Kena: Bridge of Spirits review: don't worry, it's the expected slap

Strangely enough, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one of the games that I remember the most from the Sony conference during which we were presented with the PlayStation 5. Some might answer that it says a lot about what the manufacturer promised us for the first year of its new console. But I prefer to tell myself that, somewhere, Ember Lab answered a need that I didn't know I had: a real video game inspired by big-budget animated films.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits review: don't worry, it's the expected slap View PriceRead ConclusionKena: Bridge of Spirits

technically marvelous
A real animated film in my video game
Landscapes more varied than you think
Daunting boss fights

The characters lack conviction
Very classic scenario
Somewhat stiff movement animations
Some inaccuracies in the platform phases

And it is that they know about it, at Ember Lab. Highlighted in 2016 after signing the short film Terrible Fate, inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the small company based in Los Angeles is above all an animation studio.

And yes, Kena is therefore their first game. And if it logically bears certain marks, I must confess that I had to pick up my dentures a few times as the result commands respect. But before that, a few words about the rather special (not to say frankly uncomfortable) conditions in which the game was tested.

Test conditions : Kena was tested on PS5 (also available PS4 and PC) via code provided by the studio just 24 hours ago. A particularly short delay, which made us wonder about the quality of the game, but which is actually explained by the studio's inexperience. Asked by me about the reasons for this late test, Josh Grier, co-founder of Ember Lab, answered me the following: “I am sincerely sorry because that was not our intention. The short answer is: inexperience, and small team size.

We are a very small team trying to release their game on 3 platforms. We underestimated the time required for our product to be available on each of them. In addition, we are drowned in requests for tests. Trying to keep everyone happy, we struggled to stick to our schedule and some things fell through the cracks. »

Dutiful, I rolled up my sleeves and spent the day playing the game to finish it before writing this review. It is now 1:42 a.m., you are sound asleep. Here is my story.

master of souls

We already know a little about Kena's story. Or a lot, depending on your consumption of animated films, and, ahem, Zelda-like.

But yes, it's always a bit the same thing. Humans who do anything with nature by thinking themselves untouchable, and who take a good backlash from families in the gums. As a result, the world they thought they were protecting finds itself corrupted by an age-old evil represented by huge glowing buboes. A bit like that ugly light bulb that ruined your last hike before the end of the holidays.

But Kena is not like that. Our heroine is a Guardian of the spirits — forgive a little. His job is to guide the souls of zero humans in orientation so that they can go to the afterlife. So you're going to tell me that she could leave them alone too. That if it is they are well, there. To which she would reply tac-o-tac that, it is well known, a soul in pain who wanders too long is never very good for the local real estate market. I don't know, play Phasmophobia, you'll see what we're talking about.

All that to say that the young goalkeeper has her work cut out for her. Because the plot of land in which she lands at the start of the game is already well underway, on the corruption side. The village is deserted, and said buboes pulsate together to the rhythm of Toto's Africa (Ta-tatatata Ta-taaaa).

Not all burps wear a cape

Fortunately, Kena will be able to count on the help of the burps. So yes, go ahead. Laugh. Ha, ha… it's good, can we go? Look at this adorable face and dare to laugh again.

JVFR

These cute little forest spirits play a huge part in Kena's gameplay. It is partly thanks to them that our heroine will be able, like two thumbs pressing on an acne pimple, to destroy the corruption that occupies the valley and prevents life from resuming its course.

Like a troop of pikmins, burps follow us wherever we go. Strong as an army of fitness influencers, they will be able to move various objects to create passages for us or clear others. And, like the korogus nuts from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, they can be found in some particularly goofy places. It is up to you to search your environment well in order to get your hands on each little companion. The more numerous they are, the more formidable they are.

JVFR

Burps help you in combat, notably by immobilizing the opponent and making them more sensitive to your attacks.

Indeed if Kena is rather skilled with the stick and the bow, she will need the help of these charming stuffed animals to get rid of the most devious enemies. Thanks to a currency system (in game, don't worry) and a very simple skill tree, she can use them to immobilize her opponents, to make her arrows piercing or to create an area of effect that slows enemies. The icing on the cake, the burps can also heal you in combat (while supplies last).

A little of Dark Souls in your Zelda ?

The structure of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is very, very classic. Like Death's Door released this summer (and in which it was also about guiding souls to the afterlife, definitely), we play in an open world whose different areas are interconnected via a central hub (the village).

