“Kena: Bridge of Spirits” generated plenty of hype based on its stunning visuals. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Developer Ember Lab began as an animation and digital content studio, and the CG footage they produced is on par with anything Hollywood produced.
There’s no doubt that anything the team creates will look great, but the big question that Ember Lab is facing is this: Can they make a title that plays as good as it looks? Judging by my first few hours with “Kena: Bridge of Spirits,” the team is on its way toward making a good video game.
The project isn’t perfect, but it is compelling. Players take on the role of the title character. She drops into a dilapidated village on her way to a Mountain Shrine. It seems like this will be the hub from which the different dungeons and locales radiate.
1. THE COMBATInitially, the combat seems fairly standard with players having a lock-on, a dodge, a block, a parry and a heavy and light attack. It has a “Zelda” vibe to it, but fighting seems one-note as Kena swings around her staff. It doesn’t pick up until she earns her bow and arrow about two hours into the campaign. The fighting grows more complex after that as the enemies she faces become more difficult.
Adversaries come at her with shields that can deflect her strikes and damage her in retaliation. Heavies take wide swings that knock her back. Other creatures toss explosives that can knock her off platforms, sending her to her demise. All of this comes at players fairly quickly and they’ll have to come up with strategies on the fly to deal with them.
One of the major advantages that Kena has is that she’s aided by Rot, tiny “Pikmin”-like spirits that can distract or stun enemies. Players need golden orbs called Courage to use them in combat, but they can be helpful in a pinch, especially against Wood Sprout Knights who have golden resinous patches on them. Kena has to shoot them off to deal heavy damage to them, but the target are so small that they need a little more time to hit them. The Rot comes in handy for this.
2. THE PUZZLES AND TRAVERSALThe other element of “Kena” is the traversal and puzzle solving. The world she explores has areas blocked off by corruption, and players will have to find ways to destroy it in order to unlock more of paths of exploration. The key to that is again the Rot. These creatures can grab a hold of blocks and move them so that Kena can jump on top of them and scale a wall. In other places, they can carry drops of water to Forest Tears plants that lets the Rot return to their original sluglike form.
Kena can guide these creature to cleanse corruption and open up new areas. Ember does a great job of layering these concepts into inventive puzzles. Unfortunately, like a lot of the game, not everything is explained well and players will have to learn what’s possible with Kena’s powers through trial and error. For example, she can control the sluglike Rot for a limited time, but it disappears if she falls in the water or uses her staff to shoot enemies. She needs total concentration to use it.
When it comes to traversal, “Kena” has the feel of “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” (without the grappling hook). Players will encounter sloped areas where Kena automatically slides down to the bottom. She can’t jump or fire her boy during these obstacles so players will need to steer her to ledges to stop her progress or find a way to move her to new paths. In addition, she can also grab ledges and leap across them. Ember Lab marks these well enough that it’s easy to read a level.
Her double jump also helps when making difficult leaps across large chasms. She also has her shield, which ignites lamps and crystal switches. Later when she acquires her bow, the weapon is used manipulate elevators and switches. She can also fire at special flowers that are used as anchor points to cross gaps.
3. IT’S NOT PERFECTAs good as “Kena” looks, it’s not perfect. The upgrade path and progression seems shallow. Players collect two resources Karma and blue shards. The Karma is how players pay for upgrades to Kena’s abilities. She can make her shields stronger, add a dash attack or expand her quiver. The blue shards act as money for the hat stand. This is where players can buy hats for the Rot. The chapeaus seem to be a way to customize the looks of the cute spirits. They’re cosmetic and have no gameplay value.
That’s especially disappointing because the resource is often a reward for solving puzzles and finding secret areas. From what I played so far, the blue shards serve no bigger purpose in the game. That seems like a wasted opportunity to make the resource more valuable, especially after players put in work finding them. If the blue shards could do more, it would have been better, but then again, I’m early in the game. Perhaps, there’s more to it.
My last word of advice is to play the game on Performance Mode on PlayStation 5. The smoother frame rate is a feast for the eyes while the true 4K resolution is tough to watch at 30 frames per second. It’s definitely not worth it, especially in a game that’s as action-oriented as this.
I’m still early in my playthrough of the game, and I’m sure my opinion of it will evolve over time. Stay tuned for a review in the coming week.
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Author: Gieson Cacho