What Makes ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ Special
From the moment that Kena: Bridge of Spirits was announced, I was smitten by its inspired aesthetic, marrying traditional film animation techniques with contemporary game design to produce something that looked utterly original and unique. I simply had never seen another game that tried to look as alive as Kena, and I was ready to dive into its charming presentation. Though the pathway up to Kena’s release was fraught and caused many people, including myself, to doubt whether this game would live up to the hype, my experience with Kena: Bridge of Spirits was punctuated by moments of beauty, mirth, and tension that surpassed those lofty hopes — even as the game is occasionally a mixed bag.
A Turbulent Road to Launch
Leading up to release, the marketing around Kena was eerily muted, especially for a studio ostensibly partnering with Sony for a console exclusive. Kena’s first red flag was its delay from summer into September — which, to be fair, happened during COVID’s delay season — suggesting that the game had either overscoped itself or ran into significant snags during development. The marketing cycle was so quiet leading up to Kena’s release that fans and critics alike started to question Kena’s quality, leading to another red flag. Was it possible, some wondered, that this playable Pixar movie was too good to be true? The final red flag emerged in response to the strangely last-minute review embargo; not only were review outlets late to receive advance press copies, but very few outlets actually received a review code at all. (Epilogue, for instance, did not receive a code.)
To make matters worse, Kena’s embargo lifted right when the game went live and was available for purchase. An impending embargo lifting this late is a strange and unusual practice that, as time has shown with botched releases of games like Cyberpunk 2077, have conditioned critics to see it as a scummy anti-consumer practice. Thus, in the days before Kena’s release, I was one of the people who worried that the developers were hiding something — perhaps a broken, unfinished game.
Luckily for Kena, none of these critical concerns were warranted in the end. Having now seen the credits roll, I believe these red flags were a case of smoke where there is no fire. The game’s delay was simply for polish, as the team adapted to the altered conditions of development and needed another month to ensure Kena’s reception was as praiseworthy as possible. Though it was strange that we didn’t see much in the way of extended gameplay trailers or in-game footage reels ahead of release day, there wasn’t a single aspect of Kena’s gameplay that felt buggy or stilted in my ten hours playing it. It certainly is an eyebrow-raising practice to narrow your press pool to about 20-odd review outlets like IGN, Polygon, and the like. But as many critics noted on release day, Kena is surprisingly complex for something that appears to be a kid-friendly experience.
The act of placing an embargo at the time of the game’s release is incredibly suspicious, and I’ve been burned enough times on pre-orders to withhold my purchase even for something as objectively adorable as Kena until the reviews drop. This meant that I waited until the day that the game released to pick up my copy, and I wonder how many people shared my inclination to sit on the sidelines, patiently awaiting the critical reception, instead of simply purchasing it right away. Not only that, but a day or two before launch, Maximum Games announced that a physical version of Kena would be released two months later in November, leading to many people suddenly lamenting their digital pre-order.
In either case, I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw Kena initially sitting at a healthy 85 on Opencritic, and I bought it digitally on day one; the first thing I did when I got home on release day was download and play about four hours of Kena: Bridge of Spirits. And what a wonderful journey those next few days would take me on.
The Immediate Appeal of Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Unlike many games, I think you can discern if Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a game for you just by viewing a trailer, for the game consistently looks as great as the cinematics would suggest. Kena eschews realism, which allows for virtually zero disparity in detail or animation quality between pre-rendered cutscenes and the playable segments. It’s frankly astonishing how similar the graphical fidelity is as you zoom around its world, platforming in various biomes, dodging and rolling around in combat, sending incessant particle effects around — all while your little army of Rot bounces along playfully by your side. I played on the Playstation 5 because I learned that the PC version would not support the Dualsense features at launch. Games like Returnal have convinced me that the Dualsense is the true feature of next-gen games rather than graphics, so I felt like I was making a compromise between graphical fidelity and controller support. Even then, I was constantly surprised at how great Kena looked at every moment on my PS5, later to be confirmed by Digital Foundry as arguably the best version.
There is some degree of inconsistency within Kena’s animations, notably the various relic collecting cutscenes where Kena dons the mask of a lost spirit, rekindling their memories. In these memory scenes, characters rarely emote, their mouths don’t move, and the expressive eyes of the Pixar-like characters don’t bounce with personality in the same way. Despite these comparative limitations, such scenes are beautifully lit, well scored, and evoke the precise themes and personalities that the developers seem to have been aiming for. I imagine these flashback scenes were not as thoroughly animated due to budget and time constraints within development. Perhaps, with unlimited time and resources, everything would be as vibrant as the main story beats. But once I accepted that these flashback sequences would take the form of something closer to the still scenes of Yakuza 0, for instance, I was sold on their visual delivery.
