Kena: Bridge of Spirits Reviews
As a debut game from a studio previously focused on animated shorts and commercials, Kena: Bridge of Spirits surprised me with its well-rounded video game experience. Every component is well-integrated, creating a solid, fun, engaging, and even emotional experience, despite not innovating the 3D adventure landscape.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ember Lab's work is structured to be suitable for anyone and will take about 10 hours to complete. The open world makes exploration very enjoyable, although there is no waypoint system so we will often have to look at the map from the menu. The mini-bosses and bosses that you will face are not too difficult nor too easy. Kena: Bridge of Spirits offers an exciting, understandable story and mechanics that can appeal to all ages of gamers, an achievement that deserves much praise and recognition.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It may have taken nearly three years for the port to be released, but it’s basically the same game as the PS5 version, if you’re a Series X owner. For Series S owners, there may be one or two setbacks, such as the framerate cap, but the game is still beautiful and very much enjoyable. The final verdict is simple: Kena has issues, but it’s still one of the most fascinating indies released over the past few years. I fully encourage you to give it a go, if you still haven’t at this point.
Whether it’s on PlayStation or the newly released Xbox version, Kena remains a captivating experience that is a beautifully crafted adventure that blends a heartfelt narrative with stunning visuals and engaging gameplay. This is a game that excels in storytelling and visual artistry, making it a must-play for anyone who appreciates a meaningful adventure.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits shines brightly in some areas while falling short in others. Its visuals and art direction are among some of the best in the industry, creating a world that is as enchanting as it is beautiful. The game’s audio design, particularly its soundtrack, is also top-notch, adding to the overall immersion and emotional impact of the experience. However, when it comes to gameplay and narrative, the game plays it too safe. The combat, while competent, lacks the depth and variety needed to keep it engaging over the course of the game. The story, while touching, does not delve deep enough into its themes to leave a lasting impression. While the game offers a solid and enjoyable experience, it simply does not push any boundaries or offer anything particularly new or innovative. Ultimately, Kena: Bridge of Spirits will appeal to fans of action-adventure games, particularly those who appreciate beautiful visuals and atmospheric worlds. It is an easy to recommend game based on presentation alone, but it is also a one that could have been so much more. With a bit more ambition in its gameplay and storytelling, Kena: Bridge of Spirits could have been a genre defining masterpiece.
I went into this game with no expectations. I felt continually impressed with what independent developers Ember Lab cooked up for players with Kena: Bridge of Spirits. What few misses there are, Ember Lab makes up for it with a bright and colorful creation, wrapped around some dark narrative moments.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits continues to convince in a satisfying way, despite not innovating anything. On Xbox Series X, the console on which we conducted the review of this porting, Ember Lab's video game presents a satisfactory technical compartment, with excellent image quality and presenting granitic sixty frames per second.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits offers a beautiful and engrossing adventure that Xbox gamers will no longer have to look upon enviously from afar. I had a wonderful time uncovering the game world, battling enemies in satisfyingly strategic showdowns, and using The Rot to help figure out each enigma in my path, whilst the tough but fair difficulty makes each piece of progress all the more rewarding. And sure, it does have a bit of a slow and simple start, but once it gets going, it’s easy to find yourself completely captivated by Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ gorgeous and tantalising adventure.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a beautiful and ambitious title from the new studio Ember Lab that mixes action, adventure, exploration and puzzle solving in a more than remarkable way. After three years since its release on PlayStation and PC systems, and without knowing the reason why Kena has taken so long to reach the Xbox ecosystem, we can only strongly recommend that its users get the game immediately, it is a great and nice experience that deserves to be played.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Fans of third person action adventure games should definitely consider playing Kena: Bridge of Spirits, with accessibility options and a story mode difficulty allowing even newcomers to videogames to enjoy this colourful, cartoon-esque journey.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a top-quality adventure, capable of providing many hours of fun for a wide audience. A game that makes the essentiality of the control system, the beauty of the puzzles and the increasingly articulated exploration its strong points, all enhanced by an extraordinary graphic realization and a simple storyline but, at the same time, capable of touching on important themes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one of my favorite games from the last few years. It’s dynamic and colorful; it has a story and heart. It makes you think and care about its characters and story. The only thing I don’t like about this game is that it still has no sequel.
Though not without its shortcomings, Kena: Bridge of Spirits excels thanks to its exhilarating combat and breath-taking visuals.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an incredible debut effort from the clearly talented team at Ember Lab. It’s stunningly gorgeous, has a great cast of characters, varied enemy types, has a well paced story all backed by an engaging soundtrack. It certainly has me excited to see what could be implemented into a future sequel if that’s what the team decides to do next, but regardless I’ll be there to check out what Ember Lab launches next.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an interesting case where presentation and overall beauty go a long way in masking its faults, rather it be an outdated platforming system or unbalanced difficulty.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one of the best looking games you’ll ever play, and if you can find your way around its old-school feel and difficulty, you’ll probably make yourself a fan of Ember Lab and look really forward to what they put out next.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits truly is a title that made me feel in such a different way. It is not the best game I ever played, but it certainly makes my list for one of my favorite video games ever made. It’s hard expressing into words honestly. Traversing this lush world with its popping greenery, mystical soundtrack, lovable heroine and concise storytelling left me with a title I will remember for years to come.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an admirable start for Ember Lab's journey into gaming that still has a bit of room to improve. However, what you'll find here is a special, cute and endearing game that gives players a blast of nostalgia thanks to its retro-inspired level design and objectives.
Kena might not be perfect, but it's far from what one might expect from a studio's first game. It's a spectacle to look at without being too long or too short, and it's one of the rare examples of a game that deserves a movie adaptation, not the other way around. Perhaps more than anything else, it's a game that sets the bar high for whatever Ember Lab wants to do next.