But there is no question of going your own way and attacking any boss in the order you want. Ember Lab opted for a very linear path. Either way, you'll need the Artifact retrieved from Widget to be able to access the machine area. And the machine tool, you can imagine that it will be useful to open the door that leads to pataflon. Finally you see the painting; the formula has been around for 30 years.

JVFR

Kena is a sumptuous game.

So count on your share of (nice) puzzles, platform phases (sometimes irritating because imprecise) and cutscenes to serve as a binder for all this. Cutscenes which, moreover, are shot at 24 frames per second, which causes a certain shock when you have just finished a fight at 60 fps. An artistic choice, the studio blows me away, which clarifies in passing that these – sumptuous – cinematics are pre-calculated as a real animated film would be. Too bad that the dialogues are not more worked, and that the interpretation of the actors lacks a little conviction. Some scenes would gain in intensity if we felt closer to the characters.

JVFR

Kena's character is sadly underdeveloped.

No, where we didn't really see Ember Lab come from, it's in its inspirations… Soulsiennes. So yes that's it, the word is out. "The Dark Souls of Zelda Like" as the other would say. Well kidding but I thought about it. Because whether in terms of staging, patterns or simply difficulty, Kena: Bridge of Spirits defends itself very, very well.

Wanting to be interesting, I chose to play on Hard (there are 4 difficulty levels, including a “Story” mode which makes the fights very accessible). It's still not a PEGI 12 game that will knock me out, right? Nah, not true at all.

JVFR

The staging of certain bosses is exemplary.

Clearly, some bosses (many, by the way) gave me a hard time. A polite way of saying that it is not impossible that I thought of eating my DualSense after the 47th try on the Artisane du Bois or on this last damn boss whose sequence of phases is of a mind-numbing difficulty . In short: the habit does not make the monk, as far as Kena is concerned. Because if you want to tackle a difficult game, it can be. On the other hand, and for having tried the different modes, it can also be very accessible. What revive the famous debate on "difficulty in video games"? No. It's late, let go of my jacket, I have a test to complete.

Kena has no more, there's still some

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is such a generous game that it would become suspect. Remember that it is sold € 39,99, where the overwhelming majority of games labeled “double A” require 60 or 70 without shaking their knees.

Completed in 12 hours (by speedrunning like a mess because, hey, 24 hours to test it, all that all that), it could easily have reached 20 hours if I had taken the time to recover all the collectibles that are hidden in the different areas.

JVFR

There are plenty of collectibles in Kena, including hats to make the burps even more irresistible.

Besides the burps you can recruit (I had 62 at the end of my game, but the gauge could still fill up) and the hats you can give them (yes, they can be even cuter), the world of Kena is full of steles to straighten, cursed chests to loot, mail to distribute in abandoned houses and hidden meditation areas that allow you to increase your life bar. Completionists will have a blast, especially since it's a real pleasure to explore the semi-open areas of Ember Lab's game. If we forget, ironically, the somewhat rigid movement animations of our heroine.

Much more varied than we had imagined, the zones all offer a little something to them which makes it possible to distinguish them while satisfying the artistic coherence of the game. The opportunity to swoon in front of the panoramas inspired by Asia Southeast, and to remember that Kena: Bridge of Spirits is, of course, signed Ember Lab, but that it also owes its artistic direction to the Vietnamese animation studio Sparx, largely represented in the credits of the game.

JVFR

Kena: Bridge of Spirits, l'avis de JVFR

You can see that there was nothing to worry about. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is exactly what it promised to be for over a year.

The game is even sometimes a little more, constantly managing to impress us with new tables, the variety of which had been kept secret until the last moment. I also retain this very Soulsian inspiration (boo, the swear word) in the boss fights, some of which may stick in my head for a while as I was able to leave feathers there.

Kena is somewhere almost too generous a game for the €39 it sells for. Of course, it doesn't reinvent the wheel on the gameplay side. But it offers such a clear, simple and awe-inspiring experience that we can only take our hat off to Ember Lab. To offer it to one of our adorable little burps, as long as it takes. It will fit them better than me anyway.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is exactly the game we imagined. Beneath its exquisite attire of an “animated film to play” hides an ambitious Zelda-like, which knows how to place its pawns very well to offer an experience that is both rich and rewarding. Simply a success.