Echoes of Mana

Echoes of Mana
Developer(s)	Square Enix, Wright Flyer Studios
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Series	Mana
Platform(s)	Android, iOS
Release	April 27, 2022
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Echoes of Mana was a 2022 action role-playing video game and gacha game developed by Square Enix and Wright Flyer Studios, and a spin-off of the Mana series. It was released for Android and iOS on April 27, 2022. Service was discontinued on May 15, 2023. The game was praised for its visuals and music, as well as its gameplay, but its gacha elements were criticized by some as exploitative.

Gameplay

The player began by creating their own custom player character, then added to their team with random characters drawn from previous Mana games. After creating a three-person party, the player used the touchscreen to drag around their party on the overworld. Combat was executed using an attack button on the lower-right of the screen that was surrounded by smaller buttons dedicated to special abilities.

Reception

Neal Ronaghan of Nintendo World Report wrote in a preview that the game's "stamina meter", while being one of his least-favorite mobile game mechanics, was not "burdensome" when engaging in normal, everyday play. He praised the game's combat as "way smoother" than he expected and "nicely simplified" from the main Mana games. He stated that he hoped the game helped more Mana games to come to Nintendo Switch. In another preview, Jenni Lada of Siliconera stated that Echoes felt reminiscent of other Mana games, with numerous familiar returning characters, as well as Memory Gems that displayed cutscenes showing lore about characters and granted them special skills. John Friscia of The Escapist called the game's aesthetics "immaculate", and the music "a delight to hear", but described the story as simply "a parade of cute but vapid interactions".

In a full review of Echoes, Scott Clay of RPGFan praised its visuals and sound, calling its animations "fluid" and its story "decent", but heavily criticized the gacha business model as "horrid". Describing it as "unfair" and "almost predatory", he noted the lack of free daily attempts to unlock characters, or pulls, calling it "pretty much unheard-of". He called the low rate of rare four-star characters or Memory Gems even more egregious, especially due to the need to get many duplicate versions of a character to make them stronger, with six copies to fully power them up. He ultimately described it as a "slog" for players who did not spend much money.

He also criticized "forced and broken co-op" and "rampant cheating" in ranked events as hurting the game's appeal. He noted a "severe lack of content" as damaging the game's long-term playability, summing up Echoes of Mana as "disappointing", especially due to the series' already high number of "hit-or-miss" games.

Square Enix had a run of erratic quality releases in 2021–2023, with several mobile titles "rushed out the door and then shut down in a year or so" including Echoes of Mana, Bravely Default: Brilliant Lights, and others. Bloomberg wrote that interviews with anonymous employees suggested that each product was its own "fiefdom" where its producer could shift the product around quickly and without warning, which resulted in some excellent products but some products where sudden shifts in project goals compromised the ability of the team to deliver a quality product. More generally, Square Enix may have oversaturated the market with their own games and competed with itself too much.