It’s clear that Ember Lab have the right tools. The simple mechanics and nostalgic visuals - evocative of both Zelda and Disney - really should create something striking and emotionally resonant.

Whilst the result is indeed fun to indulge in, there’s still so much lacking, most notably the writing and story. The titular hero has an outsider presence to the mystery of the spirit village; and each new character she meets, while visually distinct and expressive, has no time to form any emotional connection with anyone - they go as quickly as they come along. This leads to a fine game about clearing areas, fighting baddies and freeing unfamiliar spirits. The little Rot characters are usually cute but can feel cheaply so with their frequently recycled animations.

These aren’t huge flaws and mainly just give the impression that the game won’t be treading new ground, a shame given Ember Lab’s potential as visual storytellers.

However, playing the game sort of feels like playing Rayman 2 or a similar adventure title from the PS2 heyday of simple pleasures. I found myself needlessly roaming around for collectibles simply because Kena’s world felt like a nice place to be. Pretty astonishing stuff for a first game.

What a lovely thing this is. A gorgeous world to explore. Got that throwback adventure game feel, but looks incredible.

The environments are so lush and everything feels real. Like naturally occurring, if that makes sense. You're not spotting assets copy and pasted all over. It truly comes across like villages built through a gigantic forest. The land itself dictating where you can and can't have houses and roads. Beautiful.

The story is nothing incredible and combat is serviceable, but for some reason this just got its hooks into me. Kickin' about with yer wee pals The Rot. Clearing corruption and freeing trapped spirits. It's feelgood stuff. Nae cynicism, and not overly boohoo manipulative shit. Just a properly nice time.

I'm eager to see what Ember Lab comes out with next. This as their first game is very promising.

Kena é um ótimo jogo de aventura, tem um ritmo agradável, gráficos e direção artística bem bonitos com combate até que robusto e mais desafiador que eu esperava, mas ele tem seus tropeços, ele depois de um tempo acaba ficando levemente repetitivo, eu não curti o gameplay de controlar "espíritos" de animais pra fazer puzzles, ficou meio confuso de controlar, a história tem seus momentos legais e me surpreendeu na temática de recuperar espíritos na escuridão, mas se torna qualquer coisa pelo desenvolvimento fraco e possui alguns bugs, mas vale a pena jogar, principalmente numa promoção, 7,5.

Kena is a love letter to the adventure games of our past. When playing it, you can see plenty of inspirations from classic PS2-era games, but the most obvious inspiration is The Legend of Zelda. This game takes many notes from various Zelda titles, especially Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild.
The semi open world is gorgeous and breathtaking, and feels open enough to where you can feel the freedom in exploring without being totally lost. Combat can be iffy at times and the camera sometimes will fight you in specific bosses, but overall it was a fun treat, especially once you unlock all abilities. The story structure is very similar to BOTW but with a deeper narrative thrown in your face rather than told by world building NPCs.
The soundtrack and graphics are the biggest things to highlight. The soundtrack is mesmerizing and relaxing, while not being afraid to amp up the intensity for some of the most epic vocals I've heard in some time. The graphics... well, you know about those Pixar-like animations.
Kena is a game worth playing, especially if you go in blind. It's one of the best indie games ever made and should absolutely be experienced on the PS5. I would love a sequel.

Kena feels like a spiritual sequel to the original Jak & Daxter on the Playstation 2. Its an old school 3D platformer with Dark Souls inspired combat and phenomenal visuals. While its battle system is simple, its dependance on strict timing gives it challenge. The visuals are amazing and make exploring a treat even if the world feels static for the lack interactivity from its environments. It also has a touching story that maked me reflect on an individuals hardships and their journey to the afterlife. Kena: Bridge of spirits is a great homage to its playstation 2 roots, containing fun exploration and combat while being limited in its level design.

From an animation studio known for their Majora's Mask CGI fan video comes Kena: Bridge of Spirits, an action-adventure game where you play as a young spirit guide attempting to find closure for three people following the destruction of their village. First and foremost, I must say that this game is gorgeous; understandably since this studio was an animation studio first, but this game has been positively compared to Pixar in its animation style and quality, and I have to agree, it's a very stunning game. This does come at a cost though, as I have a pretty good, but not great, GPU, and this game ran at 99% utilization the entire time I played it. I have yet to find another game that came close to that. The story is a little barebones, but I found the characterization of Kena and the spirits to be well done. I think the pacing could've been done better, as you tend to get all their backstory at once, but I still enjoyed what was there. The biggest downside for this game is the gameplay itself. It takes a lot of inspiration from Zelda, although its puzzles and exploration aren't nearly as strong. The combat is either the same handful of enemies over and over or much more difficult boss fights. I kept thinking to myself that the developers had a lot more faith in the game's combat mechanics than I did. The shield/parry mechanic for example is so slow that I found it basically useless. Kena as a character feels rather sluggish, especially compared to the quick and hard hitting bosses they want you to fight. I think there's a good foundation here, but I wish they had spent less energy on the combat and more on the puzzles.

