (mostly a good thing) -Adorable Graphics are in Keeping with the original art style -Updated version of the soundtrack is great -The New Minimap is a nice refence, while also being useful -Controls Work Fluidly -Story is more flushed out -Different Weapons actually look different -The Dificulty has been rebalenced nicely -Several fixes having to    Pros
    -Auto Save!
    -Gameplay intact (mostly a good thing)
    -Adorable Graphics are in Keeping with the original art style
    -Updated version of the soundtrack is great
    -The New Minimap is a nice refence, while also being useful
    -Controls Work Fluidly
    -Story is more flushed out
    -Different Weapons actually look different
    -The Dificulty has been rebalenced nicely
    -Several fixes having to do with fake depth and range

    Cons
    -Minor Glitches and lag that was not in the original
    -Different Armors still don’t affect the look of the characters
    -They made the save screen kind of boring

    Cons (that was an issue with the original too)
    -Combat is Artificially Slow
    -The #&^% Balloon Spell

    Some part of me wants to say they didn’t change enough, but on the whole that’s probably a good sign. I highly recommend this game in any form.    … Expand
  5. techtronics
    Feb 17, 2018
    10
    Secret of Mana is an amazing take on the old school rpg genre that molded the games we play today, but what makes it stand out in that fashion is that it also, for the most part, play as those games did as well. The updated graphics and amazing soundtrack was just what was needed to revive the dying format. This game also provides an entry to the intense rpg genre that frightens mostSecret of Mana is an amazing take on the old school rpg genre that molded the games we play today, but what makes it stand out in that fashion is that it also, for the most part, play as those games did as well. The updated graphics and amazing soundtrack was just what was needed to revive the dying format. This game also provides an entry to the intense rpg genre that frightens most players away from the long playtime required to finish it. Still at being roughly 40 hours long, this game provides a plethora of story. While this game doesn't serve much in the form of cut scenes, the narrative will keep you going for the hours that are up ahead, so keep in mind that a love for reading makes a love for this style of game.… Expand
  6. Burkley
    Feb 19, 2018
    10
    Secret of mana remake is just a nice visual update with the core gameplay still in tact. Love it!
  7. kuehnau
    Feb 17, 2018
    7
    Secret of Mana (2018) is a remake of a SNES classic from the 90's era of video game. It boasts updated graphics, new audio and even voice acting.

    For everything the remake of Secret of Mana is, there is a lot it isn't as well. While the game's graphics may have been updated to match a more modern look, the game still largely relies on outdated mechanics from a game that was released 25    Secret of Mana (2018) is a remake of a SNES classic from the 90's era of video game. It boasts updated graphics, new audio and even voice acting.

    For everything the remake of Secret of Mana is, there is a lot it isn't as well. While the game's graphics may have been updated to match a more modern look, the game still largely relies on outdated mechanics from a game that was released 25 years ago.

    The combat is clunky as ever. There will be spells and attacks that are completely unavoidable, giving some enemies an unfair advantage. When it comes to boss fights, the area you are given to move around is often times far too small, making it a huge pain in the arse.

    The player AI for your companions is just as terrible as they were when the game first launched. Nine out of ten times they are completely worthless and not worth reviving. As the game progresses, they'll unlock useful spells that can help in combat, but considering how clunky the companion mechanics are, it's almost worthless.

    The game itself has issues on the development side. I have a fairly powerful rig I built just this year to play most modern releases on ultra settings, I spent a pretty dime on the whole thing. Given the specs of my system and the quality of the game remake, you'd think it'd run perfectly, but that is far from the truth. From animations freezing up, to frame rates all over the place, the game lacks a lot of polish you'd expect from a game costing $40.00USD.

    It's not a bad game and I am enjoying it, but I really feel like they should have worked on updating some of the poor mechanics the original game had, worked on better companion AI and streamlined some of the otherwise cumbersome aspects of the game. And there's no excuse for the lack of polish on the development side as far as game performance goes.    … Expand
  8. DreamCore
    Jun 12, 2019
    0
    One of the worst games I've ever played. People saying this game is one of the best games of it's kind have no idea what they're talking about.

