Kena: Bridge of Spirits

 PlayStation 5
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1291 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,034 out of 1291
  2. Mixed: 162 out of 1291
  3. Negative: 95 out of 1291

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  1. Tapies
    Sep 24, 2021
    9
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits, is an absolute work of art, incredible visuals, beautiful narrative and super entertaining gameplay, without words.
  2. shmitzles
    Sep 25, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game is honestly really fun and the combat feels good. The two things taking this down to an 8 for me is that platforming is just okay, and an awesome dash ability comes into the game way late and you can't upgrade it so you could do an air dashs. I'm excited to see what Ember Labs has next.… Expand
  3. jaysundae
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Stunning visuals, incredible combat and boss fights, intriguing story and a beautiful soundtrack, this game has it all! I can't believe this is Ember Lab's first ever game, this really is an absolute treat to play from start to finish. For a small studio to put this out as their first ever game is a remarkable feat. I can't eait to see what they do in the future. One of my favourite gamesStunning visuals, incredible combat and boss fights, intriguing story and a beautiful soundtrack, this game has it all! I can't believe this is Ember Lab's first ever game, this really is an absolute treat to play from start to finish. For a small studio to put this out as their first ever game is a remarkable feat. I can't eait to see what they do in the future. One of my favourite games of the year, if not my favourite. Bravo, Ember Lab!… Expand
  4. Doom646
    Oct 8, 2021
    10
    I love this game is interesting, beautiful graphics and amazing gameplay, is togher than you might expect at the beggining but a little by little you start to get used to it
  5. Danil4ikOne
    Sep 26, 2021
    10
    Восхитительная игра, на фоне тех бич "продуктов" (не игр) от всяких юбисофтов, ощущается как глоток всего лучшего и душевного
  6. srinu634
    Jan 6, 2022
    8
    Great game and amazing graphics. The gameplay is a bit repetitive though. Cannot complain at all given it's the first game for the studio. Ember lab, you did a phenomenal job. You people are awesome!
  7. IIAlisonll
    Oct 5, 2021
    10
    Grandioso! Es un aire fresco para esta generación. Tiene mecánicas muy buenas y una historia narrativa excelente. Sin dudas, su soundtrack es una joya que refuerza magníficamente la inmersión del jugador. Espero impaciente una secuela o el siguiente proyecto de Ember Lab!
  8. playgamer2014
    Sep 28, 2021
    10
    Ótimo jogo, isso sim e um Indie de respeito, e não aquelas porcarias que o XBOSTA faz naquele vídeo game falido e fracassado,
  9. Neo-BRAT
    Feb 8, 2023
    10
    Замечательная во всех смыслах игра. Надеюсь, однажды мы увидим вторую часть, ещё шикарнее и масштабнее.
  10. junaidmanji
    Sep 9, 2023
    10
    Such a beautiful, engaging and challenging game. Going through my first playthrough on Master difficulty and enjoying every moment of it. One of the best games played in recent years!
  11. martinho_99
    Oct 11, 2021
    8
    + impressive grafics and art design
    + rotts as entertaining companions with good implementation into gameplay
    + strong storytelling with deep moments + challenging and spectacular fights + music and atmosphere + very straight forward game, I like this aspect not every game needs a giant open world - weird jumping animation (please fix that, it looks like Kena beams up in the air and falls    + impressive grafics and art design
    + rotts as entertaining companions with good implementation into gameplay
    + strong storytelling with deep moments
    + challenging and spectacular fights
    + music and atmosphere
    + very straight forward game, I like this aspect not every game needs a giant open world - weird jumping animation (please fix that, it looks like Kena beams up in the air and falls back down)
    - no animals, the grafics are amazing and lively but there are no birds, fish or insects that would make this world come alive