I think I enjoyed Kena so much because I miss unconcerness in videogames.

This is just the definition of enjoyable. It won't break any ground, it puts its own cuteness and charm above all else; even possibly at the cost of a deeper, more engaging level design, or a richer more complex combat. This doesn't matter to Kena, it wants to be PS2 at heart, and it certainly feels what I dreamed a perfect weekend rent game would be when I was playing Kingdom Hearts 2 with 10 years old sitting on the floor of my room with an old TV and my eyes glued to the screen.

Kena doesn't fail to do anything remarkable because it's not even trying, it's just what it wants to be; and absolute success on forgetfulness. And this is something weird to mark as positive, but this game tastes like cookies and milk on a Saturday, like a cartoon marathon on a long weekend with no homework, or a snowy day without class.

It's nice to remember that games doesn't need to be remembered because either they're too self centered and believe themselves as the NEXT BIG THING, or because they need to make you flow with them for at least months through seasons and passes and fucking I don't know anymore it's tiring just thinking about it. I want useless mechanics to hug a cute puppy and a jump that's not afraid of itself; a game that doesn't need to flash me with shit or stuff itself for endless hours of absolutely nothing. This is just fun, and, you know? Games can be fun.

Thanks for the reminder.

Kena is as charming as it is beautiful.

This little game from Ember labs is the first release for the studio and they did a shockingly great job.

Some might consider Kena a relic of the past, no crafting materials, side quests from NPCs, just a fun journey through a semi linear environment progressing through a story.

Kena is one of the most beautiful games available, from the bright colours to the animated quality of the characters, to the animations themselves, everything is lush and cohesive. It proves you don't need a massive budget to make a beautiful game that rivals AAA productions you just need to work within your means.

The combat is fun and challenging but it is fairly basic. You earn additional moves and attacks as you earn experience through various ways. Eventually when you unlock all the moves the combat opens up and creates a nice flow.

The normal difficulty will provide a nice challenge while hard difficulty is fairly punishing. I played on hard for a single boss and it was very satisfying when I eventually beat him but I lowered the difficulty to medium so I didn't run into long periods of repeating a fight.

The boss fights in this game are the highlight and I was extremely impressed with the amount of them and the variety of the fights themselves. They aren't just about bashing the enemy to death but oftentimes require a gimmick or learning their patterns. By the end when you have your full moveset they really shine as you mix in your defensive abilities with your offensive moves.
The story is light and brisk but it keeps you involved in the narrative and makes you want to continue as the cinematics are a nice payoff that rival big budget animated films.

There are also some hidden secrets to find that are fun and rewarding but I didn't complete them all.

9.0

I think "tasteful" is the best way to describe this game. There's nothing that's really original here, from the game mechanics to the culture of the setting, but the way it combines all of its influences to a delightful and charming package is admirable.

You play as Kena, in a setting heavily influenced by Asian cultures such as Balinese and Japanese. Kena is a spirit guide in a quest to reach a shrine in the mountains. To do so, you must first help lost spirits from a nearby village that has died of a corruption of sorts. This forms the emotional core of the story, as you will learn more about the spirit's memories and also interact with other spirits that will help you in your journey. Overall, the story is quite simplistic, but it still manages struck a chord. It's not a dialogue heavy story, and you won't get deep character developments, but it is told in a very tasteful cinematic way, supported with impactful music and solid directing.

The gameplay consists of exploring an mini linear open world of sorts, with areas being blocked until you progress to certain points in the story. It also has light puzzle sections and a good amount of third person melee and ranged combat. Think of God of War 2018, but simplified, and you'll get the gist of this game.

Exploring is fun because of not only the environments you travel are beautiful and well designed, but there are also meaningful collectibles that you can find along the way, such as Rots, which are these little cute creatures that will help you get stronger and unlock more abilities. It feels like there's something interesting in every area, and that helps keep the game engaging.