    The Bad: 1) Story is laughably bad. 2) Menu system is garbage and unusable 3) Friendly AI is the worst I've ever seen, they just keep dying 4) Only have enough mana for about 4 spells and the MP recovery items cost an insane amount of    One of the worst games I've ever played. People saying this game is one of the best games of it's kind have no idea what they're talking about.

    The Bad:

    1) Story is laughably bad.
    2) Menu system is garbage and unusable
    3) Friendly AI is the worst I've ever seen, they just keep dying
    4) Only have enough mana for about 4 spells and the MP recovery items cost an insane amount of money. Also spells needs to be leveled up. Good luck with that when you can only cast 4 before having to return to an in to rest.
    4) Path fidning is completely broken and both friendly and enemy AI try to run through walls and objects.
    5) Shops have no explanations of what items do and gear doesn't show any stats so you have no idea what you're buying.
    6) Countless of bugs like characters getting stuck in a sliding animation making you unable to attack, playtime when saving getting messed up showing you have played over 2000 hours, not being able to cast spells with the girl selected but it works with Randii selected even though he's not supposed to be able to cast spells.
    7) Weapon leveling system is pure garbage and you miss 90% of your attacks because your weapons wont level up.
    8) Many of the music tuns are annoying 5 second looping songs that makes your ears bleed (even original soundtrack).

    Anyone saying this is good is doing it because of pure nostalgia. With modern standards this is pure garbage. Don't waste your time on this,    … Expand
  9. night4
    Jan 26, 2019
    5
    I'm extremely conflicted by it, but here are some pros and cons:

    Pros: -When you're not looking at a cutscene, the graphics are actually pretty nice. Many enemies (like say, demon heads) look really badass. The elemental spirits look great too. -You can hotkey 2 spells/weapons/items to the L and R buttons. Extremely useful to me for Magic Absorb and spamming on boss fights.    I'm extremely conflicted by it, but here are some pros and cons:

    Pros:

    -When you're not looking at a cutscene, the graphics are actually pretty nice. Many enemies (like say, demon heads) look really badass. The elemental spirits look great too.

    -You can hotkey 2 spells/weapons/items to the L and R buttons. Extremely useful to me for Magic Absorb and spamming on boss fights.

    -Autosave!

    -You get all your MP back when leveling up. This is a freaking game changer. You can now blow all your spells in a dungeon, level up in the dungeon, then go fight the boss. No more hoarding every last MP for the boss.

    -The remastered music is less obnoxious (Dwarf Village anyone?) but can be changed to the original if you prefer.

    -The Javelin is better now, every attack is a line AoE attack.

    -Attacking with the Glove can pick up enemies and slam them behind you (without stunning, though, so it can actually be bad as it moves the enemy closer to your casters. In fact, I think this is the only physical attack in the game that doesn't stun, very odd).

    -You can now change direction while running, but the charge meter very slowly drains.

    -You can now attack in any direction, not just 8 directions. This can be bad at first, as you may miss more until you get used to it.

    -On Flammie, the game tells you what you're hovering over, like "Potos Village Cannon Travel" or whatever. Pretty nice feature.

    -Boss death animation is much better.

    Cons:

    -The price is inexcusably high. I'd say $15-20 would be more fair.

    -The menu doesn't remember what you last selected. This is painful when repeatedly casting a spell you don't want to hotkey.

    -Every enemy always takes at several seconds for a physical hit to register and die. Multiple hits means you're waiting a long time. At least in the original, enemies had a chance of just dying instantly without lying on the ground for a while.

    -Combat feels less satisfying because no enemy will ever just blow up instantly, even if you crit the hell out of them.

    -Sometimes, enemies just can't be hit or die. No, they don't have Lucid Barrier up, this can happen with level 1's.

    -Crashes sometimes (for me, once every few hours).

    -Default keybindings are really bad. I used a gamepad which apparently, you can't change any binding for. It worked well for me though.

    -Very difficult to exit the game. You have to go into "Settings". And you can't exit from the title screen. WTF?

    -AI is horrible. It won't ever attack at all unless the character you're controlling does. There is no grid anymore.

    -Pathing is improved in certain areas, made worse in others.