    - very unbalanced difficulty, the easy mode is far too easy but medium mode can already be brutally hard, especially the fight against the Hunter
    - the parkour part in the final fight ruins the fight partly for me, overall the final fight is too chaotic and not on the level of the great other fights, this is very dissapointing for me (~ the game is kind of philosophic and wants to be deep but what is its message? It is useless to try to change bad things happening to your loved ones?) Overall I liked the game a lot. It feels like Kena Bridge of Spirits tried something new. The story feels very original and remembers me of the legendary Studio Ghibli movies. I personally loved the rotts. The grafics are breathtaking and some of the fights are souls like hard and very cool (especially the fight against the Woodsmith is a gaming masterpiece moment). I think it is impressive that this game was developed by such a small team (aaaand is actually amazing, something you can't say about Biomutant which was also developed by a small studio but is a disaster). After release I read a lot of fake reviews here like someone said "it is so bad and easy you can play it in just 3h" this is just wrong. On medium difficulty it took me about 15h, if you just run through everything and ignore every magic aspect of the game - then you will finish it faster but you played it wrong. A really nice game!    … Expand
  12. Eladl
    Sep 27, 2021
    9
    Most enjoyable game I played this year, I like the environment so much, the gameplay is amazing and the rots is
  13. Cesar8
    Sep 24, 2021
    9
    La verdad este título me ha sorprendido mucho en el aspecto de ser un indie y tener algunos elementos que no tendría que envidiarle nada otros títulos que pueden tener más trabajadores o un presupuesto más elevado. En el apartado artístico me ha parecido algo increíble y uno de los mejores que he visto en este tipo de animacion tal cual así como partículas de algunos enemigos ya sea en elLa verdad este título me ha sorprendido mucho en el aspecto de ser un indie y tener algunos elementos que no tendría que envidiarle nada otros títulos que pueden tener más trabajadores o un presupuesto más elevado. En el apartado artístico me ha parecido algo increíble y uno de los mejores que he visto en este tipo de animacion tal cual así como partículas de algunos enemigos ya sea en el ambiente o en los enemigos me ha parecido un buen acierto. En el apartado de la historia me ha parecido muy buena la verdad como cada pedazo de las historias que nos plantean con ciertos puntos o situaciones diferentes entre ellos pero que al final nos damos cuenta que todas se entrelazan o tienen algo en común. En el apartado de lo musical me ha encantado, para mí es uno de los puntos más fuertes del título, combinando tonadas que suenan algo muy tradicional de Asia, pero que a la vez hay ciertas tonadas que en verdad me han traído recuerdos de como sonaban algunos soundtracks de antes y aveces me traían recuerdos de algunos juegos antiguos. En el apartado del combate me parecido algo normal, algo que en verdad no innova pero que le queda bien al juego, tomando elementos de combate de otros títulos y agregando unas características que te pueden recordado a un título Souls. La verdad es un juego muy bueno que me ha sorprendido mucho, para mi este es el indie del año y que posiblemente lo veremos compitiendo tal vez por mejor juego del año, pero que a la vez que sea buen juego no quiere decir que sea la octava maravilla, definitivamente una de las sorpresas de los videojuegos de este año.… Expand
  14. RomulusReviews
    Sep 26, 2021
    9
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits is simply an instant classic! Everything about this game spews grade A quality and completed by a developer who's first game this happens to be. It perhaps could have been a little bit longer but the story was fantastic pulling on your heart strings during every pre rendered cinematic cutscene.
  15. Ellie878elizabe
    Sep 30, 2021
    10
    This is definitely going to be my game of the year. I loved everything about it. Each spirit story was so well told and the game is beautiful
  16. defstm
    Oct 31, 2021
    8
    The best bow mechanics that I have seen. 8/10