The combat is also surprisingly challenging. The enemies in the beginning are pushovers, but later on there are bosses and enemy types that can punish you if you're not careful. You can hit enemies with your melee staff, and later on you can get a bow and also throw bombs. The progression between your abilities and the enemy variety is quite balanced, so there are no outrageous difficulty spikes.

The game also does it best to keep each aspect of the gameplay from being too dominant. Some areas will focus on the combat, while others are more puzzle/platforming based, and it is done in a very effective way. It makes the game feel fluid and dynamic.

There are a few other things I like to criticize. While the levels are beautiful overall, there are a few spots where it feels as if it's not as well modeled and design as other areas. The enemies are quite varied mechanically, but visually they're not nearly as interesting.

Lastly, the music is simply excellent. It combines Western Orchestra and Balinese Gamelan in a very intelligent manner. Each of those music styles will exchange the spotlight throughout, lending the game a fresh and emotionally flexible soundtrack the whole way through. It can be spiritually soothing, and also heart-pumpingly intense.

Kena is a wonderful game that doesn't let its lack of originality overshadow its charm. It's a great example of a game being much more than the sum of its parts.

Completed in 2 days and I had quite a bit of fun with it, its good but its the most 7/10 game i’ve ever played. Even so, it shows really high quality and polish for a small studio’s first game after 5 years of development. Kena is an incredible game to look at and admire and its fun to move around in and soak in the warmth and vibrancy of its world, aesthetic and soundtrack. Plus its short and paced wonderfully! Still, it has its share of issues and sorely lacks in originality which I can’t look past.

This feels like a game that wants to be lots of things at once and though I hate the critical tendency to compare games to other games all the time, Kena feels like it desperately wants to look and feel like things that already exist (and do the things it does more effectively). There is taking inspiration and wearing your influences on your sleeve and then there is looking and feeling so familiar that i’m getting deja vu every 5 minutes, kena has the movement and platforming of jak and daxter or ratchet and clank, combat that is a stripped down version of god of war 2018, the puzzles and bow gameplay we’ve seen plenty of in stuff like zelda and horizon and the story & characters are just straight out of disney / dreamworks. This game was originally considered to be an animated film or series and you can tell because of the emphasis on sentimental cutscenes and narrative arcs which give me big moana vibes tonally. The developers, Ember Lab, partnered with a studio called Sparx to work on the art and animation of the game, a studio that work closely with disney and illumination and it definitely comes through (though tbf I don’t know if that was them or ember labs), the entire look of the game and all of its character designs immediately made me think of the trademark disney style whether intentional or not (big hero 6, moana, luca etc).

I felt a detachment from the games’ narrative because of how uncompelling, familiar and unoriginal I found it to be, it has things to say but its done in this very toned down, easy to digest disney style that lacks the richness it reaches for because of a lack of emotional highs and stakes and a lack of comedic or otherwise palette cleansing ‘relief’. Characters also feel generally half-baked and underdeveloped, its themes of loss, grief and moving on are also disappointingly one dimensional. This irks me a little because it comes across like its meant to be aimed at young children, but that is in stark contrast to the gameplay which is surprisingly challenging and in my opinion, aimed at an older audience, so I find an odd divide there and kind of have to wonder who exactly it is targeting, perhaps it is a sad indictment of this game trying to be lots of things at once and appeal to everyone. As I touched on, for a short experience it stretches itself quite thin with all of its facets and ideas which don’t all work together to make a cohesive whole, this doesn’t mean any one aspect is bad perse, just not as good as they could be because kena is a game that is a jack of all trades and a master of none, I sincerely believe if it focused on being a puzzle platformer first and foremost it would improve the experience dramatically and allow those to shine brighter. As it stands, every aspect feels good but not outstanding, at its best, like when you first get the bow and the bomb, there’s a great flow and sense of satisfaction to the very intentional gameplay that feels missed during combat, cutscenes and exploration, which don’t reach the same heights. The leadup to the final bosses in particular stand out so much more than the bosses themselves, since combat is largely just fine.

