Kena: Bridge of Spirits

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 486 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 358 out of 486
  2. Mixed: 86 out of 486
  3. Negative: 42 out of 486

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  1. ParsaGamer
    Sep 23, 2021
    3
    It was an animation turned to game, boring lifeless repetitive gameplay with cute and beautiful art
  2. CasillasQT
    Dec 14, 2021
    10
    Great game. Amazing design. Movement and fighting feels great. Nice puzzles and a heartwarming story. What more could you ask for.
  3. Mandulum
    Feb 3, 2022
    9
    It's a tremendously well rounded game. Great environments, art, sound, and story telling. Satisfying combat and game play. Challenging boss fights (maybe a little too challenging at the end). And pre-rendered cutscenes!! I miss those in games.

    Date Completed: 2022-02-03
    Playtime: 13h
    Enjoyment: 9/10
    Recommendation: It was great, everyone should play it
  4. DexEngineer
    Mar 10, 2022
    9
    Guilty pleasure graphics. Relaxation gaming for calm evening. Escapism at its best from constant wokeness and propaganda in games.
  5. Pickle
    Oct 8, 2022
    7
    It’s a fine adventure game, if not a little bland at times, mainly in its story, which is borderline cliché at worst, and only superficially pretty at best.

    The tale is about a corrupted land, changed for mysterious reasons by mysterious characters -this doesn’t really get resolved until, literally, the end of the game-; you’re Kena, a girl that starts collecting furballs that are    It’s a fine adventure game, if not a little bland at times, mainly in its story, which is borderline cliché at worst, and only superficially pretty at best.

    The tale is about a corrupted land, changed for mysterious reasons by mysterious characters -this doesn’t really get resolved until, literally, the end of the game-; you’re Kena, a girl that starts collecting furballs that are called rot, which help you in your journey, the game is divided in puzzles, combat, and platforming; for the most part is a very cleverly designed game reminiscent of the classic adventure titles from the early 2000’s, think of Jak and Daxter for example.

    However, there are some issues here and there in the design, mainly when it comes to the game’s sense of direction and how counterintuitive the game can be a lot of the times with how it proceeds to misguide the player, Kena is a game that has a map but it lacks direction and clarity, it has waypoints, but the ones that only point at the general direction from where you’re supposed to go, the game is doing a lot of these things to incentivize branching paths and give you a reason to collect the more rot and currency that you can trade both for outfits, which you unlock through a challenge system that you really don’t get access to until much later into the game (about hallway through), but also the game provides currency for different upgrades that are mostly combat centric, with only a few serving to ease some of the later puzzles in the game with some later abilities as well.

    The problem with the levels however, is that the game has a really poor way of guiding the player by using one of the most common tools modern games use to guide you, and that is the lighting. At one point I didn’t notice a path because the game’s lighting made it seem as if it was a pitfall, in other case, a significant detail needed to resolve a puzzle was obscured, making me have to redo the whole puzzle again, in other cases the game also has backtracking and some paths that interconnect, essentially making it so you can get fairly lost at times, thankfully it didn’t happen enough to ruin the entire experience, but it did hurt the game for me; the issue here is that the game’s aesthetic and brightness setting was all set correctly, the fact it happened reiteratively, and that I read some forums and comments of people experiencing the same, tells me this is an issue with the game, not something uniquely to me, sadly.

    Overall I liked the game though, despite its shortcomings I didn’t found it to be as bland as some people said it was, it’s a beautiful game, both because of its graphical presentation, as well as for its given art style and aesthetic, I love the way that the Rot look, and the fact that one of the collectibles that you get is a number of different hats that you can make them wear, as you progress you can even see the army of Rot following you around, each with their respective hats, it's a minor thing, but it’s also pretty cool, the combat system is also pretty satisfying, specially once that you upgrade your abilities enough for them to combine a fair bit.

    So, I would recommend the game, specially now with new game plus mode and the multitude of different difficulty settings, challenges, and unlockables. Just be aware, it can get a bit frustrating with the poor sense of direction it provides to the player, as well as with the bland story later on.    … Expand
  6. temaxa
    Nov 15, 2021
    10
    Отличная мультяшка. Играется на одном дыхании. Очень классное звуковое сопровождение.
  7. Enhelm
    Oct 21, 2021
    9
    The game in my opinion is beautiful, is a work of love and art,it is almost exceptional, but it has some solid flaws that I will talk about after mentioning the positives of it.
    The animation(graphics) along the music, with the thematic, plus the story, resembles an animation movie of the best quality that you are immersed in, controling the events.
    For my the fighting is great, very    The game in my opinion is beautiful, is a work of love and art,it is almost exceptional, but it has some solid flaws that I will talk about after mentioning the positives of it.
    The animation(graphics) along the music, with the thematic, plus the story, resembles an animation movie of the best quality that you are immersed in, controling the events.
    For my the fighting is great, very fast paced, but also very thoughtful. The best part of all the gameplay are the bosses.You gotta learn every button, with every combination to make precise and effective moves. The coolest is the parrying of course. Even though the scenery is nice it is also repetitive. The same happens with some aspects of the puzzles. The major flaw of the game are the bugs, that should be fixed in the near future I hope. But in general for me can be considered as one of the best games of the year.    … Expand
  8. Dubeau
    Oct 3, 2021
    8
    Kena is a very nice and fun game. The story is especially involving and sometimes emotional. Maybe one of the problem is that's a bit childish but it treats very serious themes. So for adolescent but not really for children. The graphics are superb and you can appreciate the amount of details in the meditation moments. That said on PC there were some minors clipping. The progression of theKena is a very nice and fun game. The story is especially involving and sometimes emotional. Maybe one of the problem is that's a bit childish but it treats very serious themes. So for adolescent but not really for children. The graphics are superb and you can appreciate the amount of details in the meditation moments. That said on PC there were some minors clipping. The progression of the game is also well done. The fighting is challenging at times but it wasn't too unfair in the story mode. The music is fantastic, simple yet very proper to the situation. Nice sounds effect. It does take some getting use to all the different controls for the fighting. The dash though portals section, wasn't my favourite. It felt very time constrictive. I would have wish the backstory of Kena to be more clear and detailed (maybe it's for another game). I give the game 85%. I had some water in my eyes in a place or two. And I wish it would have last double that time.… Expand
  9. MrMuppe
    Oct 9, 2021
    10
    First the bad, to get that out of the way.
    The control works but is not always precise enough, most of the time they are but not always.
    Now the good. The game looks wonderful, yes it looks like an animated movie, heck it looks better. The story is simple, but good. The voice acting is good, they had good lines to work with and they delivered. All in all this is a game that feels    First the bad, to get that out of the way.
    The control works but is not always precise enough, most of the time they are but not always.

    Now the good.
    The game looks wonderful, yes it looks like an animated movie, heck it looks better.
    The story is simple, but good.
    The voice acting is good, they had good lines to work with and they delivered.

    All in all this is a game that feels magic, the team is small and so they did the right thing by focusing on what they could do well. It is also a strange one when it comes to looking for the most part like a game for kids while having bosses that may scare said kids. And having elements in the story that a kid will not understand, that includes that lgbtq thing that someone seems like a snowflake about, you silly person, kids will look at that and think "hey those two are really good friends", but I guess you hate friendships as well.

    As for giving the game a 0 for being epic exclusive. Time to give that a rest, sure the store is bad and lacks features, but it is here to stay until epic decides it is time to **** with Microsoft and get throws of windows as well, then perhaps they will anger Linux, who knows.    … Expand
  10. Blackstar90210
    Dec 22, 2021
    8
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits si è rivelato essere un titolo estremamente ben bilanciato. Mentre graficamente e tecnicamente si attesta su ottimi livelli, si può confermare — senza tanti fronzoli — che il sistema di combattimento è semplice quanto efficace, non profondo ma soddisfacente nelle sue sfaccettature. La trama può rivelarsi interessante — in base ai gusti di ognuno di noi —, ma laKena: Bridge of Spirits si è rivelato essere un titolo estremamente ben bilanciato. Mentre graficamente e tecnicamente si attesta su ottimi livelli, si può confermare — senza tanti fronzoli — che il sistema di combattimento è semplice quanto efficace, non profondo ma soddisfacente nelle sue sfaccettature. La trama può rivelarsi interessante — in base ai gusti di ognuno di noi —, ma la narrazione è abbastanza semplicistica, con dei colpi di scena abbastanza telefonati e con momenti con pochissimo patos.

