You may learn our unique evaluate of Kena: Bridge of Spirits for PlayStation 5 right here.
Nearly three years in the past, Ember Lab made its debut within the video games trade with Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a captivating, attractive action-adventure title that not at all set the world on fireplace, however received over its justifiable share of followers for the various strengths that it boasted. Now, after having spent three years as a PlayStation console unique, the sport makes its solution to Xbox consoles, giving these inside Microsoft’s ecosystem the prospect to dive in and see simply how nicely the sport holds as much as scrutiny. Unsurprisingly, it’s a strong port of a strong recreation, and straightforward to advocate to any Xbox gamers looking out for a strong, semi-linear, conventional Zelda-like action-adventure title.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits places you within the sneakers of its eponymous protagonist, a spirit information who arrives in an deserted village that’s been taken over by a corruption that’s spreading, and spirits of people that died however failed to maneuver on resulting from lingering previous traumas. As a spirit information, it’s Kena’s responsibility to assist these folks go on and to clear the corruption that has taken over the village and its surrounding areas, together with her final purpose being to get to the mountain shrine that looms over the village.
“Unsurprisingly, it’s a strong port of a strong recreation, and straightforward to advocate to any Xbox gamers looking out for a strong, semi-linear, conventional Zelda-like action-adventure title.”
Narratively, Kena does lots of good things- lots of the characters that you simply meet might be genuinely endearing (although the voice appearing for a number of can really feel a bit too bland), whereas a number of the particular person arcs associated to a few of these characters may also legitimately tug at your heartstrings. On the similar time, nonetheless, there are areas the place the sport stumbles. As an example, Kena herself is a disappointingly boring protagonist, whereas the story additionally tends to be a bit too rote and predictable as a rule, even when it’s nicely informed.
The actual marvel of this recreation is, after all, within the visuals. From a pure constancy perspective, Kena: Bridge of Spirits greater than holds up its personal, nevertheless it’s the artwork type and the standard of its animations that actually make the sport pop the way in which it does. Beautiful, vibrant environments that by no means fail to wow you with their visible splendour, characters’ faces and animations being so filled with allure and character, the lovable and eccentric little creatures generally known as Rot being as endearing as they’re to easily look at- Kena boasts a robust visible identification in additional methods than one, and developer Ember Lab’s experience and background in animation is abundantly on show right here. When it launched for PlayStation consoles and PC three years in the past, I used to be strongly of the opinion that Kena: Bridge of Spirits was one of many prettiest and most visually nice video games round, and I don’t suppose it has misplaced any of that sheen.
It’s not a spotless technical expertise, nonetheless. For essentially the most half, Kena appears and runs nice on an Xbox Sequence X, the platform I’ve performed and reviewed it on, although I did discover a handful of minor but noticeable situations of body charge drops. After I reviewed the sport on PS5 in 2021, this wasn’t a problem I bumped into, although some gamers on all platforms did point out body skipping points even on the time. Whether or not Kena: Bridge of Spirits has the identical concern on Xbox consoles isn’t one thing that my technically illiterate self can inform you, however I can inform you that although the difficulty isn’t a serious one by any stretch of the creativeness, it is one which some might discover and be not less than barely irritated by. Hopefully, Ember Lab irons it out with a future patch.
“From a pure constancy perspective, Kena: Bridge of Spirits greater than holds up its personal, nevertheless it’s the artwork type and the standard of its animations that actually make the sport pop the way in which it does.”
On the gameplay entrance, Xbox gamers ought to anticipate a standard Zelda-like action-adventure recreation with large linear design. Kena is, in a nutshell, a textbook instance of a strong recreation that’s more than pleased to not go off the crushed path. Very not often does it attempt to break style conventions, to experiment, or to strive one thing that you could be not have seen in different video games earlier than, nevertheless it pulls collectively a complete lot of acquainted parts, implements them in equally predictable methods, and produces a gameplay expertise that isn’t going to shock anybody by any means, however goes to supply loads of enjoyable and engagement.
In virtually all methods, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a reasonably easy recreation. That’s to not say it’s lean – it could actually simply final over a dozen hours and the gameplay expertise that it does ship isn’t essentially one that you’d name shallow – nevertheless it trims down a lot. Fight is the world the place you’ve acquired essentially the most happening, with completely different enemy sorts, Kena accessing a rising arsenal of strikes and talents, utilizing your ever increasing military of tiny little Rot creatures, clearing corruption mid-battles, and extra. Fights may also typically present extra of a problem than you could anticipate, particularly once you’re taking over a number of the key bosses. Although not revolutionary by any means, and although typically let down by the stiff motion, fight in Kena is essentially a enjoyable expertise.
Exploration is analogous. Large linear areas by no means really feel overly massive, however there are sometimes loads of hidden paths, branching roads, optionally available rooms, and the like to hunt out. Gentle puzzle fixing and somewhat-less-light exploration yield numerous rewards, from foreign money to cosmetics to new Rot so as to add to your rising military of lovable Pikmin-like creatures. Once more, Kena: Bridge of Spirits retains issues easy and acquainted within the exploration and design division, nevertheless it implements its well-trodden concepts nicely sufficient to maintain issues partaking. Although once more, much like the fight, the considerably janky motion can is a knock towards the exploration, with easy actions corresponding to leaping, double leaping, grabbing onto ledges, and the like by no means fairly feeling the way in which they need to.
“Kena: Bridge of Spirits retains issues easy and acquainted within the exploration and design division, nevertheless it implements its well-trodden concepts nicely sufficient to maintain issues partaking.”
Does Kena really feel prefer it performs a bit too protected on the gameplay aspect of issues? Perhaps so- however although it doesn’t tread new floor and retains issues largely fairly easy and streamlined, it nonetheless delivers an enticing gameplay expertise, thanks largely to strong execution of its acquainted concepts. I’ll say, nonetheless, simply as I did once I initially reviewed the sport on PS5- on the subject of development mechanics, Kena feels a bit too barebones, which is one thing that turns into more and more noticeable as you play an increasing number of of the sport. That lack of depth in development mechanics could make it really feel like a considerably static gameplay expertise every so often.
Finally, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a strong recreation for Xbox gamers to dive into, even when it does include its handful of flaws. If you happen to’re searching for originality or peerless gameplay and design, Ember Lab’s action-adventure title is probably not for you, but when a beautiful setting, a well-told (if predictable) story, and interesting (if often tough) fight and exploration are what you need, that is a straightforward recreation to advocate.
This recreation was reviewed on the Xbox Sequence X.