With this being said though, there’s a lot of fun to be had here, its astoundingly, intoxicatingly fucking beautiful, controls brilliantly and runs at a buttery smooth rate. The platforming and puzzle solving are generally good fun and never get boring since the pacing is this games’ strongest aspect, but I do wish the double jump didn’t fuck with your momentum and slow you down, its a small gripe that has a big impact on how it feels to play, genuinely wish I could mod that. The bow and bombs are really fun to use and I particularly like how aiming mid air slows you down allowing for more precise shots (reminiscent of botw / totk). The upgrades and the rot system are also decent, the rot themselves are cute and interestingly implemented gameplay wise, allowing you to restore the environment and discover secrets and its easy to get into a rhythm and play the game quite effortlessly, I particularly love using bombs to cause rubble to levitate, creating unique platform / puzzle scenarios that they make full use of. I also really enjoy zipping around with the grapple flowers and finding secrets, just a shame that the currency you collect can only be spent on cosmetics and not anything actually useful, it makes exploring feel kind of pointless which is a shame because they clearly put a lot of work into it for little reward. You can find charms and stuff but it might be better if you could also buy these? That would make currency actually have some value.

Either way, fun game with a lot to like but just set your expectations lower for the story, dialogue and characters, the voice acting isn’t anything special with the odd exception and the gameplay aspects are spread quite thinly but when its good, its great, genuinely challenging and really fulfilling even. I like it, it could be better, but I like it, this is the most confident 7/10 of my life.

Kena é um jogo estonteante em sua beleza visual, sonora e de animação, o jogo que tem um ar fofo por sua estética visual mas possui um completo contraste em sua narrativa aonde os principais temas são o arrependimento, a morte, perdas e o luto.

Realmente gostei da história do jogo, mesmo achando ela simples e com alguns pontos que poderiam ser melhor desenvolvidos mas ainda sim ela é bem amarrada, bem contada pelos personagens secundários e tem uma ótima direção nas cenas emocionantes ou em seus fechamentos de arcos. O ponto mais fraco na história de Kena é sua própria protagonista aonde sua história e seu propósito e jornada ficam completamente ofuscados pela história da Vila e até mesmo pelos personagens secundários como Taro, Adira e principalmente o Toshi que possuem maior desenvolvimento e são mais interessantes que a Kena em si, mas não é como se ela fosse uma personagem ruim ou algo do tipo só apenas bem mediana.

Sobre o gameplay, combate ele consegue ser divertido em suas proporções e a exploração é bacana com um level design coeso e bem feito mas ambos tendem a cansar após um tempo devido a poucas variações que o jogo oferece... O que realmente brilha no gameplay é o auxílio dos companions da Kena os Rot, conforme encontramos mais deles são liberadas algumas ações no combate e na exploração que adicionam uma camada a mais de diversidade seja no combate ou na exploração, fora que eles são umas das criaturas mais fofas que ja vi nos jogos kk e a true form é insana.

Bom de certa forma Kena foi uma boa surpresa que tive e ele é decente em tudo, lindo como um filme da pixar, tem uma história legal, uma gameplay bacaninha e mesmo ainda com alguns deslizes conseguiu se manter bom no final. 7.5/10

Edit: Agora com o jogo platinado tenho mais uma coisa a dizer o Master Mode é um INFERNO e desbalanceado!

I got this game hoping it to be a like ps2 era character adventure platformer. It indeed was, but I found it extremely sauceless. Nothing really drew me in, just a bland pixar wannabe. The whole mechanic of throwing your pikmin dudes and then pulsing just feels off to me, i know other games you would just have to shoot an arrow or magic bolt or something. Anyways I saw you could get a mask and I thought you could get masks to put on for different powers, but no, it gave me detective vision. I then immediately quit and refunded.

Kena is exactly as good as I expected it to be.
It’s absolutely stunningly unbelievably gorgeous, with all the vibes you would get from an animated movie. I just recently got an OLED screen to play on and this was the perfect showcase game.
Gameplay-wise I didn’t expect it to be challenging or deep. But the boss fights and even some of the normal mob battles can get very unforgiving, especially if you play on harder difficulties. To get the platinum I played through the game on master difficulty and even though it’s not as good or expertly crafted as a souls game, it definitely felt like it was trying at that. And for a debut title of an indie game studio, that was certainly successful. The few abilities you get while progressing are all nothing particularly fresh or new, but they work well enough to keep you engaged. Exploring the rather linear “open world” is fun enough to keep you engaged. The story follows a very average formula, but the characters (especially the rot) are cute or are charming enough to keep you engaged. What stood out as much as the visual presentation however, is the beautiful soundtrack. I found myself humming the melodies even after I stopped playing, which doesn’t happen too often.

Kena is good. It’s not a masterpiece, or anything new, or anything you NEED to play. It’s just good. It’s a combination of proven elements we all have seen somewhere else. Put together with very high production values and the world building standard of animation movies. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game.