    Insomma, è un titolo che va assolutamente giocato, ma senza aspettarsi chissà cosa    … Expand
  11. WizzleBee
    Jan 6, 2022
    10
    This game in some way feels like Ori. Totally enjoyed this game, its story and its cuteness.
    Cuteness really is over 9000. Well done @Emberlab, you guys created a beautiful piece of art that will stay in my heart for a very long time.
  12. Synapses
    Oct 31, 2021
    9
    Short, but Sweet. This game is a love letter to the childhood of 90s kids as far as platforming and gameplay. The story is well done, if a bit short. It really could have been a longer game. I am sure though if you take the time to gather all Rot and every little detail it could add a few hours. The graphics on PC are beautiful and smooth. Gameplay is also just so well done and smoothShort, but Sweet. This game is a love letter to the childhood of 90s kids as far as platforming and gameplay. The story is well done, if a bit short. It really could have been a longer game. I am sure though if you take the time to gather all Rot and every little detail it could add a few hours. The graphics on PC are beautiful and smooth. Gameplay is also just so well done and smooth as butter. I really can't say much more, its just hands down a great game. I only took one point away for the story being shorter than id like to see. It really feels like you're playing a modern Disney movie/game, but with the gameplay that's been fine tuned to a platform style. 9/10… Expand
  13. chavira
    Mar 19, 2022
    9
    Amazing visuals and animation. The game is lots of fun and has a good sense of evolution and change in environments. It would only make it better to have more combat abilities, but still pretty enjoyable experience overall! I only wish more complicated puzzles and combat had been introduced way earlier in the game storyline.
  14. iFlu
    Sep 27, 2021
    10
    Kena is a masterpiece and (for now) my game of the year.

    Let's talk the "bad" things first: the game is short, yes. You probably read or heard that it's around 8 to 10 hours long. Well I'd like to nuance that a bit. The game has 4 difficulty settings (1 of which is unlocked after completing your first run), I personnaly always play my games in the higher available difficulty (with some    Kena is a masterpiece and (for now) my game of the year.

    Let's talk the "bad" things first: the game is short, yes. You probably read or heard that it's around 8 to 10 hours long. Well I'd like to nuance that a bit. The game has 4 difficulty settings (1 of which is unlocked after completing your first run), I personnaly always play my games in the higher available difficulty (with some exception if I find the challenge too high). Kena took me 18h to beat on my first playthrough because I had some hard time with some fights (first trying those fights can shave around 3 to 4 hours to the total game). But I still have some challenge (and a second run in the highest difficulty) to achieve if I want to 100% the challenges.

    Some critics say the game is not original or that "you have already played this game"... This is a very partial take on what has been accomplished by a 15 people studio which is releasing its first video game. Let's talk optimisation, my gaming rig is running a Ryzen 5 2700X and a 1080Ti which is not the absolute best for next gen gaming but I managed to play the game in ultra settings (only turned off motion blur for personal preference) in 1440p @144FPS and encountered very few frame drops (mostly around transitions between cinematics and gameplay). This is something that must be noted, too many recent games have been released in a very poor state (sometimes barely playable) and often from AAA studios with large teams and fundings. Ember Labs is is clearly throwing some shades on these studios as they pulled off something incredibly gorgeous, functionnal and polish on their first attempt. And don't forget the price, I paid 39€ on Epic Games Store for that game and I will gladly say it was worth it.

    As journalists like to compare games between them even though their scopes are not the same here's what a clever journalist could say about Kena: "Kena is the perfect cross-over between well loved games like The Legend of Zelda for the exploration, Pikmin for the management of your Rots (the small black creatures you find in the world and that help you in your journey), Spiritfarer for the theme, Pixar for the plain gorgeous settings and animations and music, and Dark Souls for the difficulty of the combat" (even I'm not found of placing Dark Souls here, I just don't have another game in mind with parry and evasion windows this tight and this punishing when you execute them poorly). Fights and bosses are not hard in understanding what to do, they are hard in the execution. Not because the controls are janky, but because enemies hit hard (very hard) and heals are scarce (some fights can even have no healing possibilities). This is a game that must played and enjoyed, not rushed. Like a good meal, savouring this one makes it better than rushing through it in order to play something else.

    I strongly recommend Kena: Bridge of Spirit,    … Expand
  15. Aidar_v_pomosh
    Jan 18, 2022
    10
    Игра по-настоящему потрясающая! Разработчики грамотно сделали игру, и игра не наскучивает на протяжении всей игры. Игра небольшая, но история классная и трогающая за душу. Графика,сюжет,геймплей,дизайн сделаны потрясно! Советую каждому купить её и поиграть!Игра по-настоящему потрясающая! Разработчики грамотно сделали игру, и игра не наскучивает на протяжении всей игры. Игра небольшая, но история классная и трогающая за душу. Графика,сюжет,геймплей,дизайн сделаны потрясно! Советую каждому купить её и поиграть!
  16. Mehrshad_MB
    Jan 24, 2022
    8
    Wow! What a game!
    Kena Bridge of Spirits has everything that a good game needs. Fascinating graphics, beautiful world to explore, an impressive story and acceptable gameplay.
    Though gameplay becomes a bit repetitive as you play, but it was overally fine. Upgrades/Customizing rots could be a lot more better. Also controls were a little annoying specially when controlling rots with the    Wow! What a game!
    Kena Bridge of Spirits has everything that a good game needs. Fascinating graphics, beautiful world to explore, an impressive story and acceptable gameplay.
    Though gameplay becomes a bit repetitive as you play, but it was overally fine. Upgrades/Customizing rots could be a lot more better. Also controls were a little annoying specially when controlling rots with the movement of the mouse.
    It was a pity for me to find out that game had a photo mode, after I finished the game.
    I really wish they make an animation out of this game, It would be awesome.
    To wrap it up, Kena Bridge of Spirts is definitely play-worthy and amazing game.
    8.5/10
    (January 2022)    … Expand
  17. LordTiger
    Apr 19, 2023
    8
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a visually stunning game that is sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who plays it. The game's Pixar-style graphics are simply breathtaking, and the attention to detail in every aspect of the game is truly remarkable. From the lush landscapes to the detailed character designs, Kena is a feast for the eyes.

    The combat mechanisms in "Kena" are a bit of a    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a visually stunning game that is sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who plays it. The game's Pixar-style graphics are simply breathtaking, and the attention to detail in every aspect of the game is truly remarkable. From the lush landscapes to the detailed character designs, Kena is a feast for the eyes.

    The combat mechanisms in "Kena" are a bit of a mixed bag. At first, the combat can feel a bit boring and repetitive, but as you progress through the game, it becomes more challenging and engaging. You need to use a variety of abilities in order to defeat the game's bosses, and this adds an extra layer of depth to the combat. However, the combat does have its flaws, and it can be frustrating at times.

    The story and characters in Kena are where the game falls short. While the game's world is beautifully realized, the story and characters are not engaging and have the same concept. The game tries to create a deep, emotional narrative, but it falls short. The characters are not fleshed out enough, and their motivations and backstories are not explored in enough detail. As a result, the story can feel flat and uninteresting.

    Despite its flaws, Kena is still a game worth playing. The game's stunning visuals and challenging combat mechanics make it a worthwhile experience. If you are a fan of action-adventure games with beautiful graphics, then Kena is definitely worth checking out. However, if you are looking for a game with a deep, engaging story and characters, then you may be disappointed.    … Expand
  18. ONEEX
    Feb 12, 2022
    8
    Хорошо исполненная игра.
    Графика 7/10
    Звук 7/10
    Геймплей 8/10
    Оптимизация 6/10
    Повествование 8/10
    ________________________

    Well executed game.

