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. Bitek
    Dec 18, 2022
    10
    Beautiful , fan to play game with cute character , cool puzzles and challenging fights for kids and adult alike.
  2. temaxa
    Nov 15, 2021
    10
    Отличная мультяшка. Играется на одном дыхании. Очень классное звуковое сопровождение.
  3. 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
  4. Unicorling
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Очень красивая и милая игра, радует звуковое сопровождение, и сказочное окружение
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. 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!
  9. msp99
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    Absolutely masterpiece especially regarding art work and story telling. Battles are a bit repeating but challenging.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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
  14. kinzZ
    Oct 2, 2021
    10
    Its a wonderful game with fantastic gameplay, visuals, music, and writing. Highly recommended.
  15. 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
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. xartemporas
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Well done ember lambs. Impressive for first game. Keep going and evolving, we need these type of games!
  19. 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.
  20. 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
  21. Mrmuffiine
    Feb 21, 2022
    10
    The game has a great diversity of innovative and fun mechanics, a lovely story which resembles a Disney Pixar movie, and lastly it has beautiful soundtracks. Really intriguing and worth the price.
  22. 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
  23. 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.
  24. 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
  25. 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!
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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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