Absurdly beautiful game, feels like a movie, moving cutscenes, meaningful story that conveys thruths about grief and evanescence. Good and suprisingly hard game, some of the bosses were a real challenge.
Music's reaaaally great, especially at the end.
Rot's are such a cuties i could stare at them forever, and the hats?? unicorn hat?? bunny hat??? wholesome.

Had a great time with this one, highly recommended.

🎮 Platform: PS5
⌚ Time to finish - 11.5h
🏆Trophy completion - 90% - All trophies but master difficulty were completed. Master difficulty is too hard and I wish they had NG+. however getting to 90% was so lovely. I think its totally worth collecting all this stuff and just staying in the world a little longer! The music, the visuals, the general feel good atmosphere, is so nice. I didn't want to leave this world. I really wish I could have plat this game. That is my only disappointment and it would have been possible with NG+. Unfortunately without the late game skills for a medicore gamer like me master is too hard.

🤬Difficulty - Played on normal 100%. This game is either too easy on story or too hard on normal. Higher modes are brutal. The difficulty of this game is mainly due to very limited healing and crazy damage the bosses do. I am sure if you are a souls veteran and melee combat veteran who can easily read boss patterns you are going to be fine. But some bosses in normal felt like I was playing hard. Some bosses i killed on first try. I really wish this game was a little easier but I did eventually conquer all bosses, even after 10 tries. Generally this is a difficult game along the lines of death's door.

🌄Graphics – Absolutely beautiful. The green vibrant colors, the foliage, the huts, everything. The cute Rot, the facial animations, cut scenes, everything about this game is beautiful. Its one of the best looking games I Have ever seen. Only thing it suffers from is variety. Much of the game is forest, and a little bit of snow capped roads. That's fine though, I loved every minute of the visuals and did not want to leave this world.

🌦 Atmosphere/Music – Amazing score. Amazing atmosphere. However I think the game score is at its best early in the game. It turns it down a notch later in the game. I kept thinking about the score trying to hum it. Its a mix of bali music, drums, and language i don't understand. It comes together nicely and I love it. I am listening to it as I write this review. I really felt immersed in this beautiful world. My fav is this song: https://youtu.be/smQ71FHyuNw?t=236 feels good :)

📚 Main Story / Characters – The main story is simple and charming. This is what I like. Don't make it overly complicated. Kena's main job is to help spirits move on. Its a noble cause and the story is predictable and nothing unique about it. However its to the point. This just goes to show you don't need a complicated story, what you need a character with a noble drive that the player resonates with. The kids in this game are cute. And the Rot are so damn cute. Also I have no clue what Kena in her language to them but how she talks to the Rot in her cute language, just made me feel good inside. Like there is still some good in this world. I know I am getting a little sappy here. But what can I say, I love how she talks to these cute and helpful creatures.

🤺 Combat – Super hard and rewarding. The bosses all look the same though thats my only complaint. However they bring about different mechanics. I think the bosses do WAYYY too much damage. The other criticism is they are impossible to parry, so you just basically dodge all the time. Dodge spam ftw but even then you get hit. So yes this game does require you to understand boss patterns, and react in a timely fashion and appropriately. For someone like me who is medicore, spam dodge and get in bow and couple melee shots usually did the trick. You don't unlock good abilities in the beginning so later on the game actually gets easier. The beginning bosses are an absolute bitch, especially the 2nd one, the woodsmith. OMG!

🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – So worth doing. I wanted to hear the music more. I wanted to find these cute rots and see kena talk to them and be nice to them. In this game its very hard to get lost, the markers are clear and I never once got stuck. That's saying a lot because I am directionally challenged.

🚗 Movement/Physics – Excellent. Everything was responsive in and out of combat. I had no issues with ledges, or timing of temporary platforms. Everything felt fair and doable. There were no frustrating parts i had to keep retrying. Its super polished game.

📣 Voice acting – awesome! The other great thing is the sound design of enemies, even if you don't see them on screen, all their moves are properly telegraphed through audio and visuals. Its very easy to make out when you are about to loose half a chunk of health, dodging it is another story. I am sure if you spend time with it it will be rewarding.

🥇 Best thing about the game - The music and visuals bring for a memorable experience. Its a great overall package though nothing new.

👎 Worst thing about the game - That i could not beat master and get my plat. I really wish I had a plat in this game! it deserves it! NG+ please!!!!

