Shane
The lush lands are becoming corrupted as lost spirits wander around, stuck with unfinished business, held to the living realm by loss and emotions.
You are Kena. An adventurer with Spirit powers on a mission to the Mountain Shrine.
But your path to get there is not an easy one as you come across a masked spirit called Toshi.
Filled with anger, he is the one causing corruption to the lands. The corruption spawns many bad entities and ultimately blocks your progress.
You need to rid the corruption – lucky for you, there are cute little beings known as Rot.
They take a liking to you, albeit shy at first. But once you find them they become not only your companions throughout the gameplay, they are also a tool which can aide in removing obstacles and even distracting enemies once you build up their courage.
You’ll also need Rot to quell the corruption you come across.
There are a select amount of Rot to be found within each Level, or environment, usually well hidden.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits has a rich RPG flavour to the game.
Dress up your Rot by purchasing hats and earn karma as your in-game currency to learn new skills.
Kena will meet NPC’s that give direction to the game’s narrative. Aiding them within the main story as well as exploring to find chests and hidden loots of gems will see you both upgrade faster and build up a rather impressive Rot clan.
But of all the spirits in the forest, the one that needs the most help refuses to move on; Toshi.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits has a lot of detail to it. Beautifully rendered, filled with cuteness mixed with hard-action melee combat.
A real adventure of a game for pretty much all age groups, this said, the difficulty level is a little erratic.
Moments in play can go from fluidly easy, to insanely tricky within the blink of a button press.
This is not a bad thing at all and keeps you on edge – but something to be aware of if younger gamers are going to take the game on.
A stellar of a title from Ember Labs – Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a surprise, a challenge and expertly crafted mixed gameplay with the right dose of combat goodness.
Released: September 2021
Rating: PG
Platform reviewed: PlayStation 5
Genre: Action / RPG
Developer: Ember Labs
Publisher: PlayStation