    Graphics 7/10
    Sound 7/10
    Gameplay 8/10
    Optimization 6/10
    Narration 8/10
  19. Ordnik
    Oct 2, 2021
    10
    The game's great story comes at first but, graphics, environment, ambiance, and music are truly masterpieces. Although Kena's gameplay animations feel a little stuttering.
  20. SimplyClutch12
    Dec 23, 2021
    10
    Beautiful story, sound, level design, and gameplay. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is fun to play, heart-warming, and an overall fantastic experience. One of the best single-player games I've ever played in 20 years of gaming.
  21. Silver_Bee
    Dec 28, 2021
    10
    Great game full of magic and great boss battles, it's not reinventing the wheel, but it is still a must-play in my opinion
  22. spencerplewe
    Apr 9, 2022
    8
    Visually beautiful but a beast to master in combat, Kena is an exciting new IP that takes the cinematic animations of Amber Labs' previous projects and brings them to an original adventure.
  23. kinzZ
    Oct 2, 2021
    10
    Its a wonderful game with fantastic gameplay, visuals, music, and writing. Highly recommended.
  24. Raulillo
    Apr 25, 2022
    10
    Llevaba tiempo queriendo jugar a algún juego de esos que cuando los acabas te dejan con la sensación de que te va a costar encontrar un juego mejor. Kena Bridge of Spirits es uno de esos.
  25. Odisra
    Jan 5, 2022
    9
    Highly advise playing it! Had a blast from start to finish and was blown away by art style, combat, voice acting and the story is neat too.
  26. RnL
    Apr 12, 2022
    9
    Pleasant experience, great for back seat gaming too. The graphics makes the game feel more like a movie than a video game!
  27. Jaszczomp
    Nov 28, 2021
    8
    Pros:
    Beautiful graphics wrapped around great fairytale. Magical forest world gives chills, reminds me of "Ori and the blind forest", but in 3D. Simple yet great story; challenging but not annoying bosses; music building awesome atmosphere.
    What I loved is that your abilities or ways to explore world are being uncovered to you gradually as you progress with the story, so you don't get    Pros:
    Beautiful graphics wrapped around great fairytale. Magical forest world gives chills, reminds me of "Ori and the blind forest", but in 3D. Simple yet great story; challenging but not annoying bosses; music building awesome atmosphere.
    What I loved is that your abilities or ways to explore world are being uncovered to you gradually as you progress with the story, so you don't get bored with them. Fingers crossed for the dev team to build more similar, but bigger games.

    Cons:
    Still feels that there is some unused potential.

    - I would appreciate more challenging jumping, non-boss levels (a lot of potential to create levels with for example lava, underwater, snow)
    - length - it's really short for this price. Around 10 hours is not good enough for me for that much money.
    - lack of save synchronisation - I started playing on Geforce Now and couldn't continue locally - had to finish it on geforce now.

    I really, REALLY recommend this game - but when it gets a little cheaper.    … Expand
  28. LironesAlviento
    Sep 26, 2021
    8
    Un muy buen juego, bonito a mas no poder, con unas mecanicas muy divertidas y una historia entretenida aunque algo infantil para mi gusto.
  29. Darkvortex
    Oct 3, 2021
    8
    Amazing game very well done Ember Labs and to top it off this is their first game? Top tier soundtrack and gameplay that takes inspiration from the Souls series as well as Pikmin and Zelda whats not to love here. I will be watching Ember Lab's career with great interest
  30. ErayTellezi
    Sep 28, 2021
    8
    Ori 3D

    Yozlaşan, çürüyen orman teması, orman ruhu muhabbeti oyunlarda çok sık rastladığımız bir şey. Divinity Original Sin'de vardı, Ori'de zaten var. Miyazaki filmlerinde çok görürüz. Japon mitolojisinde böyle bir şey var galiba. Oyuna geçersek Ori'nin üç boyutlusu gibi olmuş. Tema benzer, amaç benzer, geçtiği ortam neredeyse aynı. Çiçeğe ok atıp kendini çekme aynı. Tabii bunlar    Ori 3D

    Yozlaşan, çürüyen orman teması, orman ruhu muhabbeti oyunlarda çok sık rastladığımız bir şey. Divinity Original Sin'de vardı, Ori'de zaten var. Miyazaki filmlerinde çok görürüz. Japon mitolojisinde böyle bir şey var galiba.

    Oyuna geçersek Ori'nin üç boyutlusu gibi olmuş. Tema benzer, amaç benzer, geçtiği ortam neredeyse aynı. Çiçeğe ok atıp kendini çekme aynı. Tabii bunlar problem değil. Oynanışı basit, skill sistemi basit, combat basit. Bunlar da kötü değil. Daha önce gördüğünüz ama bazı skilleriniz olmadığı için geçemediğiniz yerleri sonradan geçebilmek hafif metroidvania havası vermiş. Bu açıdan harita dizaynı başarılı.

    Oyunun açık dünyası boş. Arada bir iki sandık falan var ama onun dışında yaşayan hiçbir şey yok. Ortasından sonra her köşeye bakmayı bıraktım ve direkt hikayeye odaklandım. Hikaye de öyle aman aman değil zaten, sıkmıyor ama merak da uyandırmıyor.

    Oyunun en öne çıkan özelliği boss savaşları. Combatlar ne kadar basit olsa da boss dışindaki düşmanlar ne kadar kendini tekrar etse de boss savaşlarının çoğu zorlayıcıydı. Normal zorluk seviyesinde oynamama rağmen 10-15 defa öldüğüm boss'lar oldu. Ama ben kolsuzum, pek ölçüt sayılmam. Boss'lar çeşitliydi, zorluk seviyesi de tam kıvamındaydı. Ne kolay, ne de Souls oyunları gibi pes ettirecek düzeyde.

    Bulmacalar ortalama, bir iki kez youtube'a baktım ama bu tamamen benim üşengeçliğim ve körlüğüm yüzünden. Normal bir insanı zorlamaz.

    Grafikler iyi ama ben bu tarz şirin gözükmeye çalışan görselliği sevmiyorum. Büyük gözler falan pek bana göre değil. Ufaklıkları her bulduğumuzda çıkan animasyon sinir bozcuydu. Bazı fight'larından 30 saniye önce çözdüğüm bulmacayı her öldüğümde tekrar çözdürmesi salakçaydı.

    Sonuçta gerek süresi gerek de oynanışı ile tadımlık bir oyun olmuş.    … Expand
  31. KP1994
    Nov 28, 2021
    10
    This game really reminds me a lot to 2011 Resistance III considering there are many 2017 Horizon Zero Dawn Gameplay Elements on this game.
  32. xTh-3-nDx
    Sep 25, 2021
    7
    I will start with the good stuff first the game graphics are amazing the art style is good the world is fantastic to look at so when it comes to visual i will give it and 8.
    Now i gave the game a 7 for a couple of reasons first of all don't expect a fascinating story i don't know if the dev's Were aiming for younger generation or what but its kinda childish game from every aspect for the    I will start with the good stuff first the game graphics are amazing the art style is good the world is fantastic to look at so when it comes to visual i will give it and 8.
    Now i gave the game a 7 for a couple of reasons first of all don't expect a fascinating story i don't know if the dev's Were aiming for younger generation or what but its kinda childish game from every aspect for the game play it self the combat is basic and get boring so fast which lead me to the next thing the game is $40 and you can finish it in 10 to 15 hours max so when you compare what you pay to what you get it's not worth this price because you do everything over and over again without feeling that there's any new things so if you want my advice wait for sale then buy it for half the price that way it would be kinda worth i
    t    … Expand
  33. georgievich
    Sep 24, 2021
    5
    В целом довольно средняя игра которую можно пройти за несколько вечеров. Для меня в игре есть некоторые минусы: это примитивные механики, однообразный геймплей, скучный сюжет. Пройдя треть игры в дальнейшем почти всё повторяется ничего нового и играть становится довольно скучно. Игра своих денег не стоит, цена просто неадекватная.В целом довольно средняя игра которую можно пройти за несколько вечеров. Для меня в игре есть некоторые минусы: это примитивные механики, однообразный геймплей, скучный сюжет. Пройдя треть игры в дальнейшем почти всё повторяется ничего нового и играть становится довольно скучно. Игра своих денег не стоит, цена просто неадекватная.
  34. Psychoticrow
    Sep 27, 2021
    9
    Story, 9.5/10
    World, 9/10
    Characters and cinematic quality 10/10 The only reason I would rate this game an 8 is because although combat is good, its not great. Although the platforming is good it's not great all though the puzzles are fun they are fairly simple. I would HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone. One thing I will note if the developers are listening I played on "hard"    Story, 9.5/10
    World, 9/10
    Characters and cinematic quality 10/10

    The only reason I would rate this game an 8 is because although combat is good, its not great. Although the platforming is good it's not great all though the puzzles are fun they are fairly simple.