    Gorgeous looking game, one of the best graphics this year, the cinematics look and feel alive, taken from an animation movie, the characters are perfectly animated. The world feels and immersion is transferred to the user through the character design and enemy design. On the gameplay side, so fun, with lots of mechanics and combinations,    The best bow mechanics that I have seen. 8/10

    Gorgeous looking game, one of the best graphics this year, the cinematics look and feel alive, taken from an animation movie, the characters are perfectly animated. The world feels and immersion is transferred to the user through the character design and enemy design.

    On the gameplay side, so fun, with lots of mechanics and combinations, and the enemies and bosses are well built, and each of them unique. I liked the fast-paced combat, and the bow is awesome, the best arcade-style bow mechanics that I have ever seen, it feels so natural, and the arrows combined with the dual sense adaptive triggers it's just a pleasure to use the bow.
    The story is simple, not the most interesting one, but it is a story that will keep you hooked and immersed in the game world, it's the kind of story that a AA (double-A) game deserves, not too complicated..

    I enjoyed my time with this game, it was worth a buy!    … Expand
  17. JhonyDelRey
    Sep 30, 2021
    10
    This game is awesome, the soundtrack is amazing. And how the game works is wonderfull. Thanks god they fix some bugs during the game.
  18. pretobr
    Feb 23, 2022
    9
    Um excelente jogo, uma boa historia, e uma jogabilidade boa(poderia melhorar), e "boss" bem difficiles até.
    Mas super recomendo,
  19. SergeantDan
    Sep 24, 2021
    7
    Overlord with a mix of Zelda.

    The pros: The small guys called the Rot are cute you can't argue that. The game details look amazing an runs fine in performance mode. The story is good up to a point. All 3 sections of the story has their ups and downs but the first 2 main boss areas are the best. The story is very detailed and amazing. Even with the list of good there is always a list of    Overlord with a mix of Zelda.

    The pros: The small guys called the Rot are cute you can't argue that. The game details look amazing an runs fine in performance mode. The story is good up to a point. All 3 sections of the story has their ups and downs but the first 2 main boss areas are the best. The story is very detailed and amazing. Even with the list of good there is always a list of cons.

    Cons: Fidelity mode is a joke. When attempting to turn the camera it takes the game 1 to 1.5 seconds to recognize that you moved the right joystick. That also goes for most other actions. Fidelity mode has major frame pacing issues in cutscenes. The game can feel unresponsive in this mode. The final 2 boss fights can be overly difficult the worst being the final one which seems to have used for padding time in the game. If you go straight through and not much extra you can beat this in about 8 hours. I wanted to love this game. But in the last 2 to 3 hours of the game. It just went from being a great fun experience to the feeling of a grind. On top of random getting hit in the back of enemies, stagger not working, grabs hitting you when your out of range, Dodge not working, and the list can go on. Its really hard to not recommend the game still. But you'll have to understand that some things are still funky with it.

    Would I say play it? yes
    Is it indie game of the year.... No    … Expand
  20. LordBarco
    Oct 9, 2021
    9
    KENA BRIDGE OF SPIRITS REVIEW
    Reviewed on PlayStation 5
    What happens when you mix The Legend of Zelda with Dark Souls and the cuteness of CGI as in a PIXAR movie? You get Kena Bridge of spirits. Yes, you heard me… Dark Souls. Do not be confused by the cuteness of the characters and the world because this game is hard as hell, and if you play in a higher difficulty, Kena will kick you    KENA BRIDGE OF SPIRITS REVIEW
    Reviewed on PlayStation 5

    What happens when you mix The Legend of Zelda with Dark Souls and the cuteness of CGI as in a PIXAR movie? You get Kena Bridge of spirits. Yes, you heard me… Dark Souls. Do not be confused by the cuteness of the characters and the world because this game is hard as hell, and if you play in a higher difficulty, Kena will kick you on and on and you will die a lot. An amazing experience that got me off balance, this game is an incredible adventure to enjoy.

    SETTING
    You, Kena, a spirit guide, arrives to a land full of spirits and mystery. You are tasked to liberate these pour souls from their relentless pain as they struggle to leave this world and passing to the next. The setting is good and although there is no more background, I was ok with it. You are not given any additional information, and you do not need it. You embark on a mission of redemption with an amazing weapon, a staff, and some of video game’s most cute companions, The Rot. Puff like creatures that you want to squeeze and kiss as they are really cute, but again, do not get confused as this game is hard!

