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If you’ve ever been a fan of the PS2 era of action-adventure games such as Jak & Daxter Where Kri’s mark, so Kena: Bridge of Spirits will be right on your street. It’s a modern take on those classics, but with absolutely stunning Dreamworks or Pixar-style graphics, plus some really adorable new mascots.
The first thing everyone will notice about the game is how it looks. The verdant environments you explore are truly special, and all of the character designs are delightfully charming. The developer, Ember Lab, originally started out as an animation studio, so it’s no big surprise that the game is phenomenally beautiful. Fortunately, the gameplay is also quite fun.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits Review – Journey to the Mountains
The game’s protagonist, Kena, is a young spirit guide whose job it is to help the spirits pass to the other side. While trying to reach a mountain sanctuary, his path is blocked by an abandoned village that seems to suffer from some kind of corruption. She will need to help heal the earth and uncover its secrets before she can complete her quest.
At first, you won’t know too much about Kena and who she is. She keeps her cards fairly close to her chest, but over time you’ll begin to understand some of the motivations behind her trip. I feel like it would have been better if the game had spent a little more time establishing his personality early on, but I still found it easy enough to warm up to his character. He’s the kind of person who always wants to help others, no matter how difficult it can be.
The abandoned village acts as the hub of the game and you will be able to travel to the nearby areas to try and help the spirits, this will then unlock new places for you to explore. It’s a simple yet very enjoyable game loop where you’ll venture to a new location, solve environmental puzzles, fight corrupted spirits, and then unlock a new area to start all over again.
During your travels, you will come across some incredibly cute little creatures known as Rot. They are little spirits that help maintain balance in the forest and once you find them they will follow you everywhere. They are a constant source of adoration and they are also very useful throughout your adventure. They can help move heavy objects in your path and can even help you during combat.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits Review – Force of Nature
The Rots are a bit shy, so they won’t instantly join you in a fight. Instead, you’ll need to increase a courage meter by having Kena deal damage first. She carries with her a staff that you will use to strike down any spirits that will attack you. The combat is fairly straightforward to begin with; you have a light and heavy attack, as well as being able to dodge and raise an energy shield. Once your small Rot army is ready to join in, you can use them to do things like bind you to an enemy for a short time. This allows you to safely land a few sneaky hits without the enemy being able to retaliate.
Over time, you will have access to a few different weapons and can learn new moves. The combat system isn’t particularly complex, although that doesn’t stop the fights from being frantic and fun. It certainly helps that you regularly familiarize yourself with new types of enemies that will require you to use different strategies to defeat them. Some fights will be much more difficult than expected, especially against bosses, and you will have to use all the tools at your disposal.
When you are not trying to hit the enemies, you will explore the forest and try to eliminate the plague that has corrupted the earth. It usually requires you to solve some sort of puzzle or go through a section of a platform. None of these things are particularly tricky because you have enough environmental clues to help you figure out what to do next. It also helps that Kena is a delight to control, so it’s really fun to jump between platforms and try to uncover all the secrets of the forest.
There are absolutely loads of collectibles to find, these mostly come in the form of new Rot Little Buddies and precious little hats to wear. You don’t really have to search for all of the collectibles, but you’ll just end up wanting to see their cheerful little faces when you find another of their friends. It’s also nice to be able to dress them up and then watch them run after you while wearing little cowboy hats or fox masks. Since the game has a built-in photo mode, you’ll constantly want to stop and snap photos of your new little bundles of joy.
It’s pretty amazing to think that Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the very first game from Ember Lab. With absolutely stunning visuals and punchy music, this is sure to leave an impression on people. From a gameplay perspective, it doesn’t do anything particularly new or innovative, but that doesn’t stop it from being a lot of fun. This is a small adventure with enough challenges and enough heart to keep you entertained for the 10-15 hours it takes to reach its conclusion.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits review code provided by the publisher. Version 1.003.000 tested on a PlayStation 5. For more rating information, please read our Rating Policy.
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8.5
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