    I would HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone.
    One thing I will note if the developers are listening I played on "hard" and I found the game fairly easy, than the second last boss went from 0 to 10. That was a massive difficulty spike for me.    … Expand
  35. Khaar
    Sep 25, 2021
    9
    Gorgeous looking game.
    It truly feels like being in an animated movie. The world is wonderful to be in and filled with cuteness.
  36. Unicorling
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Очень красивая и милая игра, радует звуковое сопровождение, и сказочное окружение
  37. DragonAge
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    muito bom, lembra muito as produções da Disney e nem parece ser indie. Alguns momentos pode parecer repetitivo mas a ambientação é linda.
  38. Ellezar
    Oct 8, 2021
    10
    It's a beautiful fairytale with a nice storyline. Combat system is pretty simple, but for this game it's more like a plus rather then a minus. A little bit strange hitbox for Kena, but with some time you 'll adjust to it. I was fully immersed in this game and finished it in 2-3 days. I highly recommend this game, especially for those who like kind, sweet and cute fairy tales.
  39. weaaking1
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Cute and masterfully crafted game! Metroidvania style gameplay with addictive combat system makes it absolute must have for this season
  40. Osterrig
    Oct 11, 2021
    10
    Absolutely joy. Very beautiful game. Controls are smooth as butter.
    Screenshots are wallpaper worth.
  41. KenaTheSpirits
    Oct 12, 2021
    10
    I wanna eat the Rot.. soo cute, the game so beautiful, the song absolutely gorgeous from BALI,INDONESIA musical traditional..
  42. ArmyRetGuy
    Sep 22, 2021
    9
    Great visuals, compelling story, child like but can hold an adults attention. My wife wants a rot for a pet now, haha. Seriously though, it's like playing a disney/pixar or dreamworks movie in game form. The storytelling and character building in great. The gameplay is unique in a few ways, such as the use of the rots. There are puzzles to keep you thinking, but they aren't so complicatedGreat visuals, compelling story, child like but can hold an adults attention. My wife wants a rot for a pet now, haha. Seriously though, it's like playing a disney/pixar or dreamworks movie in game form. The storytelling and character building in great. The gameplay is unique in a few ways, such as the use of the rots. There are puzzles to keep you thinking, but they aren't so complicated they'll frustrate you. Just enough puzzles to make it interesting. Some minor assassins creed style parkour, like sliding, side climbing, climb up/drop down, etc... Traversing the world is somewhat guided, but leaves you areas to explore and fine treasures/items/currency. Would have been a 10/10, but the control of the rot cloud is very annoying with a mouse. It wants to drag behind and turn you around when trying to move them around a corner. it's a minor annoyance, but still worth noting since you'll use them a lot. All in all, I would recommend the game.… Expand
  43. DioDask
    Sep 25, 2021
    9
    One of the most beautifull games. Perfect gameplay and mechanics , very nice story . It's not for kids . Any one that says that have not played the game or he didnt understand a thing . The game has some technical problems but they will fix them easily.
  44. muzmuz
    Oct 3, 2021
    6
    A beautiful puzzle-platformer game made in a kid's animated movie art style. But you wouldn't expect it to be a difficult souls-like game. The combat gameplay has a ridiculous configuration where easy mode is extremely unchallenging and normal mode is too brutal and hardcore for the average casual gamer.

    While I found the puzzles, platforming mechanics and exploration to be a fun    A beautiful puzzle-platformer game made in a kid's animated movie art style. But you wouldn't expect it to be a difficult souls-like game. The combat gameplay has a ridiculous configuration where easy mode is extremely unchallenging and normal mode is too brutal and hardcore for the average casual gamer.

    While I found the puzzles, platforming mechanics and exploration to be a fun activity to go through, the combat difficulty settings sucks a big portion of the fun in this game.

    If you don't like hardcore souls-like games and don't like playing extremely easy ones either, then this is not for you for its lack of in-between, no matter how good I think the rest of the game is.    … Expand
  45. Perroga
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    A great game, a beautiful game, one of my favorites and I hope to see more of it soon A great game, a beautiful game, of my favorites and I hope to see more of it soon, a pity is not as valued as many others, this is a hidden gem
  46. dotrem
    Nov 3, 2021
    4
    It's nice little story with pointless plot. But unfortunately controls are full fking garabage. Even a lowest mouse sense made for humans with demigod's reaction. Again i will never adjust any mouse settings in WIndows for just a game. Ok lets try controller. And everytring was fine before i get a bow. Since them game become a hell. Even a highes camera sense a slow as fk.
    But i dropped    It's nice little story with pointless plot. But unfortunately controls are full fking garabage. Even a lowest mouse sense made for humans with demigod's reaction. Again i will never adjust any mouse settings in WIndows for just a game. Ok lets try controller. And everytring was fine before i get a bow. Since them game become a hell. Even a highes camera sense a slow as fk.
    But i dropped the game after i stuck on the tree without any possibility to going back, and with shooting session ahead.
    Doesn't worse to spend time on it.    … Expand
  47. JustGoosing
    Sep 22, 2021
    10
    Made a Metacritic Account just to review this game and give it the props it deserves. Amazing animation, audio and composition, very interesting story, combat is satisfying and the gameplay mechanics are always throwing in some neat things to do or puzzles to solve. Emberlab didn't focus on marketing false features and really put their heart and soul into their first game and it reallyMade a Metacritic Account just to review this game and give it the props it deserves. Amazing animation, audio and composition, very interesting story, combat is satisfying and the gameplay mechanics are always throwing in some neat things to do or puzzles to solve. Emberlab didn't focus on marketing false features and really put their heart and soul into their first game and it really shows. I hope to see a sequel and any new IPs that come from this dedicated and very talented studio. Keep up the great work Emberlab and enjoy the game everyone.… Expand
  48. Fanchbretagne
    Oct 3, 2021
    4
    Bon jeu sympa mais qui n'a que très peu d'originalité. Gameplay basique, histoire un peu simpliste et contenu très limité. A part la mission principale y a rien.
  49. Allyptic
    Sep 28, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great game with a huge focus on story, characters, and world-building. I don't remember the last time when the story absorbed me so much. Yes, there are few bugs here are there, but nothing game-breaking. Usually minor visual glitches.… Expand
  50. Mareli
    Sep 25, 2021
    10
    I don't know what this game does perfectly but it does it!

    If you played games like Jak and Daxter, Beyond Good & Evil back then on the PS2 and enjoyed them you will love Kena! Bridge of Spirits plays very much like an old PS2 game what I mean by that is gameplay-wise it keeps it simple but has an entertaining story and cool boss fights. It's so nice to have such a beautiful game    I don't know what this game does perfectly but it does it!

    If you played games like Jak and Daxter, Beyond Good & Evil back then on the PS2 and enjoyed them you will love Kena!
    Bridge of Spirits plays very much like an old PS2 game what I mean by that is gameplay-wise it keeps it simple but has an entertaining story and cool boss fights.

    It's so nice to have such a beautiful game done by a small development team that is more enjoyable than most AAA games.
    Everything fits perfectly together with great gameplay mechanics cool fights nice music a beautiful detail-rich world and a story you will care about.
    Somehow It's just one of the better games I played and I hope to see more games from this Studio.

    + The World is beautifully designed and is not too big so it makes sense and is fun to explore.
    + Gameplay is simple but addicting
    + Storytelling is done phenomenal!
    + The soundtrack is really enjoyable
    + Fights are cool and don't feel repetitive
    + Boss fights are so much fun!
    + It has a PS2 game vibe (Jak and Daxter)

    - The only little con I can think of is the Kena Character Animation it's not that bad but could just be a little smoother.

