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Review Kena: Bridge of Spirits - a bright indie gem with an emotional story

We tell you how the third-person action adventure turned out, telling the story of Kena, a young girl who helps lost spirits find peace and find a way to the afterlife
Review Kena: Bridge of Spirits - a bright indie gem with an emotional story

Giant game worlds, a huge number of upgrades, improvements, immense content - this is what you get when you buy any modern AAA game. The average duration of open-world action games easily reaches 70 hours, so players who buy such titles are immersed in them for several weeks in a row. But what if you want to play something interesting, shorter and still have a great experience? In this case, pay attention to the game " Kena: Spirit Bridge ".

Ember Labs' first indie studio is a carefully crafted, fresh and affordable action-adventure game that can be completed in a single weekend.

Обзор Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Solo adventure

Kena is a young girl who has become a guide, accompanying the souls of the dead on their final journey to the afterlife. The story, told in fragments, takes you to an abandoned village where the cycle of life was interrupted as a result of a mysterious catastrophe. Poisonous monster plants devastate the lands, preventing the souls of the dead from leaving them. Quena's task is to find out what happened here and help the spirits find peace. And on the way to your goal, you will find many interesting puzzles, platforming elements, metroidvania, exploration of the vast world, collectibles, enemies, mini-bosses and bosses.

Armed with a versatile staff, you will explore the territory of the village, located in the mountains and on the plains. Kena will have to sort out the conflicts and solve the problems of the characters who once lived here. You will jump, climb walls, solve small puzzles using magical devices and skills, fight monsters. The first thing that catches your eye is the promise of the developers that the game will look like a work of Pixar, clearly confirmed by the case.

Обзор Kena: Bridge of Spirits

heavenly beauty

The game has impressive detail, atmospheric lighting, full of bright colors and charming objects, creatures that will make you smile more than once. Ember Lab staff are well versed in Unreal Engine 4 technologies and what this engine is capable of. The pre-rendered videos that are shown at certain points in the game are amazing, showcasing high skill and cinematic quality. The graphics component of the gameplay itself also looks great. The game world convinces not only with its appearance, but also with many secrets that make you return to previously explored areas to explore new regions.

Parallels with Overlord?

The main collectible is smolders. After a few steps through the forest, you will come across the first of them. The smolderers will help you throughout the game. And at some point, I even caught myself thinking that they are the same minions from Overlord. Only, unlike minions, Kena deals with cute, funny, playful and kind creatures. And instead of dirty tricks, they, together with the young guide of spirits, bring light and justice to this world. In total, you can find 100 fawns. This is optional, but trust me, you won't stop until you've found everyone! The more smolders you have, the more charges you have to activate various smoldering skills. Mainly combat.

Also, smolders will be needed to solve small puzzles. However, as soon as you collect 5 smolts and get the first level, in the future the game will not force everyone to search. They are optional for solving puzzles, although a higher level makes it easier to complete some tasks and fight monsters. Usually, decays are needed to destroy damage, move one or another object, and so on. All the smolderers follow you throughout the game, however, no more than 20 creatures can be seen on the screen at the same time.

Обзор Kena: Bridge of Spirits

emotional drama

At certain moments, when you finally help the spirit find peace, emotional cinematic videos are launched. Despite the fact that events unfold in a world full of bright colors, do not forget that Kena travels through a village whose inhabitants died from a terrible plague. These same spirits tried to find a way to help their friends and loved ones, but as a result they got lost and became victims of filth. At the end, each of them tells their own unique story, and then says goodbye, leaving some residue behind. However, after a few minutes, looking at these funny and cute creatures, you forget about everything, a wave of joy and emotional satisfaction rolls over you again.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a great example of how high-quality and correct a product from indie developers can turn out to be. We live in a time when 10, 20 or even 30 games from independent studios or single developers appear on Steam every day. There are more and more titles that do not even deserve your glance. However, the work of Ember Labs is a real gem of the genre, which can stand on a par with many AAA projects.

Verdict : WE RECOMMEND

Author:
Anton Latoshkin
Date of publication
23 September 2021
Game from the review
  • Platform: PS5, PS4, PC
  • Genre: Action, Adventure
  • Release date 21 September 2021