    MECHANICS
    • Combat:
    The Legend of Zelda elements are there: lock on feature, light attacks with a 4-hit combo, hard attacks with a chargeable swing… you can upgrade your basic moves to add a running hit, a jump hit, or even combining your attacks along the Rot for a devastating hammer attack (my favorite) which does major damage to even bosses. You must move around the field all the time as enemies may swarm you, and Kena has a cool evade move to slide back or sideways. She can cast an energy shield to create a type of shield, but if you overuse it, the shield has stamina, and it will break, So, you need to rely more on evading. Stamina is not present, so combat is more fluid and vivid. You can also use bombs and arrows in battle to create different tactics depending on the situation.
    The combat is good and well balanced, and the bosses… oh my, I saw some scary ones and the battles are intense. You will die a lot in this game!
    Finally, you have a Rot gauge that depending on the difficulty you select, will only fill once you attack, get hit, or fills automatically. This gauge allows you to unleash devastating attacks to enemies, creating a huge advantage in combat.

    • Exploration:
    Combat is good, but I love mor to explore in this vast game. This is not an open world, but rather a series of interconnected lands to several Hub locations (a massive forest, a ruined village with a mine, a big mountain) and in each hub area there is a lot to collect: crystals to buy outfits for your Rot (I honestly did not like this, I would have loved outfits for Kena) power ups to increase your abilities, lost mails to open up areas within Village which is the main hub of the game. Not only that but you also need to find Rot, as they will increase in number and ergo, your effectiveness in battle will be enhanced.
    Pull an arrow to some well-placed energy flowers and you will be propelled a la hookshot in Zelda, throw bombs to magically enhanced stones to create pathways to move either vertically or horizontally. You can and must trace back to other visited areas to collect additional upgrades, and the overall exploration feeling is amplified by the beautiful world surrounding Kena. I would have loved to have a swimming ability to go underwater, that would have given an additional depth of exploration, but anyways, the game exploration is amazing.

    VISUALS
    This is a gorgeous game. I mean if you can play in Playstation 5 in full 4K you will be amazed. The graphics are incredible, and the characters look real even if they are Disney-like, it is as if you were playing an actual animated movie. Kena is a cute character, and I love how she express her emotions, you rally connect with her and her journey. And the Rot, well, those guys are so cute I hope they merchandise them to buy a couple… those cheeks! The game is alive and it breaths life even when the world around is struggling to move forward due to the main plot in the story.

    SOUND
    As the game is based in eastern cultures, you will hear familiar sounds and melodies reminiscent of Ninja games, and that was amazing for me. The tone of the music is accompanied by an occasional chord, and it changes drastically when you go into battle.
    The boss battles have epic music, but I what I loved most were the vocals used in the game for the many songs. The main hub or the village music is amazing, I just stand there hearing it. The soundtrack was well done

