Sometime in 2016, animation studio Ember Labs decided to get into videogame development. The offspring of their partnership with Sony being the decidedly lovely and cinematic Kena: Bridge of Spirits in 2021. Now, three years later, after an Anniversary Update and PC release, it finally makes its way onto the Xbox ecosystem.
What struck me most with Kena: Bridge of Spirits when I first saw it, and what still stands true today, are the outstanding visuals and commitment to cinematic presentation. To say that it’s beautiful is a massive understatement. At a time when technology was leaping ahead, it was the first game I remember seeing that had the same visual style and look of a fully-featured CGI movie that you might expect from Pixar or Disney. Ember Labs commitment to its visual design and cinematic presentation stands throughout the experience, whether you’re viewing the games letterboxed cut scenes or during actual gameplay. It’s a look that permeates the entire design process, making Kena’s world less open but more carefully crafted for maximum visual impact.
That there’s an element of Studio Ghibli design is also to its credit. From every leaf to fallen tree stump, from every friendly character to enemy creature, Kena is breath-taking to behold and one of the few games where I’m glad that there’s a photo mode. The game is just as lushly animated, from Kena herself to her expressive and ever-so-cute companions, The Rot, which follow you around and do your bidding. Ember Labs experience in video production and animation is put to full use here.
As for the game itself, Kena: Bridge of Spirits puts you in the shoes of young Spirit Guide Kena. Her job is to put lingering spirits to rest, while trying to stop a pervading decay that is corrupting the world. With the help of The Rot, cute companion spirits that, despite their name, assist Kena in saving the spirits of a corrupted village on her quest to find a mountain shrine that may have the answers to stopping the decay.
Kena takes a surprisingly respectful approach to the themes of life, death, grief, and coming to terms with loss. The excellent story is backed up by some fantastic, understated performances that double-down on the grief the world has endured.
Less innovative than its visuals and storytelling, is Kena’s gameplay systems and loop. There’s a tried and tested formula at play here that you’ve seen in many other third-person action and adventure games. The Rot, for all their cuteness, are really just another way to manipulate the environment, from moving around boxes to opening levers. But it works, adding a layer of believability to the world and ensuring that Kena’s journey isn’t a lonely one.
Kena’s skills come in the form of a magical barrier to deflect damage, light and heavy attacks, dodge rolls, spirit arrows, and a double jump. The environment is full of light platforming elements, from Uncharted-style clambering around on ledges to reach high areas, to making your way across areas via decrepit bridges or raised platforms. It’s all really by the numbers here, with chests to find, currency to obtain to enhance your skills, and cosmetic items aplenty for your Rot to wear as hats.
Your skills are also useful out of combat, mostly to open up new paths or using your spirit arrows as grapple points to otherwise unreachable areas. Despite the familiarity, exploration is one of Kena’s strongest gameplay aspects, and not just because the game visually astounds at every turn, but also because it’s so sublimely restful.
Combat does throw a decent challenge at you, as you’re tasked with clearing out the corruption. Infected areas are full of pustular growths that you need to spirit bomb, but before you can do so, you’re going to have to deal with the enemies they spawn. Your Rot can help in combat by distracting enemies and opening up healing plants for you when your health is low, but enemies come at you in waves. New types slowly introduced across the campaign, including several hulking bosses, and defeating them all opens up the corrupted flowers to your spirit energy.
Cleansed areas burst back into life in a variety of colours as flowers bloom and water flows. It’s an effect reminiscent of Capcom’s Okami and, like everything else in this game, is gorgeous to watch and empowering to do. Kena’s gameplay loop sticks to the same basic flow throughout: get to an area, explore it, fight enemies, and cleanse it – all while learning more about the spirits that inhabited this area and, occasionally, fighting a boss. It may be simple, but it’s extraordinarily effective, especially when coupled with the stellar storytelling.
For those interested in the performance on new hardware, Xbox Series X offers a performance and quality mode. Quality mode runs at 30fps in native 4K, while performance mode runs at 60fps from a lower resolution upscaled to 4K. Regardless of which option you choose, the game is gorgeous, and I can’t say I noticed any frame rate issues. You get to choose between crisper visuals or snappier performance.
Wrapping up, the wait for Kena: Bridge of Spirits to hit the Xbox ecosystem has been worth it for those who’ve held out. With stellar storytelling and simple but sublime gameplay, it’s an amazing, cinematic, audivisual journey worth taking for all ages.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits was reviewed on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS4/5.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Xbox Series) Review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Xbox Series) ReviewThe Good
- Excellent storytelling
- Stunning visuals, soundtrack, and voice work
- Fun, relaxing gameplay
The Bad
- The gameplay loop is familiar
- Far too many cosmetic collectibles!