    Respect Ember Lab's and thank you for this masterpiece!    … Expand
  51. xartemporas
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Well done ember lambs. Impressive for first game. Keep going and evolving, we need these type of games!
  52. scyre
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    I am 10 hours into the game now and I really love the kind of artwork combined with classic storytelling & character progression. The voice actors doing a great job too and it is a game worth your time. I played a lot of RPGs in my days, but this one got its own spirit and it is a really lovely one.
  53. cbruscato
    Sep 29, 2021
    8
    I think the average for this game is pretty spot on. It's a game with a lot of character to it, similar to Breath of the Wild's sense of childishness and whimsical design. It's story is not it's strongest point, but as a package, I found it to be very enjoyable. It's not Pixar the Video Game, but it has its high and low points. The combat is not super inspired, and that's really where itI think the average for this game is pretty spot on. It's a game with a lot of character to it, similar to Breath of the Wild's sense of childishness and whimsical design. It's story is not it's strongest point, but as a package, I found it to be very enjoyable. It's not Pixar the Video Game, but it has its high and low points. The combat is not super inspired, and that's really where it draws stark comparison to Breath of the Wild. There isn't an ammo economy, weapons have no durability, and there are no real RPG elements to it. There is a skill tree, but it lacks the depth that many in the genre strive for. The effect of this, is that it's great for kids, but it's difficulty curve isn't great. This can be a brutal game at times, even on the lowest difficulties for children to engage with. The platforming here is welcome, and a lot of fun, but it's very hit or miss whether I will enjoy a section and feel clever, or be lost trying to figure out where to go next. I get it - discovery and all. If you are that type of player that just enjoys running around mostly empty areas looking for more loot, there is actually a decent amount of world here and the areas feel connected. Overall, I think this is a "wait for sale." I think it offers a lot for $40, but I also think you will find some deep deep sales for this title in the near future. I think the one takeaway that I would give, is that it is around 10-15 hours long, and there is little to no reason to replay it. While I opened showing the contrast with Breath of the Wild, I personally, would describe this game as a 3D version of Ori and the Blind Forest… Expand
  54. Feeelix
    Oct 12, 2021
    8
    It's an amazing Game! So much fun and a great Adventure.
    That's very good:
    Graphics are very good with a beautiful art Style and great Details. Controls are very smooth, but I would play it on a Controller! Amazing Gameplay! That can be better: The Story is great, but you don't really learn much about Kena and her Story. Also, the sequences weren't that often, but when they were very    It's an amazing Game! So much fun and a great Adventure.
    That's very good:
    Graphics are very good with a beautiful art Style and great Details.
    Controls are very smooth, but I would play it on a Controller!
    Amazing Gameplay!
    That can be better:
    The Story is great, but you don't really learn much about Kena and her Story. Also, the sequences weren't that often, but when they were very nicely and fantastically animated.
    Yes! Play it!    … Expand
  55. Mohameessam
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
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  56. Mahdiar
    Oct 1, 2021
    7
    Gameplay : 7
    Graphics : 8
    Story : 8
    Sound : 9
    **********************************************************************************
    Overall : 7
  57. BoltSnapBolt
    Jul 21, 2022
    8
    This was a great start from a studio who are just now dipping their toes in the water making video games. I dont know any other way to describe it other than it feels like you are playing a Pixar movie, and it is an incredible display of the PS5's power. Combat feels very God of War meets Horizon Zero Dawn in the best way possible. I highly recommend it.
  58. DmitryKochurov
    Sep 23, 2021
    10
    Я очень ждал эту игру и очень был рад русской локализации, так что для меня это уже +. Анимация просто бомба, такое чувство будто вы играете в мультфильм. Уровень умиления просто зашкаливает. Геймплей интересный с упором на исследование мира. Но вы можете и просто пройтись по сюжету и, по моему мнению, это будет ошибка. Я специально поставил максимальный уровень сложности и старался поЯ очень ждал эту игру и очень был рад русской локализации, так что для меня это уже +. Анимация просто бомба, такое чувство будто вы играете в мультфильм. Уровень умиления просто зашкаливает. Геймплей интересный с упором на исследование мира. Но вы можете и просто пройтись по сюжету и, по моему мнению, это будет ошибка. Я специально поставил максимальный уровень сложности и старался по максимуму исследовать мир, чтобы получить максимум удовольствия от игры. Что тут сказать ещё, играйте, пробуйте и составьте собственное мнение о ней. Если Вам нравятся милые мультфильмы с красивой графикой и хорошим сюжетом, то Вам игра понравится.… Expand
  59. Ahesantor
    Sep 22, 2021
    10
    Amazing graphics which is not too realistic does not even wants to be one, it just hits the sweet spot where it is still a game instead of a movie yet not cheap low graphics. The composition of light and shadows with the music to describe the overall mood of the area or the situation is just perfect, sometimes it brings joy and brightness yet when the game needs that it can turn intoAmazing graphics which is not too realistic does not even wants to be one, it just hits the sweet spot where it is still a game instead of a movie yet not cheap low graphics. The composition of light and shadows with the music to describe the overall mood of the area or the situation is just perfect, sometimes it brings joy and brightness yet when the game needs that it can turn into something that you just don't wanna face and sends chills down your spine.
    The music is amazing and fitting the game, sound effects are also hit the same quality, animations are smooth and dynamic.
    The game has a nice story yet the gameplay is a lil bit repetative, character control feels natural mostly (one or two exceptions), camera angles are pretty weird sometimes.
    Personally at some points of the game I just had to take breaks from progressing further and enjoy the scene with the music (for a few hours).
    Every character has their unique personality on a level where you can't even notice they have, so it feels pretty natural. The ingame benchmark for graphics settings is not perfect, it did set graphics a bit too high for me so needs a bit adjusting after that.
    Honestly, I haven't played such a game in a long long time. Definietly a recommended title and a shining star among all the games nowadays, especially since lately most games just build on multiplayer and online experience.
    A great game from Ember Lab! They have brought the quality and experience which was expected after watching their animations.    … Expand
  60. SuperNaiv
    Sep 22, 2021
    8
    I kind of digg this game. My 9 years old kid likes it too. There is good progression and game takes time to explain game mechanics in a simple way. it's a lot fun. I would gladly recommend this game to almost all ages.
  61. jackinvestor
    Sep 25, 2021
    9
    It shows that this game is made by someone who usually makes animation movies.

    Great graphics, great Sound and ok gameplay.

    Its difficult to believe that Its made by only 15-20 people.
  62. Thydah
    Sep 22, 2021
    10
    I'm writing this review as of 100% Completion/Collectables on Hard Difficulty.

    Duration: Expect 10-15 hours depending on how thorough you are and harder difficult can make it quite a bit longer. But think it overall was the 'perfect' length this game should have, anything longer and parts might've started to get repetitive. Bosses: Hands down my favourite feature of this game, The    I'm writing this review as of 100% Completion/Collectables on Hard Difficulty.

    Duration: Expect 10-15 hours depending on how thorough you are and harder difficult can make it quite a bit longer. But think it overall was the 'perfect' length this game should have, anything longer and parts might've started to get repetitive.

    Bosses: Hands down my favourite feature of this game, The second boss was just wow, I enjoyed every part of that fight and just wish I could vs it again. Most bosses felt like it was the right difficulty and felt rewarding once you learnt how to fight it. I would say the most of the bosses were fun to learn, however the Warrior Path Boss felt a bit underwhelming almost under tuned, just wasn't sure what he did. Maybe just the way I fought him was particularly effective. The last boss had a much steeper learning curve especially on Hard Difficulty. Definitely taking many attempts to learn the boss and figure out a strategy on how to defeat. I must say the 'last part' of the final boss with all the different phases felt particularly punishing until I discovered the health restores. Yet, going from phase to phase and having 0 courage at the start of each phase felt bad, especially if there wasn't a health restore in Phases 2 & 4 so quite often I'd enter that new phase on 1hp or very low hp and proceed to insta-die and have to start the fight all over again. I understand why it was designed so that you enter the next phase with 0 courage because otherwise you could store your courage and just blast through the difficult phases of the final boss but just wish there was a single health restore we could use to spend our courage on in the in-between phases.

