PlayStation releases visual spectacle ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’
After multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ember Labs finally released the long-awaited action-adventure video game "Kena: Bridge of Spirits" on Sept. 21. Just based on the short teasers leading up to the game’s release, fans were already comparing its animation quality with the likes of “Skyrim” and “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” As a result, gamers have been anxious to finally get their hands on the gameplay and narrative of the game to see if it was on par with its outstanding visuals.
After purchasing the game on the date of its release, I have been fully immersed in the absolutely beautiful open-world game design of “Kena: Bridge of Spirits.” The game itself follows the story of a young girl named Kena, a young Spirit Guide traveling to an abandoned village in search of the sacred mountain shrine. On her journey, she encounters evil monsters who are “lost spirits,” and helps them move on to the next life by defeating them in combat. She is also accompanied by a group of adorable miniature creatures known as Rots, who aid her and keep her company as she treks across the dangerous and mystical world around her.
Before producing video games, Ember Labs was actually created as an animation studio initially. This is not surprising at all given the gorgeous Pixar-like game design that “Kena: Bridge of Spirits” offers. Whether it is short cinematic plot scenes or the actual gameplay, it very much feels like you are watching a movie as opposed to playing a video game. This is even more impressive when you take into consideration the sheer size of the world and the attention to detail that each location has. The game also shifts from luscious green forests to blistering desserts and icy mountain tops with seamless beauty.
The one area that you could say the game lacks is in its gameplay and game progression. While I have not played through the entire game, the gaming mechanics are extremely simple, especially when it comes to combat. You are given a short set of attacks that even though you can expand on as you gain experience, but never progress that far from the original set. This can make the combat come across as a bit simple and repetitive. However, the game does a good job of compensating for this by interjecting entertaining puzzles and world exploring that are required in order to progress in the game. While there are various things you can collect as you explore, I do wish that they offered more of an in-game impact on the actual gameplay. You can collect more Rot that can be useful in combat and Spirit energy which you can use to unlock new skills, but these do not make a significant difference in the actual gameplay itself. In fact, I would say you could probably play the game just as easily with little to no enhancements to your character at all; this creates little incentive to spend extra time collecting and exploring apart from just enjoying the visuals.
In spite of its simplistic gaming mechanics and overall gameplay, “Kena: Bridge of Spirits” still has a lot to offer gamers in terms of entertaining characters, intriguing narrative, and marvelous visuals. While I do still wish the game had a bit more to offer in terms of side quests and combat, the well-struck balance between exploration, combat and puzzle-solving prevents the game from ever becoming too boring or repetitive. Ember Labs can be proud of its gaming debut. “Kena: Bridge of Spirits” is a solid open-world action-adventure, and hopefully the first of many visual spectacles to come from Ember Labs.