This is a great game that is simply fun and kind of different. It's fun to be the monster that hunts humans throughout an underground facility. It's fun attacking the humans and hearing them scream as you eat them. However, this game is not a horror game. It may look like one in terms of graphic design, but it doesn't have much of a horror feel. There isn't an actual emphasis on attacking humans. They're there to simply be killed or try to kill you with a pistol--to impede your progress in gaining new abilities, getting further throughout the underground area you're in, and eventually escape.

As such, this game is fun because it's a metroidvania with a slight twist of you being the bad guy. As a monster you slither around and go through vents and whatnot to get from area to area or simply to attack people. What ultimately makes this game so much fun is the fact that it's a metroidvania. You go through a few areas you can, figure out some puzzles to get through to a new area, learn a new ability, then use said new ability to go to new areas previously unreachable. It's satisfying, it's fun, it's rewarding, it's a typical metroidvania. That is where this game's strength is as it really doesn't hold up at all as a horror title like it's being promoted as.

One huge mistake was made in this that simply must be said: there is no map for you to use to see what is where. It can seriously slow you down not knowing where to go because you can't find an area, and there are no hints. You must rely on memory. If it wasn't for that this game might have gotten 5 stars, but this is an abysmal error on the devs' part. Carrion absolutely needs a map.

Bottom line: Play it for the fact that this is a metroidvania, not for the "being a monster" or "horror" aspect that is advertised. There is no map which is a massive pain in the ass and cost this game a star from me.

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.

There was a theory back when Skyward Sword first came out that the game is more of a tech demo than anything else. Now that I've finally played it with the Switch release, I can say that I believe this 100%.

Every. Single. Plot point. requires a fetch quest to proceed. There are only four major areas in the game that you have to frequently fly to (which is a slight annoyance) and retrieve something. The bulk of this game is fetch quests followed by dungeons. To make matters worse, the latter part of the game involves partially redoing some dungeons (albeit in a much different manner). Combined with how few areas this game truly has, it's safe to say that Nintendo got as much use out of the game's assets as it could.

These fetch quests also make the early part of the game a slog. It's slow paced and nothing too fun happens. Just usual "find new area, fetch quest, enter dungeon, fight boss, repeat." Things don't pick up until after the third dungeon where the game gets interesting, but again is slowed down heavily by more fetch quests. This game should have been around the length of Ocarina of Time on your first play through, not 30 hours. To illustrate the point better, there is a point in the game where you must talk to Faron (the Water Dragon) to get something to proceed further in the game. She wants you to prove yourself to her before she does anything. So how do you do that? A fetch quest! Then you get what you need and you go to the dungeon. Not bad, right? Well a few hours later, you need to get something else from her (music, or a part of a song). So she just gives it to you, right? Wrong. You have to prove yourself to her again. And how do you do that? ANOTHER F***ING FETCH QUEST.

Then come the motion controls. Yes, on the Switch version you can use a controller whether it be the Switch Pro Controller or the joy-cons attached to the Switch in handheld mode or built-in as part of the Switch Lite. However, it is best when played with the joy-cons in your hands instead of attached to the console. Why? The right thumbstick is annoying to use and there was a point where I switched from the joy-cons to the pro controller and couldn't figure out how to do something (I think it was use my shield). This got me killed, unfortunately. But what's worse is that this is nothing but a gimmick. It doesn't enhance the game in any fashion, it just makes simple tasks like killing a Deku Baba annoying.

I heavily prefer the motion controls of Twilight Princess. It was cool to use the motion controls there but they weren't tied to swinging your sword a certain way. This gimmick is annoying but the pro controller just isn't convenient to use in my opinion, so I dealt with the joy-cons the entire time.

The story itself is really good and we finally see the beginning of how Link and Zelda keep fighting Ganon over and over throughout the games. A reason is given and it's a fine one to me. This game also excels with its musical score which is absolutely beautiful. It is simply lovely and masterfully composed, and it's the first time a Zelda game has had the music orchestrated which makes it all the better. It is the one consistent aspect of this title that is always top notch.

At the end of the day, this game is a massive disappointment. It's more of Fetch Quest: The Game with a Zelda theme to it than anything else. A tech demo for motion controls. If the game hadn't used the fetch quests for every plot point, it would be significantly shorter. Maybe 10 to 12 hours on a first playthrough, maybe a little more or a little less. But this combined with the motion control gimmick and the flying which reminds me of the sailing in The Wind Waker (but 1/10th as annoying), there just isn't much to like about this title except the music.

I beat the game around 2 A.M. and I sold it on eBay as of 9:45 A.M. the same day. Unlike the other Zelda games, this is one I won't be coming back to.