Kena: Bridge Of Spirits Pc Release Date

Our Verdict

Looks better than it plays, but it'south got a good eye.

Need to know

What is it? A game about saving souls by chirapsia them into submission.
Expect to pay: $xl/£32
Developer: Ember Lab
Publisher: Ember Lab
Reviewed on: GeForce GTX 1650, AMD Ryzen 5 3550H, viii GB RAM
Multiplayer: None
Release date: September 21, 2021
Link: Ballsy Games Store (opens in new tab)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a looker, and the Pixar comparisons that have been flying around are, to an extent, justified. The lush world and its large-eyed inhabitants radiate with personality. Even the bulbs of abuse that plague the land are oddly attractive. Kena's got the Hollywood looks down, but it'south likewise got the Hollywood determination to play it safe.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits might look like a Zelda game at a glance, but information technology's a largely linear action-adventure game that takes place in one big map, and you're rarely required to retrace your steps. The map is dotted with warp points anyway, and the game autosaves regularly, so yous're never in danger of losing much progress or repeatedly running through the same empty areas. Information technology keeps the story moving throughout its viii-10 hour runtime without too much friction exterior of some potentially tricky fights, depending on your chosen difficulty. Overall, Span of Spirits is a pleasant cruise through familiar activity platforming waters.

Kena herself is a spirit guide. Information technology'due south her task to help souls move on from the mortal plane. This means searching 3 areas for relics attuned to the spirit, clearing abuse and defeating lesser unfriendly spirits on the way. Seeking out personal items in order to gently move a soul on, I tin empathize, but repeatedly hitting them in the confront with a stick? Seems rather unorthodox, simply I judge that shows what I know about spirits.

Combat, of which there is a lot, works merely fine, but I tin can't go whatever more than enthusiastic about it than that. At that place's a calorie-free set on, a heavy assault, a block and parry, and other abilities to unlock (including a bow, which becomes vital both in gainsay, and for switches used in the lite traversal puzzling). Although some enemies require specific tactics to defeat, or to defeat effectively, by and large speaking information technology'southward all a fleck button-bashy. It doesn't help that arenas tend to be fairly small, and enemies often approach from off-camera. I end up dodging a lot.

The niggling creatures that back-trail you on your journey are known as the Rot, and good god they are adorable. You can sit downward to adore or play with them whenever y'all like, simply they also have practical uses. During fights, yous accuse up 'courage' which allows you to transport them to distract an enemy, help destroy an enemy spawn point, or activate an unlocked ability (such as the Rot Hammer, which takes a pleasing chunk out of enemy health confined). Poking around off the main path will sometimes yield new petty followers, which suits my playstyle well. And I must admit, the Rot exercise make themselves useful on occasion; one boss was frustrating me immensely, excavation into the ground as soon every bit I got shut, until I realised that I could club my adorable army to concur it in place for a few seconds while I got some hits in.

Rot'south adjacent?

The Rot are too essential to progress while exploring the overworld. They're used to destroy areas of abuse blocking your mode, and you tin can club them (at specific points) to throw switches or carry objects around. There are a few neat implementations of this only, generally, the potential here is agonisingly underexplored.

The fundamental issue with Kena, which rears its head almost everywhere yous expect, is that y'all'll have done almost everything on offer here a hundred times before. Combat is very familiar, complete with enemies carrying glowing weak spots. At that place are giant flowers which human activity every bit grapple points. There are targets to shoot within a time limit. The ledges you can grab on to are, as is tradition, marked with what I tin but assume is bird poo. Strategic use of game design conventions isn't inherently bad, but in no area does Kena attain across convention.

The story feels a little incomplete—cutscenes sometimes come across as deleted scenes from a movie I haven't seen, and none of the characters are particularly fleshed out, least of all Kena herself—just it did generate enough marvel to proceed me wanting to move forward. On the surface, information technology's another conventional selection: a village and land ruined past a magical evil, spirits that demand help leaving the mortal realm. However, it doesn't hurl its themes at you similar a pie filled with sentimental life advice, which enough of media is guilty of. Its comments on grief—and the terrible things people can practise when driven by that nighttime engine—are nudged toward the player gently and easily identified every bit everyday truths.

The art and story assistance prop up the so-so gameplay, then, simply there are even so combat and platforming highlights to exist found. One of the last bosses is quite good, forcing yous to constantly look around and switch betwixt your bow and staff. The sticky bomb mixes things up a little once you unlock it, too. Information technology'south useful in combat (and compulsory for one enemy type), but it'due south besides used for some traversal puzzles. An explosion temporarily raises debris into the air, significant you need to speedily bound from 1 clamper of masonry to another (and sometimes rotate them with a well-placed arrow). Although you lot're non required to make the shots in mid-air, you're always on a strict fourth dimension limit. The greatest challenge, really, is locating the crystals you lot demand to shoot on rotating platforms.

If I weren't having any fun at all, Kena's cute little spirit pals and unnerving enemies wouldn't have kept me going. It'due south enjoyable enough to play that its characters and environments—sun-kissed forests, moody caves, a snowy mountain—aren't wasted, even if they aren't used to the fullest. I enjoyed exploring them all, despite having to fiddle with the settings to get performance I was happy with.

With my GTX 1650 and 8 GB RAM—sitting at the lower stop of what'southward required—Kena ran pretty smoothly for the first one-half of the game. From the 2nd half onwards, however, I started to run into meaning framerate drops, and had to lower the graphics settings to tease out the performance I was getting at the beginning. The number of visible Rot on screen is a factor, and at that place is a setting that limits how many are visible at one time. Developer Ember Lab also says that future patches will contain Rot optimization improvements, among other things.

If you're wondering where the spirits go after Kena then generously beats them upwardly, Bridge of Spirits does respond life's ultimate question, as she at 1 point crosses over to The Other Side while chasing a spirit. What is life after decease like? It seems that the answer is 'ever so slightly purple'.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Looks better than information technology plays, only it'due south got a skillful heart.