    -English voice acting is horrible. They should have just scrapped it and focused resources elsewhere.

    -You can't "stack" certain spells anymore, like Dark Force. -Weird, lengthy "talk" scenes between the 3 main characters added every time you sleep at an Inn. -Cutscenes are ugly, as none of the characters look good up close. -No cannon travel animation! You can still see the world on Flammie, so why not here too? To sum up, you may want to just emulate it. You might be really mad if you paid full price for it. Waiting several seconds for every single enemy to die is probably a deal breaker to many people... that's my single greatest complaint.    … Expand
  10. Derpmeowslurp
    Feb 19, 2018
    0
    There is simply no excuse for releasing this for money. People putting 10's or 9's in the review are nostalgia critics, nothing else. They desperately do not want this game to be bad or to fail, they are ok with this steamy pile of refuse as long as they can pretend people like it.

    The facts: 1. Graphics are so bad it is shameful. I am ashamed. This is unacceptable for any    There is simply no excuse for releasing this for money. People putting 10's or 9's in the review are nostalgia critics, nothing else. They desperately do not want this game to be bad or to fail, they are ok with this steamy pile of refuse as long as they can pretend people like it.

    The facts:
    1. Graphics are so bad it is shameful. I am ashamed. This is unacceptable for any developer to put such god awful meshes and textures in their game. This is amateur hour. It looks like this remake had been shelved for 15 years and they wheeled it out to make some quick cash. This is actually a step back, Secret of Mana had decent art for its time, not the greatest, not the worst, but more than acceptable. This is 15 years out of date, and yet the price does not reflect this.

    2. Engine and animations are bad. Lighting looks like something I would have used in Max R2. No scratch that, it looks worse. The constant memory spikes, slight freeze-ups, cell transitions, cpu usage is much higher than should be expected for this program. all things point to sloppy coding. And the animations, wow. they didn't even try. I would say 'abysmal effort' but I'm not sure how much 'effort' was actually put into this.

    3. Gameplay is eerily similar. And not in a good way. It doesn't seem like they spent any time thinking about this at all. they just carbon copied everything from the snes version and called it good. That includes the bizarre quirks like invincible enemies, free hits for enemies, god awful a.i. (really bad, beyond bad), etc, etc, etc.

    4. Audio. What can be said. It must be experienced in all of its ear shredding glory. Baffling that they chose to "upgrade" that aspect.

    you know what, i'm done here. Such a disappointment. IMO they did not capture the aesthetics of the original, it looks lazy, it feels like they just didn't care. It makes me wonder why this even exists when you can easily find an emulator and play the original. This is a failure for anyone except those who really enjoy the early 2000's video game art aesthetic or phone games.    … Expand
  11. jcolin
    Apr 26, 2018
    3
    Was this really the best they could do? All the glaring defects of the original come back with a vengeance. You'd think they could keep the core experience in tact but update it to get rid of some of the flaws. 2 player mode is almost unplayable with it's super zoomed in screen. You just get constantly hit by enemies off screen, which is so much fun. In 3d it's a tad harder to aim rangeWas this really the best they could do? All the glaring defects of the original come back with a vengeance. You'd think they could keep the core experience in tact but update it to get rid of some of the flaws. 2 player mode is almost unplayable with it's super zoomed in screen. You just get constantly hit by enemies off screen, which is so much fun. In 3d it's a tad harder to aim range weapons too. The graphics are alright, but for some awful reason they didn't animate the mouths of people when they speak. Really, if I had wanted to play this game, I'd play it on an emulator. The new graphics really don't matter to me.… Expand
  12. philzlz
    Dec 19, 2018
    5
    A 3D remaster of the 1993 released SNES action role playing game. Follows the story of Randi who finds the ancient Mana sword and has to save the world from the Empire, trying to reconstruct a flying warship called the Mana fortress.

    Unfortunately the transition to a modern look does not work and Seiken Densetsu 2 loses a lot of charm by introducing an orchestral soundtrack and a new    A 3D remaster of the 1993 released SNES action role playing game. Follows the story of Randi who finds the ancient Mana sword and has to save the world from the Empire, trying to reconstruct a flying warship called the Mana fortress.