    Exploration and Travel: Thoroughly enjoyed exploring the entire world. The visual design of this game really is breath-taking and the cutscenes are amazing. Some of puzzles early on didn't feel like anything new, however there may be a few that take a moment to figure out. I did enjoy traversing through the game by either firing your arrows at flowers or using a grenade to temporarily lift debris that I had to quickly climb in order to get to my next destination as that felt particularly smooth. However, less can be said for climbing and shimmering across ledges - Most are fine but if you leap to early or slide down and you're not at the end you may just fall off. The puzzles can take a moment to figure out as you get deeper into the game which is refreshing. Also big props to just the overall map design, I never felt like I had to backtrack through the map and got to explore every part of the map as the player's journey was very well designed through the map.

    Collectables: I really enjoyed collecting Spirit Mail as it started by giving you a small clue and requiring you to explore the world thoroughly as some Spirit Mail was quite well hidden. It's reward would allow you to unlock different parts of the Village that would give you some unique loot, give a small flashback to villagers that use to live there as well as cleansing and restoring the village. I did enjoy collecting all the Rot but wish there was a secret ability or reward for collecting all of them outside of being able to unlock new skills. Also enjoyed all the different hats on the Rot, some did make me smile and were a nice touch.

    Combat: Not a large variety of common enemies to fight, most having a yellow gem as the 'Critical Hit' spot that would give you some courage and deal additional damage. The flow of combat felt quite smooth and there were some skills I particularly enjoyed using most of the Rot Skills like 'Rot Hammer' and 'Piercing Shot' or the 'Temporal Grenade' however there were some other skills that I used at all. The Melee Skill tree all felt really good with the Sprint and Jump Variations of the attacks or the Charged Heavy Attack. The Parry Mechanic felt particularly powerful if you could master it but I don't think I was good enough at it to get the most out of it, only from time to time would I be able to utilise it. I think Pulse was done really well throughout the game, either being able to destroy the suicide bombers before they reach you or detonating your grenades early in addition to it's primary use of opening doors etc.

    I'll avoid talking about the story as I don't want to spoil anything.

    Great game though Ember Labs, looking forward to your next one.

    Pros:
    - Bosses
    - Exploration, Traversal and World Design
    - Combat (Most Skills - Melee Tree/Parry/Rot Hammer/Piercing Shot/Temporal Grenade)
    - Collectables
    - Pulse

    Cons:
    - Some parts of the final boss were particularly frustrating
    - Some Skills (Shooting the Grenade before it exploded and Ricochet projectiles from the Grenade were completely unused by me)
    - Wood Knight (Telegraphed Abilities - But without health restores did I hate going up against it)
    - Any 'Grab' boss mechanics (Felt particularly impossible to dodge most of the time)    … Expand
  63. Veiled
    Sep 23, 2021
    3
    Aburrido hasta decir basta, la estructura narrativa es un despropósito y el gameplay es una continua muestra de carencias, demasiado simple, demasiado previsible, puzzles simplotes y aburridos y un rendimiento técnico muy mediocre para la poca potencia gráfica del título. En las 4 horas que he jugado me he encontrado además varios bugs, el mas penoso el de las escenas CGI desincronizadas yAburrido hasta decir basta, la estructura narrativa es un despropósito y el gameplay es una continua muestra de carencias, demasiado simple, demasiado previsible, puzzles simplotes y aburridos y un rendimiento técnico muy mediocre para la poca potencia gráfica del título. En las 4 horas que he jugado me he encontrado además varios bugs, el mas penoso el de las escenas CGI desincronizadas y a unos fps ridículo. Ni siquiera se entiende como un estudio dedicado a la animación ha permitido, precisamente, que el juego tenga esas animaciones tan mediocres.

    No lo recomiendo mas a que niños pequeños    … Expand
  64. Bananaa
    Sep 22, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well, this is it, I finished the game, and I must say it was a truly great experience! Congrats Ember Labs, I can't wait to see your future work, no matter if it's in Kena's world or not (even tho, I must say, I'd love to see a sequel to this game with the same main character, I already like her and would love to know more about her, her family, and the universe of the game.

    Now let's talk about the game:

    First of all, the whole OST is absolutely lovely, and it never gets boring, as same as the sound effects in general. Game graphics are really good looking, the art direction is mastered, and the atmosphere is simply crazy! The ingame animations are nice and smooth.
    The voice acting is really good, some will regret the fact that you are forced to play with english voices, but I did not. I was able to feel the emotions of each character, and I didn't noticed anything weird in the acting.
    The cutscenes are absolutely gorgeous, and the transitions between a game sequence and a cutscene are smooth and have sense (The game doesn't abuse of cutscenes, they're neither too long nor too short, and cutscenes aren't used for something that's not important).

    The controls are smooth and responsive, and, for Kena, they don't feel "heavy". However, I noticed the lack of customization for the controls (You must use WASD to move and you can't change that). The Rots controls are pretty heavy though, especially when playing with a mouse and a keyboard, but you get used to it after a few ours.

    The story is gripping, the characters are well written and engaging. As I said above you can feel the emotions of of characters through them, and the acting feels natural.
    The storytelling is mastered from the beginning to the end of the game.

    The game would definitely need some more optimization on PC, I had some pretty low FPS near the end zone of the game with a more than decent computer (rtx 2080, i7 8700k...), but except this part of the map, everything else was pretty smooth.

    The gameplay is pretty simple. While there's nothing amazing for this part, it's efficient, and enjoyable. I would have loved to see more weapons and/or skills, although, I must admit that, compared to a lot of other games, none of the skills/weapons feels useless/bad, which is, in this case, extremely nice. The Expert Spirit Guide difficulty is pretty decent. It's wasn't too easy at all. Sometimes, it even felt pretty hard, which is nice.

    I absolutely loved the game, and after completing everything (yep, 100%), I can say that I never got bored, neither by the environments, the music, the characters, the cutscenes or anything else.

    Finally, I must say that the game quality is already way beyond what you could expect from an independent studio, with a small team, on their first game. Definitely one of the games I enjoyed the most these last years, thanks for that!    … Expand
  65. DreamCore
    Oct 3, 2021
    7
    The Bad:

    * $50 (in my country) for a game that can be completed in 9 hours is a stretch. * The pre-rendered cut-scenes run at 24fps so it feels like the whole game is stuttering and makes your eyes bleed when the rest of the game runs at 100fps (RTX 3090). * Some boss fights have piss poor balancing. Even when playing on difficulty 2/4 you can get 2 shotted. * Some really annoying    The Bad:

    * $50 (in my country) for a game that can be completed in 9 hours is a stretch.
    * The pre-rendered cut-scenes run at 24fps so it feels like the whole game is stuttering and makes your eyes bleed when the rest of the game runs at 100fps (RTX 3090).
    * Some boss fights have piss poor balancing. Even when playing on difficulty 2/4 you can get 2 shotted.
    * Some really annoying bugs. Sometimes you can't upgrade abilities even though the ability is unlocked and you have eniugh resources. Sometimes you can't save even if you go to "Save" in the menu och select a slot (nothing happens and no explaination why). Sometimes the fast travel stops working (I use a shrine but nothing happens when you select a warp point). Restarting the games fixes these issues but it happens very often which is really annoying.
    * Everything takes place in a forest so the environment feels a bit too "samey".
    * The majority of the chests etc contain hats or currency for buying hats for the Rot. I personally don't care about cosmetics, which means there's very little value to explore for chests etc.

    Verdict:

    Had it not been for the annoying bugs, the cutscene fps and the boss balancing I would have given it a 8/10. It's a good game, even thought it's not a game of the year contender.    … Expand
  66. msp99
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    Absolutely masterpiece especially regarding art work and story telling. Battles are a bit repeating but challenging.
  67. DangKhoa1801
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    many hat lovey, good action, i think it pretty good
    this game is so chilllllllllllllllll
  68. Toolka
    Sep 23, 2021
    10
    The game is such a breath of fresh air, gameplay is super fun and unique. But it also looks absolutely stunning, the colors, the lighting, just overall an incredibly relaxing and visually pleasing experience (also have to mention amazing soundtrack). The combat is great, smooth and fun, boss fights are demanding but in a way that they require tactic and not just button smashing. It is allThe game is such a breath of fresh air, gameplay is super fun and unique. But it also looks absolutely stunning, the colors, the lighting, just overall an incredibly relaxing and visually pleasing experience (also have to mention amazing soundtrack). The combat is great, smooth and fun, boss fights are demanding but in a way that they require tactic and not just button smashing. It is all in all an amazing, gripping story with great characters… Expand
  69. hsnnoznn
    Sep 23, 2021
    8
    First of all, I want to talk about the cons. I would expect storytelling from a game like this, albeit short, at the beginning. The absence of this created a small question mark. The other part that caught my eye so far was the cutscene transitions. These transitions could have been a little smoother. Another minus is watching the boss fight cutscene and watching it again when it restarts.First of all, I want to talk about the cons. I would expect storytelling from a game like this, albeit short, at the beginning. The absence of this created a small question mark. The other part that caught my eye so far was the cutscene transitions. These transitions could have been a little smoother. Another minus is watching the boss fight cutscene and watching it again when it restarts. Of course, he gives the right to pass, but he could have started directly with the fight.

