Trials of Mana Switch review | Switch Re:port

Switch Re:port covers the Nintendo Switch port/version of a game newly released on the platform. Trials of Mana was simultaneously released on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC and scored 8/10 on PS4.

Originally revealed alongside the localization announcement of Collection of Mana for Nintendo Switch, Trials of Mana is a full remake of Seiken Densetsu 3. Seiken Densetsu 3 originally only released on Super Famicom in Japan and Collection of Mana was the only way to experience it in English until now. Trials of Mana is a faithful remake of Seiken Densetsu with a plethora of upgrades and enhancements over the original barring a visual overhaul.

When it was originally showcased and announced for PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch, I was a bit concerned about the Nintendo Switch version. When Dragon Quest XI S hit Switch, it showed that massive Unreal Engine games can translate well to Switch. Trials of Mana is also built using Unreal Engine and it plays and looks very good for the most part even when compared to the PS4 version. Over the last week, I’ve been playing Trials of Mana on both PS4 Pro and Nintendo Switch.

Visually, Trials of Mana’s aesthetic scales very well. It looks softer overall both docked and handheld and isn’t native resolution but it still looks very nice. If you were fine with Dragon Quest XI S’ visuals, you will be ok here. The overall image is a lot better than I expected and I’ve ended up playing more on Switch than PS4 since getting the game on both platforms.

Trials of Mana on Nintendo Switch targets about 30fps. I say that because I could feel it going a bit above and below that. The performance never has big drops thankfully but a 30fps cap would’ve helped. Load times are quite good as well and even are a bit faster than PS4 Pro in some situations.

Some of the problems with Trials of Mana on Nintendo Switch also affect other systems. I usually play a game for an hour with both English and Japanese voice acting and then decide which one to stick with. The English voice acting here has some issues. It is very inconsistent. I’m not really a fan of the Japanese voice acting either but that felt better. Some players might find Trials of Mana on the easier side on Normal difficulty mode, but thankfully you can switch on the fly.

In terms of Switch specific features, Trials of Mana’s core gameplay doesn’t have any touchscreen support for menus. It has decent rumble but it isn’t anything special. It does support the Nintendo Switch cloud save backup and video recording feature. Since people like to know these things, Trials of Mana also has a lovely icon on the console homescreen.

Overall, Trials of Mana on Nintendo Switch gets almost everything right. The one thing I hope is that Square Enix can patch in a 30fps cap because it seems to fluctuate above and below that target a bit during gameplay. Visually, the draw distance is definitely lower than PS4 but the aesthetic scales well and the overall image for Trials of Mana looks good both docked and handheld. The downgrade in image quality is something you can see for yourself if you own both systems but I can safely recommend Trials of Mana on Nintendo Switch if you’ve been considering it to play at home and on the go.