Total Score: 7.22

• Ingenuity: 8
• Visuals: 9
• Sound: 7
• Replay value: 6
• Gameplay: 8
• Plot: 7
• Characters: 7
• Polished: 6
• Enjoyment: 7

Genuinely the most underrated game I know, it's so gorgeous and feels amazing to play.

I'm pretty sure this game changed my brain chemistry forever.

EMBERLAB I LOVE YOU FOREVER PLEASE LET ME WORK FOR YOU ONE DAY

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not a bad game. However, it is a very disappointing one considering the comparisons I've heard people make between it and The Legend of Zelda series. One website went as far as saying that this game is the real 35th anniversary celebration of the Zelda series since Nintendo merely released a half-assed remaster of Skyward Sword. I'll give them this: Kena is like an homage to Zelda except the gameplay differences are bad. It is much simpler and less captivating than a Zelda game is, and a major issue is in the narrative.

You start the game thrust into a cave with no explanation as to why you are there or what you are supposed to do. You are never given a reason for anything about Kena before the game. It essentially copies the opening of the first Legend of Zelda. The game's main story is that you get out of the cave and see two boys/spirits in the forest and decide to follow them. When you finally catch up they state their problem and that they'll help Kena reach the Mountain Shrine in exchange for your help. That's it. Everything afterwards in this game is you helping other people simply because it's the right thing to do rather than anything else. Kena has no character development herself, there are very few other characters to talk to or interact with, and the world doesn't have much to really pull you in. The lack of any sort of characters to help immerse you into the world of Kena and the lack of any real reason for what Kena does or any character development for her is one of the game's two monolithic weaknesses.

Every location you go to is deserted, desolate, and quiet. There is no one to help you get into the game and interested in what is happening because nothing is happening. You basically go to one area, solve some extremely simple puzzles, fight a bunch of bad guys by spamming R1 (light attack), rinse, and repeat. While you do learn a few new abilities throughout the course of the game (shooting an arrow, an energy bomb, and dashing), they don't do much except make the puzzles slightly harder in exchange for giving you a new way to approach and solve said puzzles. They can help in fights, but again you will mostly be spamming the R1 button to fight. Unlike Zelda, you are forced to fight enemies and many at a time. This unfortunately makes combat painfully repetitive and dull because it's forced encounters of button mashing. On the rare occasion where you do need to get creative with fighting (one or two boss fights require it), you can parry by pressing L1 at the exact right moment. Be warned: this is very finicky and unreliable. The penultimate boss of the game was a major challenge for me because I believed parrying was the key to defeating him. A guide on Gamespot gave me some tips that helped me pull it off using other methods, but combat in this game is the second of Kena's two big weaknesses.

This game is fun to play and the graphics are beautiful. The environments are beautiful green with flowers and rivers and all sorts of fun to get you sucked into the world. But the lack of any real reason for doing anything except "because you want to" and the lack of any real characters makes this game feel dead in a sense. I don't care to find all of the remaining rot/hats/etc. because I don't care to run around for the sake of getting the trophies. Having finished the game I still don't understand what Kena wanted to do to begin with besides "get to the Mountain Shrine."

In short, this game is fun but the gameplay is where everything falls short. If a stronger narrative had been made then I would like the game better. However, it just tries to be an homage to Zelda and fails so miserably. While I do recommend you play the game to make your own decision (I am being quite harsh), I highly recommend you borrow the title from a friend or get this cheap. Don't pay $50 for this. It's too short and simply fails to pull you into this gorgeously designed world to be worth the money.

Disney’s Dark Souls. I’d heard about this game as a souls like, but thought it was a joke. Mostly because the graphics look so inviting for a younger and more general audience. Boy, those people would be in for a rough time. Not only is it like Dark Souls, but all melee. So If you can’t handle a melee build, this game is super hard (mostly just the bosses). It didn’t take me too long to beat it, but it certainly presented challenges at points, but typically somewhat manufactured artificially at points. Especially the last boss fight, where you cannot heal for the first 3 combat phases, and must be relatively perfect in your fight. The combat aside, this game looks great, and the animation and art style look wonderful. The story is fine, but not the strongest part to me, but it sure looked pretty.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a great game, but with many reservations.
The supporting structure, based on the exploration of open maps full of collectibles, is valid and works: it's not innovative, it has the same gameplay depth as a game from 10 years ago, but it works all the same. And above all it entertains. You won't find difficult puzzles or who knows what gems, but there is no shortage of crossroads and the level design is quite complex.
The other pillar of the title is the combat system, which takes inspiration from From Software's masterpieces, to be adapted with some new elements. The action system does the bare minimum: it makes the fights playable. However, I found it boring and very slow, as did the enemies: the simple grunts are far too stupid, while the bosses are often unnecessarily frustrating and tough. There is a big imbalance in difficulty from this point of view.

The balance of the gameplay loop given by exploration, collectibles, and combat is unfortunately negative. Apart from a few new abilities, the flow of the game remains identical until the end, already starting to get boring after a couple of hours. There is no evolution in exploration, there is no variation in combat, nothing at all. Of course, my taste as a completionist has still made me appreciate collecting, but perhaps this is not enough.

The game also aims to be story-driven, but the story itself is very banal, albeit with an interesting underlying idea. I have to say that it didn't interest me in the slightest, in fact I was often almost tempted to skip the cutscenes. It didn't convey anything to me from this point of view. Note of demerit for the terrible English dubbing.

The absolute strong point of Kena, the only thing that struck everyone who saw the first trailer, is obviously the graphic aspect: the game world is beautiful, although there is very little variety between the areas, and the game is always a beauty for the eyes. The character design only works for the protagonist, while unfortunately the other characters have the same charismatic depth as a common background character from a Disney film.
One last word for the music: great.

I can't say I'll remember the game fondly, but it certainly didn't give me any unpleasant hours.