    Combat mechanics were a bit lacking for me. I would like to state that I did not fully get the feeling of hitting. During the hit, it could freeze the time for milliseconds or give some effects that would increase this feeling. In the case of kill, such a situation does not exist and the feeling is sufficient.

    In some cases, the character's idle, walk, run and sprint animations may not match the character's speed. As such, the map can leave an impression as if it is sliding under you.

    On the pros, the atmosphere is quite nice, the art design is pleasant and peaceful. VFX and SFX elements are also very nice. It's a small detail, but it's a nice gesture that controller icons can be selected. Apart from these, this game is a perfect game to use in situations where there is a shortage of games to distract yourself and have a good time. I say stay away from this game. You should definitely play. We can wait more games from Emberlab.    … Expand
  70. Saffid
    Sep 23, 2021
    10
    Its soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo gorgeous .
  71. Tonyo92
    Sep 23, 2021
    10
    The game looks amazing, the combat system is very good,soundtrack is wonderful,the artwork the animations,the story everything is very very good amazing job Ember Lab!
  72. Vasot
    Sep 29, 2021
    1
    A game that is made mostly for kids and young teens, if you like cartoon graphics with cute animals and rainbows and some silly story made for children well this game is probably for you so go and buy it. For adult gamers that are looking for something more realistic and something more serious and want a fascinating and challenging gameplay well sorry you should check elsewhere and stayA game that is made mostly for kids and young teens, if you like cartoon graphics with cute animals and rainbows and some silly story made for children well this game is probably for you so go and buy it. For adult gamers that are looking for something more realistic and something more serious and want a fascinating and challenging gameplay well sorry you should check elsewhere and stay away from this game… Expand
  73. IntrovertRobot
    Sep 24, 2021
    3
    Good:
    -Animation
    -Music
    -Boss Fight
    Bad:
    -Story
    -Characters
    -Collectibles are useless
    -Upgrades are useless
    -Combat is extremely simple and is extremely repetitive
    -Gameplay was repetitive
    I did a review on the game on my YT channel
  74. treif
    Sep 23, 2021
    8
    The graphics are good, gameplay and animations are on point. The story is lacking though.
  75. PSExclusives
    Sep 23, 2021
    10
    Amazing game my god what a masterpiece Ember Lab created. I hope Sony acquires them ASAP and grow them as much as possible. It’s also sad the PC peasants get to have this game just to pirate it like the low lives they are and not support the devs. Sony, please acquire and lock them to PlayStation and then give their games to these begging barking dogs 3 years after each game’s release likeAmazing game my god what a masterpiece Ember Lab created. I hope Sony acquires them ASAP and grow them as much as possible. It’s also sad the PC peasants get to have this game just to pirate it like the low lives they are and not support the devs. Sony, please acquire and lock them to PlayStation and then give their games to these begging barking dogs 3 years after each game’s release like usual.… Expand
  76. Khaladryel
    Sep 27, 2021
    9
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a light hearted adventure, with amazing graphics, simple but great gameplay and fantastic exploration. Kena is the first work of Ember Lab, a small indie studio, and from what I say with this game, I can't wait to see what they do next.

    Graphics: After playing this game for more than 24 hours, I still can believe that this game looks so good. The characters,    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a light hearted adventure, with amazing graphics, simple but great gameplay and fantastic exploration. Kena is the first work of Ember Lab, a small indie studio, and from what I say with this game, I can't wait to see what they do next.

    Graphics:
    After playing this game for more than 24 hours, I still can believe that this game looks so good. The characters, the enviroments, the particle effects... everything looks great. If you can run this game on max settings (PC) you are going to enjoy the view for sure. And it also runs great! I'm playing with an i7 6700k and an RTX 3070, and I've had zero issues and zero crashes.

    Sound:
    The music of this game is triple A level. The mix of enviroment music and boss themes are amazing. It follows the game and changes seamlessly depending on the situation. Even the small talk that Kena does with the Rot whenever you find them is lovely.

    Gameplay:
    Kena offers a small but full and highly detailed world to explore. It is not as big as some open world games, and in a way, that is one of my negatives with it, that I wanted more of it. Finding collectibles, finding secret pasages, fighting enemies to complete challenges. It has a bit of everything.

    The combat is simple but very enjoyable. It does not take a long time to learn and it can be really fun to fight bosses. The only reason I'm not giving it a 10/10 is that sometimes, the encounters are a bit unbalanced. I think that the developer needs to fix some things to make it just perfect.

    Conclusion:
    For the price tag of this game, this is a MUST BUY. Buy it, enjoy it, wish there was more of it, and finally, join me on waiting for Ember Lab's next project!    … Expand
  77. Trix122
    Sep 24, 2021
    1
    Not worth 40$, pretty mediocre overall. World design feels awful and empty, animations are pretty bad (So ironic for an animation studio) , story is meaningless , combat is boring and repetitive. On top of that i lost my savefile to a bug. Only decent thing is graphics but anyone can get good graphics nowdays with a stock engine and standard assets and makes no sense when everything elseNot worth 40$, pretty mediocre overall. World design feels awful and empty, animations are pretty bad (So ironic for an animation studio) , story is meaningless , combat is boring and repetitive. On top of that i lost my savefile to a bug. Only decent thing is graphics but anyone can get good graphics nowdays with a stock engine and standard assets and makes no sense when everything else is lackluster.

    The devs aimed too high wthout having the talent neither the resources.

    Price tag should be 15$ top.    … Expand
  78. TheeDannyBbb
    Sep 24, 2021
    0
    Game it self is fine and i would have probably bought a sequel however the dev's took that v bucks money and im not into supporting exploitation of children.

    game okay, devs greedy, pirates will love.
  79. cartrnan
    Sep 25, 2021
    4
    For the graphics and visual style 8. For the gameplay - 1. Awfully awkward and crooked gameplay.
  80. Zer0TheHer0
    Oct 11, 2021
    0
    You can't change the movement keys. Are you kidding me? This is unacceptable.
  81. sommojames
    Sep 25, 2021
    5
    Graphic, art style and music are 10/10,l but... gamplay is kind of boring, there is no enemy variety, story is boring and there is no character development (the protagoniust is cute but barely speaks)
  82. Argenamla
    Oct 17, 2021
    9
    he best history, immersive, very good soundtrack, a great combat and the most beautiful graphics i can see in a actual game, i do de 100% and i wana do again in the most difficult setting. It's like a pixar movie
  83. Smuv
    Oct 3, 2021
    8
    For a debut, Ember Lab delivered something truly extraordinary. On the surface it's all incredible: art style, story, puzzles, combat. It works as a whole.
    At a closer look however it becomes clear that this is their first game. My main complaint is combat and the balance of difficulty. Combat does feel fine and bosses are really interesting mechanically. But while most of the game feels    For a debut, Ember Lab delivered something truly extraordinary. On the surface it's all incredible: art style, story, puzzles, combat. It works as a whole.
    At a closer look however it becomes clear that this is their first game. My main complaint is combat and the balance of difficulty. Combat does feel fine and bosses are really interesting mechanically. But while most of the game feels like a stroll through the park, bosses equal the difficulty of the average Dark Souls boss (coming from someone who played all From Software games to completion). While any normal enemy type poses no threat whatsoever and is killed by mashing R1, bosses can hit you from across the arena, kill you with 3 or 4 hits on normal difficulty and require tacticle gameplay, mastery of all of Kena's skillset and perseverence to defeat. Then towards the end of the game you're faced with 3 humanoid bosses that are way easier than all other bosses only to be faced with two more hardcore bosses after that. The game does a really bad job in teaching you the mechanics you need for these bosses and the disparity to the rest of the game is unfathomable. On easy difficulty however bosses pose no threat at all. It seems like Ember Lab couldn't decide if they wanted to make a Dark Souls or a Zelda and decided to go Dark Souls for the bosses and Zelda for the rest.
    Furthermore the skill-tree is laughable and comprised of stuff you should be able to do from the beginning. A couple of passive skills would have been nice (quicker arrow recharge for example).
    All in all it's a 7.5 for me (which is why I'm giving it an 8) but it could well have been a 10.    … Expand
  84. Zquaranteneuf
    Nov 4, 2021
    5
    The game looks gorgeous, but does a very poor job of giving you a sense of agency. What you're doing and why you're doing it is unclear at best, and the Rot mechanics become repetitive and boring extremely fast.