💡Final Thoughts:
Definitely play it. This game doesn't innovate on anything new, but SUPER polished end to end. Don't be afraid to drop it to story if you feel the difficulty is ruining the game. Collect all the rot and make the world a better place. :)

Since this is the first game from an animation studio, you can easily why the cutscenes are fantastic and why the combat is quite lacking. Devoid of weight and impact to the melee hits. However, this gets a bit better with the introduction of the bow and bombs abilities.

The story is nothing to write home about but the great presentation and a honestly great score keeps you going through the short 15 hours experience. Edit: Apparently my timer is broken and you can finish this one in like 6-8 hours lol

Kena was was a game that took me by surprise. I really expected a PS2 era 3D platformer with a bunch of collectibles that would be an easy breezy kinda game. The more I played it the more that mentality washed away. Right away I was taken aback by the fact that this is a game that really doesn't hold your hand, like at all. No constant tutorial pop ups, explanations of what everything does and just drops you in. Go play and figure it out. It was kinda refreshing. It's not super hard to figure out what to do or where to go but unlike most modern games I did get the feeling I was the one solving puzzles and exploring to find the way through. No way points or yellow cliff paint here to signify the way.

The game's presentation is pretty great and graphiclly very pleasing especially for a smaller title from a new publisher. While the game does give off some cutesy vibes very simialr to the NGC and PS2 era, the game has more depth and difficulty that younger players most likely won't get far. The games combat and exploration methods are rather simple and basic but the game manages to do a lot of unique things with them. You have a basic light attack string, a heavy attack, a dodge roll, a parry, a bomb and a bow and arrow and that's pretty much it the whole game. The way the enemies are and how combat flows is pretty great. Aiming with the bow you can slow down time and take precsion shots, which is really nice as most enemies have weak points somewhere on them. You can also do prescion shots from a jump which can make some pretty cool shots that look stylish. With a mixture of meele and shots the moment to moment combat feels pretty good if a bit simplistic. Regular enemies are pretty easy but I was pleasantly surprised by how great the bosses were. The longer the game went on the better they got and became a real highlight. The hunter boss fight was such an intense fight and is easily one of the best I've played in a while.

The platfoming puzzles while basic are just hard enough to not be frustrating and does a pretty good job of mixing up your tools. The game does have pretty good exploration elements but i wish some of the rewards were a bit more useful and better. 70% of them are useless blue currency that is only used for buy little hats for your rot companions.

The story is very light and basic but it's okay. Not a highlight for me. If there was more going on and more cutscenes that showed off how great this game was it would have made more of an impression but it's fine.

Kena: Bride of Spirits was one of those games I really wanted to play when it got a bit cheaper and in the end I'm glad I played it. It was just the right amount where it held my interests and kept me engaged and left a satisfying enough taste. If it was any longer though it would have started to wear out it's welcome. It's a good game but I don't think it has the depth to really wanna make me get all of the collectibles in the game and play it again on a harder difficulty. I'd recommend one playthrough on the normal difficulty. Any more or any harder and it seems like the game would be super frustrating and dimminish the experiance.

I absolutely adore this game. The atmosphere throughout the entire game was its strongest aspect; it really does feel like you're in a Disney or Pixar movie, but in many ways even better. The beautiful landscapes, the enchanting music, and the overall design of the world had me enthralled.

I love my little Rots. Every time I found a new one I'd give him a cute hat and he would join my merry band. There's a feeling I get sometimes when I'm playing a game where I just want to take my time and enjoy it, because I know I'll never experience it for the first time ever again. Games where you can kind of chill out and relax inside of it are perfect for this feeling. I often found myself just sitting down and playing with my Rots beside a dazzling countryside, or letting the meditation animation go on for 20 minutes while I just sat there and meditated with Kena. That, I think, is where this game thrives. Not the combat (which is excellent) or the story (which is heartwarming) but in little things like that.

Speaking of combat, it took me a bit, but by the end I was fully bought in on the system. I have never enjoyed souls-like games (I guess because of the combat, but not 100% sure), but this games combat worked for me. The boss fights had a few duds but were mostly freaking sweet. Specifically, the final boss fight was so cinematically epic and I had chills the whole time. I actually appreciate how simple it was; you got a few new abilities throughout the game that kept it fresh and there wasn't armor or weapon upgrades, which nowadays I feel like things like that can be a chore to manage. There was a simple and easy to comprehend skill tree, too.

I also appreciate the inclusion in the game and how it felt so effortless. Kena was a strong but not-without-flaw female lead, there was a prominent lesbian couple that didn't pander (take notes, Disney), and the world felt heavily inspired by south-east Asian cultures.

