Kena: Bridge of Spirits Review – Rot singles in your area

When it was first announced a year ago at the PlayStation 5 Showcase, Kena: Bridge of Spirits looked like an odd current-gen duck swimming in a pond of next-gen excitement. It looked alright, but it wasn’t generating headlines in the same way that the outlets were covering Internet reactions to the PS5’s bold design or Square Enix’s confirmation of a new Final Fantasy with more mature themes.

That covert presence between reveal and an eventual launch, where news on the game was sparse and only a handful of trailers showed off more of the lush spiritual world of Kena, was a cunning move that did the game plenty of favours. Out now on PS4, PS5, and PC via the Epic Games Store, Kena: Bridge of Spirits may just be the most pleasant surprise of the year.

It’s undoubtedly a game in the same vein as The Legend of Zelda, but one with an amazing amount of care, heart, and sold worldbuilding at its core, all combining to form a game of action and adventure with a comfortably compact scope. It’s also a game that wastes no time in setting up its narrative, ditching bloated exposition drops for a less is more approach that works in the confines of this game as the journey that spirit guide Kena embarks on does all the heavy lifting and routinely delivers one-two combinations of emotional hooks to the gut.

It’s a story of tragedy and desperation, negative emotions from the spirit realm that have warped the land and cursed the people who called it home, resulting in a once-vibrant community becoming tortured spirits who seek peace from their suffering at the hands of an entity with destructive motives. More than that though, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is also a touching tale about the power of forgiveness and acceptance, about perseverance through dark hours.

These hard-hitting moments are told through cutscenes, each one a beautifully constructed short film that packs a punch with their direction and construction. Of course, to get to those cinematic setpieces, you’re going to have to play the game, and that’s where Kena’s influences begin to emerge. With a third-person viewpoint and a vast land to explore, Kena: Bridge of Spirits mixes its aforementioned Legend of Zelda inspiration with a touch of Nickelodeon’s Legend of Korra, as Kena is able to use her shamanistic gifts to save the day.

At first, she’s a dab hand with her staff which can be used to pummel enemies with light and heavy attacks, while a spiritual ward can block attacks or parry them if activated at the right time. In time, Kena’s arsenal grows to include a bow that fires off spirit-powered arrows, she can lob gravity-breaking bombs at enemies and can combine these tools for the game’s many puzzles. The big difference-maker in Kena’s corner though are the Rot, adorable little forest creatures who she can befriend and who can help her in her quest.

The more Rot that Kena collects, the more actions she is capable of performing when using them, such as moving objects out of her way, staggering enemies, or cleansing the land of malignant influences. Kena’s skills can also grow by investing experience points into a tree of abilities, allowing her to slow time down when aiming an arrow, giving her heavier attacks to launch from her staff, and having a steady supply of Rot actions on hand whenever a battle starts.

More importantly, though, you can also invest points in hats and masks for your Rot, to give the gang of fuzzy gremlins more personality. Hats, people. HATS.

And you’ll need all of those abilities and skills because Kena’s world is rife with danger and head-scratching environmental puzzles, level elements that put Nintendo’s hero clad in green to shame with how well it combines these gameplay factors to deliver a consistently engaging gameplay experience. That balance of exploration and fun combat is beautifully nailed by the game’s combination of fascinating enemy encounters and boss fights, as well as a world that feels vibrant and mystical in its construction while a stunning soundtrack from Jason Gallaty that further enhances the journey into the unknown.

It’s a land that is soaked in lush mysticism and stunning art direction, hiding secrets and Rot critters under gnarled wooden trunks and dangerous enemy encounters off the beaten path, ensuring that any direction you travel in always has something to offer.

But it’s not without some rough edges to its design, as Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ scenic exorcisms are occasionally plagued by some puzzles having harsh time limits, the window for successfully parrying is lethally tight, and some puzzles require observation skills usually reserved for the likes of Sherlock Holmes. These aren’t game-breaking flaws though, and any lapses in puzzle-solving on PS5 can easily be solved by consulting a handy library of guides in that system’s user interface.

Kena herself is a bridge to the people she meets and the player’s understanding of who they are, but just a smidgen of connective tissue for the protagonist would have been appreciated, to flesh her heroism out more. Still, she works brilliantly as a hero who’s naturally in tune with nature and humanity, and her straightforward approach is refreshing in a world where studios make some of their characters a bit too complex for people to latch onto.

As far as first impressions go, Kena: Bridge of Spirits will leave a satisfying mark on anyone who finishes its enjoyable brisk 10-hour campaign. It’s long enough to never outstay its welcome, but also tantalisingly short enough to make me start throwing tweets at developer Ember Labs, demanding a sequel that expands further on this game’s world and characters.