    FINAL VERDICT:
    My final Verdict is 9.0 for the game.
    Ember Labs created an amazing adventure packed with a good combat system, amazing exploration, and they fooled everyone as the cuteness of its characters is shadowed by the difficult battles.    … Expand
  21. Maxilion
    Sep 29, 2021
    8
    A really really well made game but not without its flaws. Kena controlls very well and the combat is fun and sometimes challenging. However, the fun of exploration dies out about halfway through the game. Chests you find in the world contains either one of four things: Hats for your little ROT buddies, fruit for your little ROT buddies, Chrystal's that you use to buy more hats or anotherA really really well made game but not without its flaws. Kena controlls very well and the combat is fun and sometimes challenging. However, the fun of exploration dies out about halfway through the game. Chests you find in the world contains either one of four things: Hats for your little ROT buddies, fruit for your little ROT buddies, Chrystal's that you use to buy more hats or another ROT buddy. So you have these little ROT buddies following you around and helps you out in combat. They are adorable and cute. But I feel that they could be more deeph to them. More spells or skills that's they can learn. The hats are only cosmetic and does nothing to enhance either you or your ROT buddies. Fruit gives you charm (exp) that you use for buying what ever few skills available (not that many). When I was halfway through the game I didn't want any more hats, and I had bought all the skills and then I felt exploration lost its charm. But the game is charming, fun combat and a kinda good story (not that well but it holds up). Some bosses gave me the feeling I was back in Deamon Souls, some bosses are really challanging and demanding. The game is a bit on the short side and took me about 13 hours to complete (I did some exploration so you could most likely do a run in mutch less than that. Music is really good, really loved the music. All and all a very solid game that I can recommend.… Expand
  22. infraphys
    Oct 2, 2021
    10
    una belleza este juego muy hermoso, graficamente muy unico y la historia me parecio buena al terminar la historia de los 3 hermanos pense que era el final pero no, no era ni la mitad las batallas buenas aunque me hubiera gustado que los enemigos fueran mas buenos algo como las peleas con sekiro en las que el enemigo bloquea
  23. hugoneill
    Sep 24, 2021
    10
    Excellent game. The graphics are so good, looks like a Pixar movie. I really enjoy it.
  24. vermillionedge
    Jul 28, 2022
    9
    Such a breath of fresh air in the game world. Finally something that felt really new and original that I could really get into. Sure it's not perfect, but it's this comes a far closer to it than 90% of the triple A releases these days. Absolutely beautiful and stunning to listen to. I loved every second of its story and experience.
  25. Jerberry561
    Sep 29, 2021
    9
    An overall amazing game. Both in how it looks and game play. This game looks absolutely fantastic, with small puzzles, mini bosses and platforming throughout. Definitely a must buy, even despite the short length. Finished it around 10 hours.
  26. Ughhh
    Oct 18, 2021
    7
    Mostly fun and cute. But also quite repetitive, even for its short duration. And the last boss was terribly cheap.
  27. Muradza
    Sep 27, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really like games with this type of combats. The game keeps its combat system fresh by introducing things slowly. First all you have is a wand that you can strike with then you get arrow then bombs then shield dash. And each having their own unlockable special abilities with short but nice story makes this game ideal for killing time.… Expand
  28. SprigganXIII
    Sep 30, 2021
    5
    So Kena is a great adventure game marred by terrible combat and even worse lock-on camera.
    When you’re locked on to a monster that is taller then you and it get close your camera will go into the ground and have a watery effect, this causes a lot of bad outcomes.
    Boss areas are usually very small/tight arenas and all they have large sweeping attacks. Its so bad that the developers    So Kena is a great adventure game marred by terrible combat and even worse lock-on camera.
    When you’re locked on to a monster that is taller then you and it get close your camera will go into the ground and have a watery effect, this causes a lot of bad outcomes.
    Boss areas are usually very small/tight arenas and all they have large sweeping attacks. Its so bad that the developers actually put two healing flowers in every boss fight, but these are surrounded by small areas of corruption that slow you down if you walk thru them and seeing the arena is small and your trying to keep the camera on the boss you will hit them and usually end up getting hit due to it.    … Expand
  29. lessacebola
    Jun 16, 2022
    9
    Jogo simplesmente fenomenal, principalmente levando em conta que foi desenvolvido por um novo estúdio Indie. História, visual, músicas, tudo incrível. Só a gameplay que é um pouco arrastada às vezes, mas nada que estrague a experiência.
  30. erfanmova
    Jul 28, 2023
    10
    The goaaat!
    Every element in this game is at it's best shape. Hope the Emberl Lap make more and more gams:)
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Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021
11
#11 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 82 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 82
  3. Negative: 0 out of 82
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 18, 2022
    80
    Kena is a playful and beautiful adventure, but it does not bring any breathtaking innovation. But it has the potential to take you to a fairy tale and let you experience the story of a young girl, which is a balanced experience.
  2. CD-Action
    Jan 19, 2022
    90
    Ember Lab didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead the developers opted for tried and true mechanics that entertained us time and again in many action adventure games, and mixed them in an almost perfect way. The beginning might be a little slow, but when Kena: Bridge of Spirits gains momentum, it becomes truly great. It’s hard for me to point out any significant flaws apart from overall lack of originality. What a debut! [12/2021, p.74]
  3. Impulsegamer
    Oct 28, 2021
    100
    Kena: Bridge of Spirits should take most gamers around 10 to 12 hours to complete, depending on the amount of exploring and the level of difficulty. While the blockbusters games of 2021 continue to deliver the same ho-hum experience of 2021, Kena is a much needed ray of sunshine to the current choices of titles available and more importantly, looks fantastic on the PlayStation 5.
    Read full review
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