The story got better and better as the game went on. It all built up to a third act crescendo which stuck the landing in a satisfying way. The story did feel a little awkwardly paced at time, and the worldbuilding lacked some depth, but it hit on emotional beats that had me tearing up by the end.

All that being said, it was still... missing something. Don't get me wrong, I thought this game was really good, but it was so close to being great. Maybe it was the lack of depth in the worldbuilding, or the awkward pacing of the story. But seeing as this is Ember Labs first video game, it is incredibly impressive. They have a new fan in me and I'll play whatever they make next whether it's a Kena sequel or something else... please please please make another game, we need more game devs out here like this.

Other minor criticisms:
- There were some minor technical inconsistencies. I noticed that the shadows didn't match the lighting oftentimes.
- The minimap was pretty to look at, but technically flawed. The zooming and scrolling was so slow, and as someone who references the map a lot in games, this was a little annoying.

Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who grew up watching Pixar or Disney movies for its beautiful animation, excellent atmospheric design, and fun combat. I put the game down after finishing the story. Part of me wishes I had the desire to complete the trials and find all the remaining collectables (especially the Rots) but I have other games on my backlog that need my attention.

I had an ok time with Kena, but it is marred by quite a few frustrations. It is really visually appealing, but I didn't find much to like in the gameplay and exploration.

The world of Kena is really cool, with a lot of interesting, detailed environments to explore. They are definitely channeling Spirited Away and Princess Monoke -- plenty of abandoned areas and corrupted nature. These environments are great to explore, with fairly simple linear paths leading to more open areas for you to explore.

Most of the puzzle and traversal mechanics are just... bad...
Things that always have the same outcome (seeds for summoning your rot avatar thing) are triggered in arbitrary ways, so you aren't planning and solving puzzles, you are just wandering around interacting with stuff.
Other mechanics (like the flowers you can teleport to) have arbitrary rules for when they can be activated, so the puzzle is "find where to stand to make this work" rather than "use teleportation to traverse the level."
It feels like most of this stuff was implemented without targeting a coherent design or player experience.

Character visuals are pretty hit or miss for me. Most of the masked characters have really cool designs, and the woodsmith especially is very evocative and unique. There are quite a few animations (Kena's run?) that don't hold up and I don't like the Rot creatures Kena controls at all. Like the environments, they are pretty clearly inspired by Spirited Away (the soot motes). I really don't like the explicit, tryhard, cuteness of the Rot, unfortunately. They are somehow robbed of any charm they may have had.
There are a few character driven stories woven through the game, and for the most part they are interesting and somewhat emotional. Simple stories of loss and acceptance. The final of the three tales is, unfortunately, the weakest -- it doesn't quite succeed at tying it all together.
All the characters are fully voiced. Two of them are really well done (the smith and her assistant), but I found most of them to be pretty grating (the children, the hunter, the village chief, and Kena herself). They are definitely going for a specific style, but something about them (especially the hunter) just didn't work at all for me.

The combat mechanics are straightforward and get the job done -- it isn't really targeting innovation. However, there are some pretty extreme input problems. Inputs often get lost or overridden and triggering special moves is finicky and clunky. Aiming moves is also pretty hit or miss, with many instances of attacks going in the wrong direction for no apparent reason.
The camera during combat is very broken as well (especially during the last two encounters). It often gets stuck locked onto a creature that has disappeared, leaving the camera in a completely broken state until you manually unlock it. Luckily, the combat isn't hard enough for this to become much of an issue.
There are some pretty cool boss fights and they do a really good job of using Kena's abilities in interesting ways, but overall, I found the combat to be fairly unsatisfying.

Kena has some good ideas, but is pretty flawed. I still had fun playing through it just for the world and visuals. This is a solid foundation for this studio's first game and I am excited to see what they decide to make next. I wouldn't broadly recommend this game, however, unless you are really into the aesthetic.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits was really something else. Ultimately a game I picked up out of sheer impulse of it being on sale, wound up to impress me so much during my 13 hours of gameplay. There's a lot of qualities I look for in games, and with this game it hits the "Combat-to-Exploration" ratio out of the park. And although the story can be pretty basic, it still does enough for me to want to continue playing.

Genuinely don't think there was a dull moment gameplay wise for a second. I'm already a huge sucker for "checklist" type exploration and to me, collecting as much of the rots, completing curse chest or even delivering the spirit mail just hit just the right spot for me. I wouldn't say the game has any hard puzzles or even any puzzles at all but the unique challenges that the game imposes on you once you get the bow and bombs just ooze classic Zelda charm.