Time to Buy Some Plushies: Kena and The Rot
As for Kena herself, the game’s eponymous protagonist, I always got the sense that she was a living, breathing being within this equally alive, fantastical world. When Kena runs, her little ponytail bobs up and down in a pleasing fashion. When she twists into a double jump, I was convinced that her spirit energy had vaulted her up ever-so-slightly above what you’d expect of a human. And, in combat, every frame of animation felt precise but frantic, as though Kena’s agile movement communicated a backstory of disciplined training and simultaneous intimidation. Simply watching trailer footage of Kena’s movement didn’t convince me, but playing as her completely did.
Kena is also charmingly animated in between these moments of gameplay, like in her meditation sequences where the camera cuts to various panoramic shots of the surrounding scenery. You see a stillness and poise within her posture and facial expression that are barely punctuated by slow, deep breaths. The music quiets down and you almost feel like you’re sharing the mental space with her.
My favorite of these in-between moments of animation involve Kena sitting down on the ground to play with her Rot companions. These little Rot creatures are little furry beings, plump and with nubby little limbs, and offer magical powers throughout. Throughout environmental exploration, the Rot chirp like kittens and bounce like popcorn kernels in a pan. But on the ground with Kena, they encircle her in adoration, eyes all wide and completely trained on her person. You’d think this casual interaction that has zero gameplay impact or consequence would grow stale as a gimmick, but I found myself sitting down to play with the Rot about three to four times per play session.
Sitting down with the Rot, you can have them dance atop your head, kiss you on the cheek, and so on. There aren’t a million options, but Kena’s focus on customizing your Rot army with little hats kept me coming back to these peaceful sequences. At times, the Rot felt like little pets that I wanted to cuddle with; at others, they became fierce warriors who braved critical battles for me. Through these interactions, I developed a maternalistic bond with them, wanting to protect the Rot and remind them how much I loved them. It’s silly to verbalize those feelings, but they are what kept me searching through environmental crannies, solving optional puzzles, and retracing my steps after cleansing an area, because I knew that I’d find and rescue another few little Rot to add to my burgeoning family.
Tricking Myself Into Liking Dark Souls
The Rot are spiritual beings that Kena, a spirit guide, can rescue and then control. They act as a collective hivemind during gameplay, but each customizable hat made me feel like the Rot were also unique individuals. As a hivemind, they solve puzzles, clear corrupted areas, and heal Kena. But where the Rot — and most of the game — shine are their irreplaceably crucial place in Kena’s jaw-droppingly dense combat.
To describe combat as “demanding” is a tired cliche, but for a game like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, there’s no more appropriate word. With Kena, I fell prey to the cutesy art direction and judged a book by its cover, not properly appreciating the complexities of combat. Kena offers three primary difficulty modes upon installation, a fourth of which unlocks after your first completed run. Even on the easiest “story” difficulty, I died a few times to some unexpectedly challenging bosses. Luckily, enemies outside of boss encounters never troubled me much, but I can’t recall the last time I died in combat during a game’s easiest difficulty setting. I had to get good, and quick.
By throwing down the gauntlet even on its easiest setting, Kena: Bridge of Spirits required me to learn its many systems. I find it incredibly strange that so many reviewers complained about combat lacking depth. Kena’s two melee attacks and defensive shield also enable parrying at the start. Between those basic attacks and the perfect-feeling dodge roll, I was frantically zooming around, leaning in for a quick thwaps before hurriedly creating space between myself and a boss enemy. Go ahead and pour out a drink, because everything about this formula reminded me of the Dark Souls games — but, astonishingly, in a way that ensnared me.
Kena got away with its Souls-inspired combat design because the whole package is presented like a storybook fairytale with a happy ending, instead of the macabre depression that the Souls series proffers. Everything, including the most grotesque boss enemies, sings with emotionally driven art direction in Kena, and I fell in love with the intense combat just as I fell in love with the Rot.
As Kena’s combat opens up, her staff becomes dually purposed as a bow. Suddenly, I was zipping in and out of combat encounters, shooting a few well-placed arrows at vulnerable areas like I was Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, before rolling in to pummel a stunned enemy. A few hours later, the staff can throw explosive globes of liquid that can stick on enemies. These combat abilities are highlighted by excellent use of the Dualsense controller that dynamically rumbled in appropriate explosive contexts and offered me sincere resistance when tightening my pull on another carefully aimed arrow.
At this point, I was unlocking Kena’s various skills through the game’s Karma system, enabling my Rot to not only heal me during combat, but infuse themselves with all three of my attacks as well. By the end, once the final power is unlocked, I found myself dwelling on those critical opinions about Kena again, wondering in disbelief what was missing from this surprisingly arduous but rewarding combat system.