    For all its amazing visuals, the game unfortunately does nothing more than copy the most overdone 3D-animation style that Disney and Pixar had already perfected 10 years ago.    The game looks gorgeous, but does a very poor job of giving you a sense of agency. What you're doing and why you're doing it is unclear at best, and the Rot mechanics become repetitive and boring extremely fast.

    For all its amazing visuals, the game unfortunately does nothing more than copy the most overdone 3D-animation style that Disney and Pixar had already perfected 10 years ago. The overall look, the tropes, the little creatures, the bouncy stuff everywhere... the game is DESPERATELY SCREAMING at you to find it cute. It really comes across as pandering more than actual creative intent.

    Controls and combat are decent; quite standard but they certainly do the trick. The music is repetitive and annoying though. Also I got softlocked during the first two hours of gameplay.

    Very average experience. Other AAA or indie games have both done far better.    … Expand
  85. Umur
    Sep 9, 2022
    8
    I just loved this game with it's cute graphics and it's interesting story. If you like adventure games i would recommend this game.
  86. aalrif
    Aug 21, 2022
    8
    kena merupakan game simpel yang membuat pemainnya tidak merasa terbebankan saat memainkannya. segi artistik merupakan komponen yang menonjol dari game ini yang mengingatkan saya akan film raya and the last dragon. gameplay yang diberikan adalah puzzle dan combat yang simpel
    8.2//10
  87. tontonac
    May 16, 2022
    5
    Beautiful art, but very generic gameplay. Took ideas here and there but everything gives a feeling of déjà vu.
  88. mobinshadow
    Oct 4, 2021
    10
    its a beautiful game i like it nice
  89. Bizik369
    Oct 6, 2021
    10
    Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect Perfect
  90. GraySummer
    Oct 14, 2021
    9
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a well paced and delightful experience. The fantastic graphics and music create an unforgettable atmosphere. The story moments are short but very cinematic and impactful thanks to the extremely high quality animation which blend seamlessly between cut-scene and gameplay. The puzzles and exploration is a lot of fun and the combat was a nice surprise as it was aKena: Bridge of Spirits is a well paced and delightful experience. The fantastic graphics and music create an unforgettable atmosphere. The story moments are short but very cinematic and impactful thanks to the extremely high quality animation which blend seamlessly between cut-scene and gameplay. The puzzles and exploration is a lot of fun and the combat was a nice surprise as it was a lot more challenging than i would expect with multiple boss encounters. My only issue which is perhaps a personal one as i played on a higher difficulty is that the challenging combat sometimes feels at odds with the presentation of the game. I found myself loading up Kena expecting a calm and zen evening and ending up often in a gruelling hyper-concentrated session trying to learn and convincingly beat some very tough boss fights. For it's price point and the sense of childhood nostalgia it invoked in me i would highly recommend this game and i hope Ember Labs makes a sequel.… Expand
  91. Huzkii
    Oct 22, 2021
    10
    This game was amazing. took me back to old school gaming.not bloated full of thousands of different systems. just a couple to focus on and the game is all about the experience. From graphics to story the game was perfect. combat was excellent for an initial entry from EmberLabs however definitely can be tightened up in future games however its far from bad. 10/10 I love this game. pleaseThis game was amazing. took me back to old school gaming.not bloated full of thousands of different systems. just a couple to focus on and the game is all about the experience. From graphics to story the game was perfect. combat was excellent for an initial entry from EmberLabs however definitely can be tightened up in future games however its far from bad. 10/10 I love this game. please make another 10 of these!… Expand
  92. pokemonmaster9
    May 7, 2022
    9
    Improve graphic, framerate, music, gameplay, story, and animation. However, control keyboard, minor technical issue, item check, and long semi open-world levels are nothing.
  93. MajinNobuu
    May 13, 2022
    8
    Gameplay, atmosphere, music, world, exploration and even the graphics in this game are absolutely amazing. The story and characters a bit simplistic and nothing special, but considering this game contains a world with tons of enemies and secrets to discover its well worth it. I recommend anyone to play this game.
  94. MoscowMega
    Aug 15, 2022
    8
    Безумно красивая анимация, воплощенная Ember lab в полноценную игру, хоть и не столько продолжительную, на сколько хотелось бы. Не заурядный сюжет, но с милой обложкой и добротой. Проходить мимо такого продукта крайне не рекомендуется. Пару милых вечеров игра точно обеспечит.Безумно красивая анимация, воплощенная Ember lab в полноценную игру, хоть и не столько продолжительную, на сколько хотелось бы. Не заурядный сюжет, но с милой обложкой и добротой. Проходить мимо такого продукта крайне не рекомендуется. Пару милых вечеров игра точно обеспечит.
  95. hoviadko123
    Sep 11, 2022
    9
    At first glance, Kena Bridge of Spirits looks like brand new Disney movie.
    But no. It's a beautiful game with great graphics and art with simple and pretty nice story but it should be more extended, there are some plot holes. The world maybe looks blank and lifeless but there are only spirits lingering here besides Kena so, what's the big deal?
    Gameplay is really good, I like the combat    At first glance, Kena Bridge of Spirits looks like brand new Disney movie.
    But no. It's a beautiful game with great graphics and art with simple and pretty nice story but it should be more extended, there are some plot holes. The world maybe looks blank and lifeless but there are only spirits lingering here besides Kena so, what's the big deal?
    Gameplay is really good, I like the combat system because it's fun and it's simple to use.
    Overall it is really satisfying and chill game on easy difficulty and pretty challenging game on hard difficulty.    … Expand
  96. EZIO801
    Nov 27, 2022
    10
    Most fun I've had in a video game in a while. Combat is amazing, atmosphere is beautiful and good looking game.
  97. Bitek
    Dec 18, 2022
    10
    Beautiful , fan to play game with cute character , cool puzzles and challenging fights for kids and adult alike.
  98. MikefromAngus
    Mar 11, 2023
    5
    Graphics are very nice, but I found the game to be very boring. Gameplay is Okay. I was expecting a lot more from the game. It was a disappointment for me.
  99. p1menta
    May 5, 2022
    7
    It was an animation turned to game, yes, but in a good way. a bit repetitive, but it's not too long to bore you, it's pretty, fun and cute. Worth enough if you play it on gamepass or somthing like that
  100. raorian
    Oct 5, 2022
    6
    It's like a Ghibli movie but without the soul. metacritic wants 75 letters.
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Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best PC Game of 2021
27
#27 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Gamersky
    Dec 2, 2021
    87
    The strongest feeling I got from Kena: Bridge of Spirits is that it is "eclectic". It extracts the folk culture and religious culture, and then injects them into the Disney-like art style, creating a wonderful chemical reaction that is shocking enough.
    Read full review
  2. GameSpace
    Oct 4, 2021
    90
    From the very first moment till the very end of your journey, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a heart-warming experience and a real pleasure between the visuals, puzzles and combat. Atmospheric music, beautiful lively graphics, believable heroes and cute little Rots - each little element is woven into the amazing whole that is the gaming experience provided by Kena.
    Read full review
  3. Ragequit.gr
    Sep 29, 2021
    86
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is "to the point": visually it's a feast for the eyes and with an interesting percussion-based musical score. It's fun, thoughtful, made with care and inspiration, even if it doesn't offer anything original in its individual areas. Especially considering that this is Ember Lab's first effort, the future is bright, and we can already imagine an even better sequel.
    Read full review
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