Secret of Mana

Does not support Steam cloud save. Due to reasons having issue with my Steamdeck, I had to factory reset it which meant I lost all my data saved on the device. So because the game itself doesn't save your data on the cloud then you will definitely lose all your progress. Such a shame as his was a nice upgrade to the original game.

It's an okay game, the remake does not add anything special to the experience, if anything it gives it a more childish appearance and tone. The story pacing is nothing special as it was originally, once again not bad, but if the original is available choose that over this slightly buggy mess on pc. Playing the game on PC with controller absolutely requires a non-default steam input profile to play remotely properly.

I will start by saying this game isn't totally bad, but I have some gripes. I have my bias from playing the original SNES game, and even went back to play the original to compare it with this version. While the graphics are improved, with voice acting and dialogue, some of the pacing and controls are even clunkier than the original. Combat is not as smooth. Attacks often miss or fail to connect, or some weapons have inconsistent attack patterns. There are memory leaks that cause this game to be unplayable after a couple of hours, even on a good system. Some of the 2.5D layout is less intuitive to navigate, like structures blocking views, and less queues for south-facing doors, and pathways. It's not terrible though. The music score is recomposed, it's similar, but not as good or charming as the original score. Some songs lack the original dynamics. The music doesn't quiet down for dialogue parts and often competes with the music. So far the game is pretty similar to the original and I will try to play through it.

This was a very sad letdown. They could have VERY easily gone in the direction they went with Trials of Mana, and it would have been a far better experience. The cringe voice acting, the clunky controls, just a bad game overall. I really hope we get a better version someday... I'll hold out hope, but I'm pretty sure this is what we're left with.

+

It took me about 20 hours to beat the game. Overall if you were a fan of the original I think the remake is definitely worth a play through. It was really cool to relive the nostalgia and check out the new soundtrack vs the old. You can switch between the original music and the remake in the menu. I would say one major quality of life improvement is you get two hotkeys and you can bind either spells or weapons to them. It makes for quick leveling/swapping of spells. Honestly it makes it play more like a real time game then constantly being in the menu. Overall I tried to play more with the weapons in boss battles at first but the mechanics are the same and magic spam is the easiest way to win. Overall though 10/10 remake and it stayed true to the original game with mostly just cosmetic changes plus voice overs.