"Kena: Bridge of Spirit" has attracted people's attention since its debut with its fresh and bright pictures, but it was difficult to see a detailed introduction about it before it was released. After it was officially launched, I completed the game in less than 10 hours. Here, I will briefly introduce the characteristics of this game to the players who are still watching.
Kena: Bridge of Spirit Kena: Bridge of Spirit
Developer: Jin Lab
Publisher: Jin Lab
Release date: September 21, 2021
Distribution platform: PS5, PS4, PC
Attributes: Action-adventure, cute, Exploration and puzzle
This article is based on the PS5 version.
After entering the game, the picture is still the most eye-catching place. The production team has made good use of the strength of Unreal Engine 4, and the UI will be completely hidden when exploring. Many scenes made me take a photo as a souvenir. When I went to the cutscene, I sighed again - the charm is too similar to Disney animation. From the action to the character expressions, many Japanese elements inside look like Disney's Japanese element animation. We checked and found that when the developer Ember Lab was founded, it was actually an animation and digital content studio. "Kena: Bridge of Spirit" is their first game, and it is conceivable that the animation part is so mature (but unfortunately the animation frame rate is not high).
The protagonist of this book, Kaina, is a young soul guide. She came to an abandoned village to look for the Holy Mountain Temple, where she found that the village and the surrounding area were corroded. Therefore, she needs to help those souls who cannot rest and get rid of their past. This process is a bit formulaic. To unravel the past behind a soul, it is necessary to find its three items. These three projects will be arranged in three different locations. You will encounter various confusions and challenges from the enemy along the way. In the end, this soul as the boss will bring a small climax. With high-quality animations, the stories behind these souls are moving enough.
The gameplay has always been the most curious thing about me. In fact, it combines games such as "The Legend of Zelda" exploration and puzzle combat, "Pickmin" friends moving things, and "Underworld" climbing. Basically, it is "coming to a new field - gaining new abilities to explore and solve puzzles - finding the corrupt soul and treasure chest during the exploration." If you are interested, you can check out our live replay.
Fighting is a not-so-best part of this work. There are not many enemy modes of action and the protagonist's attack methods. If you encounter a miscellaneous soldier without a shield, you can basically suppress R1 to death. When encountering a strong enemy, you can shoot from a long distance and release the corrupt soul skills after accumulating them. Basically, there are only these practical routines (where there is a height difference, the enemy cannot even attack you). The new skills learned after upgrading do not have much substantial changes to the combat game. Some skills should be added to the game at the beginning, but they are placed in upgrades. Although some enemies are added in the late stage of the game, you need to use bombs and sprints to break their overlord state, the miscellaneous war is generally quite monotonous. I seem to have played the high-end version of "The Return of the Great Sage". In contrast, the design of several boss battles in the game requires a lot of effort. It can also be seen that the production team has referenced games like Zelda, and the new abilities they just obtained need to be used in each boss battle. Exploration and puzzle solving are the main parts of the game. As the protagonist acquires new abilities, there are more and more areas to explore. On the way to various places, we also designed puzzles with appropriate difficulty. With excellent scene design, puzzle solving can continue to bring fun. However, if you get stuck in a puzzle, there are no prompts in the game. I've encountered this situation in two places. Finally, I refer to the guide video and found that I had a bad look and could not find the place where I needed to shoot an archery in the scene. There is still room for improvement in the tips of the puzzle.
The game's map is very large, but the fun brought by exploration is not high, mainly because of the rewards of exploration. Some useless.First of all, friends like Pikmin/Ahahahaha, "Corrupt Soul" hides in the scene, but finding more Corrupt Souls will only increase the upper limit of Corrupt Soul's skill upgrade; secondly, various bottles, jars, and treasure chests can bring money rewards. Only buy corrupt soul hats. These hats are just to change the appearance of a rotten soul. Finally, there are several places to meditate. Sitting down to meditate can increase maximum health, which is the only practical reward for exploration. This kind of exploration reward is difficult to attract people's interest. If it weren't for the Platinum Trophy, they wouldn't want to explore every corner of the map in the middle and late stages.
A9VG experience summary
"Kina: Bridge of Spirit" is pleasing to the eye, music animation, plot is regular, and combat exploration is slightly flawed. It combines many gameplay, but lacks some imagination in terms of gameplay. The excellent appearance gave me the motivation to continue to build. After passing the level, it felt like I was playing an Disney animation , but after thinking about it carefully, I found that there was only that in my mind. As Ember Lab's first game, "Kena: Bridge of Spirit" is worth a try, which also makes me look forward to their future works.
A9VG Rating: 8/10
