In this Zelda-like, you take on the role of Kena. Kena is a Spirit Guide, and with her crystal-tipped staff, she can interact with spirits trapped between the physical realm and the spirit realm. Think of her as a medium and her job is making sure ghosts can pass over to the Other Side. This is a skill that she inherited from her father, as well as his magical staff and glowing blue necklace.
In Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Kena is travelling to the Mountain Spirit Shrine but a literal ghost town stands between her and the mountain. In order to reach the mountain, she needs to cleanse the town of the corruption that holds it (and its ghostly inhabitants) hostage. Kena encounters the masked spirit of a man who claims to be responsible for the corruption but before she can learn much more, she is attacked by the spirit’s corrupted humanoid monsters. With the help of the Rot – black furry blobs of adorableness – Kena is able to slay the monsters and cleanse the corruption.
So with her new friends in tow, Kena’s only way to reach the Mountain Spirit Shrine is to hunt down the masked spirit and put his soul to rest…
What I liked…
Art Style
Kena: Bridge of Spirits has a visual style similar to 3D anime. I can’t say I’m a fan of 3D anime, but it is more palatable in the medium of games than in the medium of television. Kena: Bridge of Spirits would look just as beautiful cel-shaded but that shouldn’t deter anyone from recognising how stunning the actual renders are. Characters have big eyes and disproportionate body shapes, which gives the game an outfit shared among CG animated goliaths like Pixar and Dreamworks. This art style makes Kena: Bridge of Spirits cute and appealing to a younger demographic.
Music
Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ music sounds like it was orchestrated by spirit nymphs. The use of wood instruments, bongos and rattles feels like it was born naturally from the depths of a magical rainforest. The soundtrack reminded me of Akira at times and I’m struggling to encapsulate why because Akira and Kena: Bridge of Spirits are two completely different beasts. The best I can do is describe how Akira’s soundtrack and Kena: Bridge of Spirits‘ soundtrack makes me feel – wild, carefree, lost and primitive. There’s a sense of freedom, awe and naive optimism that both OSTs rile up inside of me.
Rot
If Kena is the main star then the Rot are her co-stars. A Rot is a cute, little black marshmallow-looking ball of joy that can help Kena fight off the hordes of enemies. The Rot can also help her move objects, temporarily fix bridges, and aid her in battle. At certain times, Rots can combine and turn into a ghost-like deer-thing and help destroy environmental barriers, opening up new paths to explore or opportunities to find more treasure.
The Rot follow Kena around and act as a constant reminder that she’s not alone. They can teleport, so they’re always one step behind or one step ahead, perched on a rock, mound, or windowsill (location-dependent, of course). Kena can buy hats for the Rots, and each one can be customised to wear its own headpiece. I had some fun with this, which I’m sure plenty of people will do as well. The novelty of dressing them wore off quickly but it was always a pleasure to see 70 different shaped hats inconsistently manifesting around Kena on her adventure.
Gameplay Variety
There’s loads to do in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, preventing things from feeling stale. Primarily, there are loads of Rot to find and each one is hidden behind/beneath/inside something that requires solving a puzzle to rescue it. Puzzles are varied – from shooting multiple targets within an allotted time, digging up crops, and blowing up time-distorting rocks, to name a few – and it was always a delight to come across a new challenge. There’s a shrine that lets you replay boss encounters that reward you with upgrades and cosmetics for meeting certain goals, such as killing the boss within a certain time, or not taking damage during the whole fight. There are houses locked off to Kena and they can only be accessed by delivering spirit mail. These spiritual envelopes can be found dotted around the world. Once discovered, Kena can post it to the correct home for a miniboss and a reward.
What I didn’t like…
Latency Issues
I played Kena: Bridge of Spirits on Xbox Series S and rotating the camera, jumping, and parrying were slightly delayed. It was jarring as soon as I booted the game up, so I had a play about with the settings to try and find a fix. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. You eventually adapt to the sluggish reactions (you must do because you will need to learn how to parry) but it’s not something you should have to adapt to. I tried using a different controller with fully charged batteries, yet nothing changed. I don’t know if the PlayStation 5 version (or even the Xbox Series X version for that matter) suffers from latency issues but it’s a problem I did not expect from an award-winning title.
Swimming
Swimming is inconveniently slow. Kena doesn’t spend much time in the water – there’s only a handful of times she even needs to wade into it – but water often acts as a safety blanket for when you mess up and fall off a cliff face, and swimming back to shore is like treading through treacle. What adds to the frustration is Kena can’t jump while she’s swimming either, so you can’t speed things up with some airborne manoeuvres. Instead, put on a podcast or doomscroll on social media until Kena reaches dry land.
Final Score: 7/10
Should you play it? Maybe
Why? Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a cool game. As far as Zelda-likes go, Kena is a top-tier contender. There are plenty of qualities to admire, such as the art design and soundtrack, and the constant companionship of the Rot is something I haven’t seen in another game before. It’s quite remarkable how they continuously follow you around actually, and the game never felt hindered by their presence.
But… The latency issues were enough to ruin the overall experience. It often made combat boring because I had to rely on what I knew would work, which was basically landing a few hits before jumping away. It’s a shame I couldn’t fully immerse myself in what the combat had to offer.
Reviewed on Xbox Series S
Developer: Ember Lab
Publisher: Ember Lab
Playable on: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4/5, PC
Released: 15th August 2024