Stellar, Evocative Boss Encounters
The boss designs are excellent in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, all of which have well-executed stories contextualizing their encounters. They are tough, their visual designs are dripping with cultural inspirations, and each fights in entirely distinct ways. Looking back at the trailers now, I feel almost naive for not noticing how intense combat would be, but now I would almost say Kena is a combat game first and a puzzle-platforming game second.
My favorite boss was the Corrupt Woodsmith, which Kena could not damage at first. Vainly, I unloaded everything I had into the Corrupt Woodsmith, meticulously tap dancing around mutually overlapping damage zones in succession. After a few moments, I realized that the game’s preceding hour of bomb-related puzzles had something to do with how to defeat her. I noticed that the Corrupt Woodsmith had some sort of spiritual tether connecting her to a structure in the center of the battle arena. So I tossed a bomb, shot it with an arrow, and it exploded, revealing a vulnerable crystal center. I had found my prey.
While the Corrupt Woodsmith kept damaging me as I inelegantly dodged around, I’d sink a few arrows into the structure’s vulnerable center, severing the spiritual tether to the boss. Finally, the boss was stunned. I rushed in and let loose. To describe this moment as satisfying would understate the case, for I have repeatedly written on Epilogue about how I tend to hate both puzzles in games and intense difficulty within combat. To find myself energetically fist pumping with satisfaction at having just overcome a puzzle and a boss at the same time was unusual but welcome. I realized in this engaging encounter that I, in fact, adored this kind of design that Kena presented.
Defeating the Corrupt Woodsmith was as satisfying in terms of gameplay as it was in terms of narrative for me, reconnecting lovers who have been tragically broken apart. And I think I can generalize this satisfaction to the rest of Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ storyline. Though the writers seem to believe that subtext is for cowards, I didn’t mind the explicit writing that left no room for interpretation. Such transparent prose isn’t always beautiful, but it betrays a clarity of vision that can feel rare in video game writing sometimes.
Where The Writing Could Improve
I think each of the game’s major characters were written well, especially in the aftermath of the Corrupt Woodsmith. I did wish, however, that we learned more about Kena herself, considering the story almost entirely centers on the backstory of characters whose spirits Kena saves. The game’s opening presents Kena in a cave with little context, and only twice does the game square off against her own backstory. Kena nearly adheres to the tabula rasa protagonist trope where the player can project whatever they please onto her emotions. But, at the same time, Kena clearly has beliefs, opinions, loved ones, and insecurities — even traumas. As a player, I would have loved for more opportunities for introspection from Kena, because she is otherwise an endearing character.
This feeling of latent potential both in the overall storyline and regarding Kena’s character makes me feel like Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the perfect set up for a powerful sequel. In that sequel, perhaps others’ critiques of the combat might be addressed along with my yearning for more personal backstory on Kena herself, and so on. There are a few hints in the story that felt ripe for exploration in a sequel, like when the mountain village is drying up and dying in a flashback. The village elder warns that the people should move to another place and let the land heal. Such a claim evokes other possible settings within the magical world of Kena. Clearly, I can’t predict whether the creators have a sequel in mind, but I hope this game does well enough for EmberLab that they choose to bring such a follow-up to fruition.
Is Kena: Bridge of Spirits Generic, or Worth Playing?
At launch, one of the criticisms I’ve seen has been that Kena has nothing original to offer. I fundamentally disagree, both as a review premise and an actual critique of the game. Kena does many things that other games before it have done, but it does just enough right in each of these departments that I never felt like I was playing something iterative or uninspired — quite the opposite, in fact. At times, I found myself making mental associations not only with Dark Souls, but with beloved games like Journey, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and A Plague Tale: Innocence. For someone like me, Kena’s varnish is glossy enough that the charge of “unoriginality” seems antithetical to what the game actually delivers.
“Kena is like my favorite bag of trail mix,” I wrote down while playing. It’s a lovingly crafted mixture of components that I love from those games I mentioned above. Sometimes you get a handful with some dried fruit or some chocolate candies, and it’s great. But it’s always mixed with those necessary, healthy elements of game design such as combat, which keeps the experience from ever feeling passive, like the animated films Kena takes inspiration from. Most importantly, when it’s tasty, it freaking rules.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not a perfect game, but it’s beyond impressive for a debut game by a studio as small as EmberLab. I laughed and cooed at the Rot, cried at the story, and felt my palms sweating during the intense final boss encounter. In between these vibrant sessions, when I had to put the game down for another day, I was in agony; I simply wanted to immerse myself deeper within this compelling world. When I settled down for the final gauntlet leading to the credits, my jaw dropped when the entire studio had been named on a single screen — absenting marketing and publishing teams, actors, etc. For a studio this small and this new, I feel as though EmberLab is a studio that everyone should be watching. If Kena is what they can already accomplish, I am keen to play whatever they have cooking next.
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