chrispy294
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--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
February 15, 2022
Platforms Played
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the debut game from Ember Lab, and man, what a debut it is.
With some excellent visuals that rival some larger budget games, Ember Lab's animation experience comes in handy to elevate Kena from a typical indie debut. Environments are lush, characters are well detailed and well animated, and various effects sprinkled throughout bring the world to life. It runs mostly at 60fps in Performance Mode on PS5 as well, lending to a very smooth experience. Only major gripe here is a lot of the environments feel very samey, but it's a style the devs execute well.
Sound is also well done, aside from some ho-hum voice acting performances. Cues are well placed and distinct to help with puzzle solving and exploration while the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous.
Alongside a solid if unextraordinary narrative, the presentation really makes this an attractive game, but luckily the gameplay holds its end as well. Level design is excellent, encouraging exploration, especially in larger areas, but never leaving you confused as to where you're supposed to go next. Each of the many different collectibles and activities found throughout are a joy to participate, so I found myself frequently going off the beaten path. It helps that even if the types of things you find are the same, the switchup in specific puzzles and combat scenarios between areas is varied enough to keep the fun rolling. This is something I don't see newer developers nail as often, so it's impressive to see it here. It helps too that collecting the little Rot buddies and using them Pikmin style is just so darn cute and satisfying!
The combat is also very good, especially when playing on Hard difficulty like I did. Do be warned, on Hard the game won't pull its punches, and it unfortunately brings out some of the holes here. There are only a handful of mechanics here (some used for exploration as well) but they're excellently blended to make a dynamic combat system that at times can test your ability to swap strategies between a solid variety of enemies. And then most other battles you'll just R1 spam until the little guys are dead.
Where it falls short though can easily be seen in the boss battles. The boss designs themselves are pretty noteworthy, with only a couple that had some wonky mechanics. However, I found myself frustrated with many and not always for the right reasons. Lock on is easily the combat system's biggest offender. Getting the game to lock on or turn it off is finicky at best and usually takes a few clicks of the button to pull off. Not to mention it really has a hard time or flat out refuses to do anything while you're in the air or attacking. This is unbelievably frustrating and can really mess up the flow of battle. Not to mention, if you're locked on to an enemy that teleports, the game will move the camera with them so you know where they'll come in... sometimes. There were quite a few instances where instead of following the boss or enemy, it just got stuck in position, and I had to fiddle with it while the boss warped in and did damage to me. The deaths from that were not fun.
Otherwise, my only other complaint in combat is the overall input lag. It's not too bad through most of the game, but the later bosses are pretty damn fast. There were times where I felt like I nailed the timing on a dodge roll or parry, only for me to be late because of how much time Kena took to actually perform said actions. It was quite annoying, but I was able to adjust my timing after a few times banging my head against some of the later bosses.
At the end of the day though, I ended up really enjoying my time with Kena. The world and story were charming, the visuals beautiful, and the gameplay overall very fun despite a couple gripes. It's at a lower price point too, so if you like action/adventure games, I highly recommend you pick this one up!
With some excellent visuals that rival some larger budget games, Ember Lab's animation experience comes in handy to elevate Kena from a typical indie debut. Environments are lush, characters are well detailed and well animated, and various effects sprinkled throughout bring the world to life. It runs mostly at 60fps in Performance Mode on PS5 as well, lending to a very smooth experience. Only major gripe here is a lot of the environments feel very samey, but it's a style the devs execute well.
Sound is also well done, aside from some ho-hum voice acting performances. Cues are well placed and distinct to help with puzzle solving and exploration while the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous.
Alongside a solid if unextraordinary narrative, the presentation really makes this an attractive game, but luckily the gameplay holds its end as well. Level design is excellent, encouraging exploration, especially in larger areas, but never leaving you confused as to where you're supposed to go next. Each of the many different collectibles and activities found throughout are a joy to participate, so I found myself frequently going off the beaten path. It helps that even if the types of things you find are the same, the switchup in specific puzzles and combat scenarios between areas is varied enough to keep the fun rolling. This is something I don't see newer developers nail as often, so it's impressive to see it here. It helps too that collecting the little Rot buddies and using them Pikmin style is just so darn cute and satisfying!
The combat is also very good, especially when playing on Hard difficulty like I did. Do be warned, on Hard the game won't pull its punches, and it unfortunately brings out some of the holes here. There are only a handful of mechanics here (some used for exploration as well) but they're excellently blended to make a dynamic combat system that at times can test your ability to swap strategies between a solid variety of enemies. And then most other battles you'll just R1 spam until the little guys are dead.
Where it falls short though can easily be seen in the boss battles. The boss designs themselves are pretty noteworthy, with only a couple that had some wonky mechanics. However, I found myself frustrated with many and not always for the right reasons. Lock on is easily the combat system's biggest offender. Getting the game to lock on or turn it off is finicky at best and usually takes a few clicks of the button to pull off. Not to mention it really has a hard time or flat out refuses to do anything while you're in the air or attacking. This is unbelievably frustrating and can really mess up the flow of battle. Not to mention, if you're locked on to an enemy that teleports, the game will move the camera with them so you know where they'll come in... sometimes. There were quite a few instances where instead of following the boss or enemy, it just got stuck in position, and I had to fiddle with it while the boss warped in and did damage to me. The deaths from that were not fun.
Otherwise, my only other complaint in combat is the overall input lag. It's not too bad through most of the game, but the later bosses are pretty damn fast. There were times where I felt like I nailed the timing on a dodge roll or parry, only for me to be late because of how much time Kena took to actually perform said actions. It was quite annoying, but I was able to adjust my timing after a few times banging my head against some of the later bosses.
At the end of the day though, I ended up really enjoying my time with Kena. The world and story were charming, the visuals beautiful, and the gameplay overall very fun despite a couple gripes. It's at a lower price point too, so if you like action/adventure games, I highly recommend you pick this one up!