Review – Kena: Bridge of Spirits 

If there has ever been a video game that feels like it is set within a Pixar film, this is it. An astonishingly beautiful game, Kena: Bridge of Spirits follows the journey of Kena, a Spirit Guide on a path to a sacred mountain shrine, on the way cleansing the lands of its corruption through aiding trapped spirits in moving on to the next life. Developers Ember Lab are primarily known for their animation work and they have successfully proven their talents within the gaming world through Kena: Bridge of Spirits. 

Kena’s story begins in a dark cave with only luminescent crystals lighting a path where the player learns basic movement controls and while her story has compelling beginnings it never really got to a point where it had me hooked. Upon entering a large cavern, Kena senses suffering within an unknown spirit and offers to help. This spirit orders Kena to leave and spawns an enemy which familiarises the player in combat. Exiting the cave reveals greener pastures with sunshine that emits rays of light over a beautiful green forest. 

Through exploring the forest, the player will discover adorable little companions known as Rot. These companions act as little assistants that help in various ways to explore the world, fight off enemies and earn upgrades. Progression to Kena’s path is also often blocked by corrupted areas that are moulded together by a Deadzone Heart which can only be purified by the Rot, usually after defeating a number of enemies first. 

Kena has a number of items that help explore as much of the world as possible, including a bow that can double as a grappling hook and hit targets that unlock new areas, and bombs that can be thrown to certain objects to create platforms. Kena is also a keen climber and there is a generous amount of climbing puzzles and platforming that needs to be conquered throughout gameplay, but it is rarely difficult. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits encourages players to explore the world as discovering more Rot allows the player to level up and unlock new upgrades to Kena’s combat abilities. Upgrading abilities requires Karma, which is earned through defeating enemies, clearing corruption, solving puzzles and getting the Rot to replace fallen statues to their original resting place. Most of these things come naturally through the progression of the story, but small detours can be made to earn just a little bit more Karma on top and while these upgrades may seem minor in the early stages, they are vital later on when the difficulty spikes. 

Along the way the player will also collect a number of Gems through defeating enemies, discovering chests, solving puzzles and almost everything else, however these are only spent on Hats for the Rot which, while cute as heck, make absolutely no difference to gameplay outside of aesthetically. This is probably one for the completionists out there who want that elusive Platinum trophy. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ cextremely fluid  and timing very much plays a role in making enemies much easier to defeat. Combat consists of a light and heavy attack while in close and a long-range attack through the use of a bow and bombs. The aforementioned ability upgrades can also be used to deal a decent amount of damage and fallen foes drop Courage orbs that fill up a Courage Meter which can be consumed to perform a special Rot attack. Defensively, Kena can perform an evading roll and with some good timing a Parry, which leaves an attacking enemy stunned and open to a counterattack. 

Most combat areas, but not all, also have corrupted flowers that can be consumed for health through the use of Courage, so do not forget to collect those Courage orbs. 

There is a nice array of enemies that range from smaller enemies that can be laid to waste, to harder hitting enemies with a sizeable health bar as well as flying enemies that always seem to cause the most trouble. For a lot of the first quarter of the story most enemies can be dealt with simply by mashing the light attack button, which can be a bit disheartening, however, the Boss fights can be very challenging. 

Boss fights are where combat truly shines through and makes parrying and Rot attacks much more significant as these bosses have ample amounts of health, and they can deplete Kena’s health quite quickly. In some fights the player will be required to find a specific weakness of a boss in order to deal damage and other fights there are small, weaker enemies that have to be dealt with at the same time. There were a couple fights in which I was able to “cheese it” which might annoy some, but I was particularly proud of my accomplishments. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits has a wonderful soundtrack that features the music of traditional Balinese instruments by a group called Gamelan Çudamani. Composer Jason Gallaty went out of his way to make a collaboration with the group and the results are spectacular and best of all, unique. To experience the soundtrack alone is enough to make me want to play again. Aside from the music, the game’s sound is also very well polished, especially within combat. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is up there for me in this year’s most visually stunning game and for good reason. With Embar Lab taking a leap in to the gaming world from animation, they have played their strengths greatly and it makes the photo mode all that more entertaining to toy with. While Kena: Bridge of Spirits does not have that wow-factor when it comes to realism, there is beauty in the simplicity and vibrant colours of its world. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits could probably be longer as it only took me around 10 hours to complete and I took my time with it, though it did not take anything away from my experience. While Kena has an M rating and there are some darker themes I would not consider any part of my playthrough too scary for younger audiences. In fact, my young daughter was glued to the screen just watching me play at times. Being a single player experience, if parental duties ever arise it is simple enough to pause and come back to it at a later time. 

Here is a bit of a behind the scenes look at the making of Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

Brando for One More Game Au

9 – Amazing – as near to a 10 as you are going to get without it being a 10. It’s an amazing experience that just requires that little something else to make it a masterpiece. Your hard earned cash and time would be well spent here.

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Kena: Bridge of Spirits was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 and is also available on the Epic Games Store.

The publisher kindly provided code for this game. All thoughts on this game are ours and ours alone.