Trials of Mana

 PC
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. PCMag
    May 15, 2020
    80
    A nostalgic blast from the past, Trials of Mana could easily become the poster child for remakes done right. It has some failings, particularly the removed multiplayer and odd voice work, but it's an engaging action-RPG that's one of the best on PC.
  2. IGN Japan
    May 7, 2020
    80
    While certain parts of Trials of Mana definitely feel retro, as a whole Square Enix has crafted an extremely well renovated experience. What makes this a great remake is that both gameplay and visual revisions faithfully represent the original experience.
  3. Ragequit.gr
    May 4, 2020
    80
    Trials of Mana is a qualitative remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, cleverly adapted to the modern era, but at the same time captive to the original game in elements such as the mediocre narration and the minor story character development.
  5. PC Invasion
    Apr 29, 2020
    80
    Trials of Mana is an entertaining game with grating, simple characters and a subpar story, but the fast action and colorful exploration make up for those issues.
  6. IGN
    Apr 22, 2020
    80
    Trials of Mana is absolutely charming and does an excellent job keeping what works from the original while upgrading its aesthetics to the modern era. The combat system works well in its new 3D trappings, with a tough but satisfying learning curve. The transition to modern tech has introduced some camera problems, though, and I wish Square Enix had taken this opportunity to flesh out the world with interesting sidequests and to trim out some of the more tedious dialogue. Even so, exploring, battling, and waging war with bosses all remain really fun, and its JRPG tropes come off as charming throwbacks rather than eye-rolling cliches.
  7. Windows Central
    Apr 29, 2020
    70
    Trials of Mana gives modern features to a lesser-known classic. Combat tends to be overly simple, and the story is really basic, but it's still a fun, colorful adventure for JRPG fans to experience.
  8. Jeuxvideo.com
    Apr 22, 2020
    70
    Quotation forthcoming.

Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Best PC Game of 2020

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 64
  3. Negative: 8 out of 64
  1. Juniialex
    Apr 25, 2020
    10
    It's a most play game, it's entertaining and has amazing design and beautiful music along with lots of hours of replay
  2. Churn
    Apr 27, 2020
    3
    I'm going to write this as my first and maybe last review here but from the perspective of a PC gamer in the year 2020 with no nostalgicI'm going to write this as my first and maybe last review here but from the perspective of a PC gamer in the year 2020 with no nostalgic feelings for the old games.

    I find it a shame how much money is being asked for, for the level of technical expertise displayed.
    Except for the character models, the environment and texture work looks like it was still designed between 2006-2010 forgotten and then used for the 2020 release.
    The interior assets are reused dozens of times across locations, not even the pavement in the city receives any bump mapping, they are plain flat, like in games from the first half of the 2000s.

    The moveset of the characters is fairly limited and barely extends beyond button mashing melee/charged attacks/distance/special moves but the enemies are slow. Indeed for most of the characters I can't right away tell if I'm still normally walking at a brisk pace or running already which makes you spend extra time on the small maps, that I don't want to give the game in 2020.
    The characters are paper thin and never evoked any intrigue.

    All in all, only buy if you have warm fuzzy feelings for 90s Nostalgia, love and regularly playing old Sprite RPGs or always wanted to play an Mana game. Otherwise keep your hands off that game.
    As a PC title I would place it between 20-25 bucks, new.    … Full Review »
  3. skohl
    Apr 27, 2020
    8
    This is a faithful remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, the SNES sequel to Secret of Mana that was never released outside of Japan. Everything goodThis is a faithful remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, the SNES sequel to Secret of Mana that was never released outside of Japan. Everything good about that game is here, they didn't mess anything up, while also expanding the late-game content a little bit. It's impressive how successfully they adapted the visual style of the 2D game to 3D, which is the best reason for a remake to exist IMO, and which they could have easily messed up like they did with the Secret of Mana remake from a couple years back.

    So let me tell you about this game. It's extremely simple, easy and linear. You might expect it to be boring, so why is it so fun? Why have you heard people recommend the original?
    Because of the class system. Upon beginning this game you choose three party members from a choice of six, and each party member gets to change classes twice during the game. The options for forming a party and choosing classes for each of them is extremely engaging, and makes this comfy little game that should be boring into something infinitely replayable. It's one of the most replayable JRPGs ever.

    The bad:
    -some of the English voice acting is repulsive, thankfully it's also funny and charming most of the time
    -no co-op play
    -party AI is dumb, and could be more customizable than it is
    -bosses are too easy later on, they need more HP or something
    -the price is a little steep
    -options to disable the minimap, making exploration more rewarding, but no option to disable the objective marker (in the original, you could actually get lost despite the game's linearity)

    The characters in this game look nice. It's fun and relaxing to run around the comfy environments, fighting monsters and enjoying the music.    … Full Review »
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