We first learned about Echoes of Mana back in June 2021, and the game finally entered pre-registration in March last year, signaling that Square Enix was on its way to global release. While the first Apple App Store listing announced a release date on April 30, Square confirmed at the end of last week the game would be launched on the 27th.
Now that Echoes of Mana is available, you might be wondering how the game plays out. That’s exactly why I went hands-on with the title during its pre-release. Keep in mind that I played a version that was still under development, but after some testing today, it’s clear that little has changed since the pre-release. More or less, Echoes of Mana is a typical free gacha game from Square Enix that offers multiple currencies, star-based character traits, an annoying forced tutorial, not to mention in-app purchases that range up to $ 79.99 per game. .
Of course, if you’re a big Mana series fan, you might be able to get a kick out of the original story. You get to explore familiar locations that span many previous Mana games, for a great deal of nostalgia. As you could imagine, it’s time to save the Mana Tree again, and the Mana Sword is the key to saving the day, but you’ll have to find it first, and this is where your adventure begins.
Still, Echoes of Mana does not feel very optimized, with long transitions between screens, plus all the expected gacha annoyances are here, like violent revenue generation and pay-to-win mechanics (yes, you can continually buy new characters until you build a highly rated team). But if you want to optimize your moves, we have a handy Echoes of Mana guide that can help you avoid some of the more violent gacha genes.
All in all, today’s release for Echoes of Mana does not hold many surprises. The Gacha gameplay offers the same collection aspects that we have all seen a thousand times, complete with a forced tutorial, excessive revenue generation and poor performance throughout with steep transitions between screens. When you see that the game’s release is part of a 30-year anniversary celebration for the Mana series, you would think that Square would be a little more interested in offering a polished release, but as we all know, polishing and free- two-play rarely go hand in hand.
Then again, if you are interested in checking out the new story, the game is free, so there is no harm in taking a look. So if you would like to grab a copy of Echoes of Mana to decide, you can grab the installation from the Play Store widget below.
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