When it came to combat, it felt great. Of course there's a few things that weren't great to me personally, but I can't be mad at how fluid it felt to control. The bow and bombs are great tools for your kit and mixes up enemy encounters based on how you like to play. I do think the parry mechanic was a bit jank but that's probably just a skill issue at the end of the day. And also the game was surprisingly difficult or, to say much more difficult than I was expecting, just playing on normal gave me some rewarding challenge against all the bosses which is always great to see.

I've seen a few people online compare this game as "Pixar meets Dark Souls" and as cringe as that sounds, its about right. The art direction is gorgeous and environments of the forests really are beautiful. If I would have played this game when it came out on release, I can honestly say it would've easily gotten an 100% completion out of me. But there's a ton more games coming out by the end of the year so maybe in the future I'll finish up the remaining trophies. Black Friday is coming up soon, and I'm telling you all right now, if you see this game on sale, pick up and give it a try, it's super good!

NOTE: Welcome and I hope you enjoyed reading my first review here on this site. I plan on making a review for every game I complete on here (or at the very least, I'll try to). I'm always looking for some critique on my writing as well so don't be afraid to let me have it LMAO. ALSO, I always enjoy getting some game recommendations as well so those are greatly appreciated. Hope to see you again soon!

This one caught my eye during the initial PS5 reveal showcase (despite being a cross-gen title), but I only found myself gettting around to it a little over a year after release. While nothing innovative, Kena: Bridge of Spirits combines some fun combat mechanics with a pleasant world to explore for an overalle enjoyable experience that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Kena immediately grabs the player's attention with a warm and lush art style that has drawn comparisons to Pixar. The cutscenes are beautifully animated and the game has excellent production value. The story has some emotional high points along the way, though admitttedly is a little generic and leans into some children's fantasy tropes. I did enjoy seeing the backstories of the corrupted spirits and how Kena helps them move on from their past traumas in various ways. The story is nothing you'll remember for long but it's bolstered by a sweeping score and art style.

Kena's dodge-rolling and archery combat reminded me of the Horizon franchise. You'll find yourself dodging around bosses, getting off quick shots with your bow at weak points, and using special abilities with the help of your Rot companions- cuddly little guys who are something akin to Pikmin. The Rot (and I'm not sure why they went with that name) are the real stars of the show, and you can search to environment to recruit more of them to your little army. You can even purchase and equip hats for each individual rot member which is a fun bit of customization.

Gameplay is comprised of simple puzzle platforming, often involving your weaponry, and combat encounters. There are a good number of bosses throughout the game and at times I found myself pretty well challenged on normal difficulty. I really had to be locked in and learning the enemy patterns to stand a chance against these fast and versatile foes. I think combat is pretty well balanced and fun throughout the game, and the boss designs encourage you to change up your approach. By the end of the game I was lobbing sticky bombs, dodging, leaping into the air and firing off arrows in slow motion which all felt very fluid. I never felt like the challenge was unfair, though there are definitely moments late in the game where these boss encounters will throw a lot of respawning minions at you- never my favorite to deal with.

I did get a little tired of the traversal, as the puzzles start to grow a bit old. Too many times I was throwing bombs to launch floating platforms in the air, or shooting gemstones in a certain order to open a door. None of the puzzles struck me as particularly creative and while they are necessary to break up the combat encounters I wish they might have been more involved.

Kena has a simple ability unlock system, and it was definitely worth unlocking as many of these moves as possible as they are genuinely quite helpful in combat. There's also a separate currency that's mainly used for cosmetics. I didn't feel especially compelled to scour every nook and cranny in the environment, though that exploration is there for players who are into it.

Kena is overall a pleasant adventure with some difficulty spikes along the way that kept me on my toes. It's not a must-play title, but it hits its marks and a fun for-all-ages entry in the action fantasy genre.

For a first effort from an indie dev, this was pretty good. What stands out most at first are the visuals, Ember Lab has a background in animation and it shows with the stunning art direction and well produced cutscenes. The music is also lovely.

I was surprised by how solid the gameplay was though. The combat is simple and starts a bit dull, but it comes into its own as more abilities unlock and ended up being really fun by the end. Liked the bosses too, they were challenging but not unfairly so.

There’s some issues such as controls feeling a bit janky at times and the voice acting being a bit lackluster. Also the main currency is only used to buy hats for the Rot, which I can’t say I cared for. But overall I enjoyed Kena and look forward to what’s next from them.