    Unfortunately the transition to a modern look does not work and Seiken Densetsu 2 loses a lot of charm by introducing an orchestral soundtrack and a new graphics engine.

    Story and combat mechanics that still allow insta-spamming magic spells to defeat bosses do not hold up 25 years later. A full remake would have been the better idea.    … Expand
  13. Sepherim
    Mar 8, 2020
    3
    Secret of Mana es uno de los juegos que más felices me han hecho en mi vida, y probablemente el que más veces me he acabado. Por eso cuando supe que habían hecho un remake me alegré enormemente ante la oportunidad de regresar a este juego... y no debí hacerlo, hay cosas que deben quedarse en el recuerdo. La historia no tiene demasiado sentido, pero en general nunca la tuvo, así que por ahíSecret of Mana es uno de los juegos que más felices me han hecho en mi vida, y probablemente el que más veces me he acabado. Por eso cuando supe que habían hecho un remake me alegré enormemente ante la oportunidad de regresar a este juego... y no debí hacerlo, hay cosas que deben quedarse en el recuerdo. La historia no tiene demasiado sentido, pero en general nunca la tuvo, así que por ahí no hay demasiada crítica. Pero el problema es que quitando eso, el juego se siente viejo y desfasado. Han cambiado algunas cosas menores como algunos bosses, pero las mecánicas centrales del juego no, de modo que se siente pesado, incómodo y poco actual. El que se mantuvieran los anillos de selección tiene sentido por tradición, pero no ayuda a un juego donde además los tiempos van demasiado lentos (hay veces que, como no puedes lanzar magia mientras el personaje está animándose por un ataque, ocurre que entre que termina esa animación y hace toda la animación del hechizo que quieres, el resultado del mismo ya da igual). Esto se une a una inteligencia artificial, especialmente en los compañeros, que es absolutamente nefasta, peor yo creo que la que había en el original, y sino desde luego muy por debajo de lo que sería una IA mínimamente eficiente en estos tiempos (se quedan atras, se pierden, se olvidan de atacar...).

    A esto hay que añadir que la mejora gráfica no es tal. Cierto, ahora es un 3D, pero es un 3D muy pobre, con muy poca calidad en las texturas y unos personajes bajos en polígonos y calidad; y que ni siquiera han actualizado para que cambien de ropa segun las armaduras que les compres. El sonido si ha mejorado, especialmente porque ahora las voces están dobladas y han metido conversaciones de taberna, pero tampoco es que sea una maravilla. Y además, cosas básicas como la posibilidad de modificar la resolución del juego no existen si estamos en pantalla completa. Y que tiene una buena cantidad de bugs que hacen cosas como "pasar por pasajes estrechos" una cuestión de suerte.

    El resultado de todo ello es que, sin duda, si alguien quiere jugar al Secret of Mana, que se baje la versión original y ni se acerque a este remake fallido.    … Expand
  14. LastResource
    Jan 14, 2023
    10
    worth it and glad to play this game again. so much memories and nostalgia within this spin off game in the series.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 6
  3. Negative: 2 out of 6
  1. CD-Action
    Jun 5, 2018
    40
    The remake not only highlights all flaws of the original, making me wonder why I loved the 1993’s Secret of Mana in the first place, but also introduces some new problems. [05/2018, p.68]
  2. 4P.de
    Feb 23, 2018
    57
    Sorry, but no! The re-imagination of one of the most beloved JRPGs is mediocre in almost every aspect. Bugs, crashes and on top of that the visual renovation is lackluster. If you really wanna play Secret of Mana, you should think about investing in the Nintendo Classic Mini SNES.
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  3. The Overpowered Noobs
    Feb 22, 2018
    60
    Secret of Mana (2018) makes for a nice jog down memory lane, even if there were some long-forgotten design flaws that years of nostalgic memories had blocked out over time. If you remember enjoying the SNES game, Secret of Mana holds onto many of what you liked about it back then. But if you’re looking for a polished, modernized version of the game, then you will be disappointed. For better or worse, not much has changed in Secret of Mana since its initial release in 1994.
    Read full review
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