Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Xbox)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits was a breath of fresh air back in 2021 and gave us a rare example of a great Zelda clone with a strong identity. We loved playing it on PS5, and then on Steam last year. And now, Kena finally has a home on Xbox, giving Xbox gamers a great adventure game to love. But after 3 years, does it still hold up after 3 years and 3 platform jumps?

A bridge to a new Zelda-like world?

Ember Labs boosted an impressive career as an animation studio, with a line of creatively beautiful work for a lot of companies. After bringing us an animated reel for The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Ember Labs decided to take the leap and make a video game.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a narrative-driven, action-adventure combining deep exploration with fast-paced combat. But what makes this title so recognisable is Ember Lab’s beautiful animation style, which is something you’ve surely seen online somewhere in a cute, animated film. Kena’s adventure is a spitting image of a high-end, big-budget animated film from Pixar, even in the live-action gameplay.

Taking the role of Kena, a young spirit guide helping those in need, she stumbles across a new force in the wilds, that aims to bring an unholy reckoning to the world and corrupt all that is good. As a spirit guide, Kena has trained for much of her young life to help wondering spirits in need of finding their way to the afterlife, but also to battle it out in magnificent style, anything that stands in her way or poses a threat to the world around her.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a terrific-looking game, and honestly, it surpassed my expectations. Everything here looks simply amazing, and I would consider this one of the best-looking games I’ve played in recent memory still to this day.

The experience feels like you’re playing a highly polished animated film, with a lot of attention to detail, bright dynamic lighting, immense shadows and just a look of an environment that feels highly organic. Designs for characters, monsters, and the Rot themselves are quite nice overall, again feeling something straight from Pixar’s animated library, but there are many details to make them and the world wholly unique.

While the concept of cute critters might roll some eyes, thanks to the likes of modern Star Wars films and the mascot horror scene in gaming, the Rot genuinely feels like a part of the world. Plus, they’re a great addition to the gameplay, being able to perform various actions, interact with the environment in meaningful ways and add extra layers to lateral elements and dynamics to the combat. Shame they never got soft toys like Poppy Playtime did, or Spoodler Man.


At least the story is better than Avatar…

It seemed back in 2021, Kena left an impression on us gamers, and that was for several reasons. The visuals of course, the loving homage to Zelda games through compelling adventure gameplay, and almost maybe … due to the impact Covid had on the gaming landscape.

Playing it again, I still admire, even love the animation, presentation, world design, rich exploration, and pitch-perfect pacing that kept me invested yet again for 12 hours.

But there were some cracks which I noticed before, which seemed much more present on another playthrough. The first is the story.

To enforce a point made before, the game is utterly stunning, and the world-building fascinating. The plot itself is fine, but a little simple, that evokes some interesting story tropes that could flesh out characters and world-building further, but it never came to be. Kena’s journey is a generic gaming experience, where you arrive out of the blue, cross paths with a big bad, and set out to defeat three corrupt spirits to free the land of decay and nasty grey plants.

Much of Kena’s interactions with other characters remain straightforward for the narrative. We never find out much about her or the supporting cast, other than what only serves the plot, and this is a shame. Kena herself appears to be a strong hero in the making (if more games are made). Yet it would have been nice to see a little more, learn some deeper personal details of Kena, and explore what haunts her the most.

Minor spoilers ahead in this paragraph: We learn very late that Kena is looking for her father's spirit, and this is a fantastic bit of character development and motivation. Yet this is mentioned near the end, and nothing else is explored with it. I get this is the first game, but some flashbacks or more mentions of her father, and becoming a spirit guide, would have added in some nice gravitas to the main plot. The emotion here is with other characters, their redemptions, and playing out the same type of conclusion for them, which if I’m honest felt a little over the top.

I would have preferred more of Kena, her struggles, understandings and more about the spirit guides themselves. I did comment in my last review that she’s not a Mary Sue, but she has had no flaws or turmoil which make her journey more interesting. The lack of depth makes Kena quite dull for most of the game, where she can do no wrong, doesn’t have much awareness of the corruption, and could have easily been a silent protagonist like Link.

And making the comparison, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, didn’t have the most compelling narrative, but had lots of lore, and great emotional moments which felt personal, despite Link not speaking. And the supporting cast in Kena doesn’t make much of an impression and doesn’t even help out during fights, which was annoying …

I do wish a sequel is in the works, as I do like Kena (despite being a little underwhelming), and want to know more about her and her father, the spirit guides, and maybe see other characters with more personality and differing views of the world.
But aside from the simplistic narrative, the world is quite phenomenal, and the small bits of detail did make me want to know more about the world. But again, the nature of the world and the themes are simply eco-positive focused and don’t amount more than Avatar, or Fern-Gully.

Yet, with a sequel discussing more lore, more people who could speak about the world, and more depth on the spirit guides would make such a difference, and be fascinating, as there are some neat breadcrumbs here, but not much else story-wise.

This Zelda clone isn’t for kids


At its heart, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a good old-fashioned, action-adventure game, akin to the Legend of Zelda series. Players will explore a beautifully crafted open world, holding many secrets and rewards, but also plenty of cute critters to recruit and … hats for them to wear.

Everything feels very familiar, having that warm and cosy gameplay loop of exploration, fighting, and implementing plenty of moments of wonderous discovery. You’ll be wandering through dense forests, discovering hidden treasures, and new Rots to add to your group, but also solve puzzles opening new areas of the world, or taking part in challenges for new gear and … hats. But most importantly, you’ll be actively helping the world, but taking part in activities that help spirits in need and heal the world from corruption.

It's all very wholesome stuff and wrapped in a confident gameplay loop that’s nothing new, but remarkably enjoyable considering this is a first-time game.

First off, while Kena is not a Souls-Like game, it does present a challenge in many of its combat encounters, especially towards the end. Kena handles well in combat and while the fighting moves are very limited, you do get some important abilities and tricks to pull off.

The way you’ll progress your skills is by collecting Rot, and the more you collect, the more powerful Kena gets, which pushes exploration and backtracking. Her arsenal is short but packs a mighty punch when mastered/upgraded. The Rot as well can provide vital assistance, whether it's giving Kena health from the limited resources in an arena or becoming a massively powerful attack that can make or break your survival.

There is an interesting idea here, where you must decide on attack power or health, making plenty of fights super intense and strategic. It can be quite overwhelming even on the normal difficulty, so for younger gamers, it is best to stick with the story mode. Thankfully there are plenty of checkpoints and all that, but I do wish there were more moves, or other weapons to flesh out the attack/playstyle you can unleash in the world.

While enemies are varied, they don’t break the mould, unlike something such as DOOM Eternal. But the bosses are generally great, but mostly feel a bit samey, lacking that variety of bosses in any great Zelda game. Some bosses towards the end do spice things up and provide the best encounters overall.

But what makes the combat quite enjoyable and engaging, are the Rot and powers Kena can equip. There’s a system, much like that of Hollow Knight, where Kena can equip charms to give her a certain edge in combat, whether it’s to recover more health via the Rot or to start each encounter with a powerful attack ready. Again, I wish more was done here with the charms, such as upgrading the staff to equip more or upgrading the charms themselves, to make combined effects for better gameplay outcomes.

There are plenty of puzzles to solve throughout the world, and the developers have made sure to pack in as many interesting ways to solve them. There are the typical, shoot an arrow at something to make it move, to the more complicated list of actions, using the Rot’s powers to clear corrupted blockages, move heavy items and timed moments where Kena must race or shoot various things very quickly. There were even a couple of exceptional puzzles which stumped me a little (a puzzle master) and were simply set up but thoughtfully executed. Plus, there are a ton of rewards to discover, including Rot, charms, and of course …. Hats.

I do wish there was more than just the hats to find. Especially when you do a super-duper hard challenge, and all you get is a hat, or a currency to buy said hats from the vendor. Costumes can be obtained through certain challenges, but never did I open a chest and find one… just hats, and the odd charm or two.

Also, I love a good alternative outfit for the main character, but it felt a little uninspired for me to keep reaching out for hats and outfits for Kena when they didn’t present any meaningful advantages to progression. I would have liked it if the Archer outfit, for example, allowed Kena an extra shot or quicker draw time with her bow, than just looking kind of cool.

However, the world was still vastly compelling to other adventure games I’ve played before, sucking me in and keeping me playing for hours on end. I was simply immersed in the world of Kena and finding all of its hidden treasures and of course, the cute critters.

Combat is largely solid and enjoyable, but adding in some more stats with outfits or allowing more charms to be equipped could have heightened it much more. But what Ember Labs has presented is a great gameplay loop, filled with plenty of intense battles, great dynamics and powerhouse moments with the Rot and Kena feeling like a badass hero at the end of the day.

Overall?

While certain negative aspects are more apparent now when playing this again, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is still an impressive first game for a somewhat new studio. An impressive game that shows a lot of promise for the future. I think for a sequel, some tweaks will be needed, and a better story would benefit Kena as a character, but this is a very enjoyable and thoroughly compelling adventure game to match that of even Zelda.

I loved every second of playing this and sadly, I never wanted my adventure with Kena to end. But hopefully, Ember Labs will be able to make a sequel and expand on the world, its lore and gameplay even further, as they have clearly shown they’re an immense talent in game design. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is truly wonderful and well worth you picking up a copy as soon as possible. I just hope we see this on Xbox, as more people should be playing this and living an incredible adventure with Kena and pals. Next to Death's Door, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is quite possibly one of the best adventure games in recent memory.

++ Exceptional world design
++ Looks and sounds awesome
+ Solid and fun combat, exploration and puzzles
+ Very immersive and highly re-playable

- A little simple for its main plot
- Combat/character progression could have been tweaked a little further

An Xbox review key of Kena: Bridge of Spirits was provided by the publisher for this review.