Kena: Bridge of Spirits Reviews
At the end of the day, the biggest selling point of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is its graphics and animations. Cutscenes all feel worthwhile with great characters and environments that suck you in. It really makes me want this team to make a full movie in this world.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a good reminder of how innovative an indie developer can be. With a fascinating world to explore, problems to solve, and friends to make, it’s easy to be impressed. Sure, there are some shortcomings, such as weak combat or generic puzzles, though the core adventure certainly makes up for it.
Ember Lab showed enormous competence with Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the first game in its history. A beautiful plot that transports us to a whole new world and a game with challenges and activities that will please everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they can bring in the future, whether in the form of a sequel or even a new narrative.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not without flaws in having redundancy problems after a few hours or by not innovating in the field of action and adventure games. Nevertheless, Ember Labs successfully entered the field with a first full game with its own identity and its own untold story. A wonderful universe and breathtaking cinematics for a very small independent team. The title sets the bar very high for big studios who would like to offer this same kind of experience in the future!
Review in French | Read full review
I’ve mentioned a lot of other games throughout this review. Uncharted, Jak & Daxter, Pikmin, I could name a few more too. While not a lot here is fully original, almost everything is well-executed, and when you add an excellent story and a ton of personality, you have a winning experience. Although there are a few minor issues here and there, Kena: Bridge of Spirits provides a wonderful base that we can only hope future games will build on.
It’s without question an essential in 2021, despite some minor drawbacks in its writing and creative premise. It does make good on its expectations for being that casual, cinematic game that everyone will fall in love with. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an adorable action-adventure that players will come away feeling overjoyed and elated.
Combat is great, exploration is exciting, Rots are cute, the world is beautiful, the music is perfect. Buy it now, and again in November when it is released on disc. I award Kena: Bridge of Spirits a very high-spirited Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits grounds itself on relaxation, healing, and cuteness, getting us to reflect and meditate on the beauty in the world when there is darkness abound. While lacking in several narrative areas, the gameplay and overall peaceful vibe of the title keep it engaging and enjoyable.
Ember Lab's debut game looked quite charming from the start and the final product keeps the same charm. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an great fairytale that is gripping from start to finish, even though gameplay-wise it's a bit too safe.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a remarkable and magical adventure, and it’s honestly still hard to believe this is an indie title. This is the kind of game that simply needs to be part of every gamer’s library and one that raises the bar for the adventure genre in this generation. With emotional story beats, a compelling game world, engaging level design, challenging boss battles, and surprising combat versatility, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an experience far greater than the sum of its many interconnected parts.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a good game that could have been better had Ember Labs tightened up the combat controls and offered better reasons to explore the gorgeous world they created. I hope Kena is a big hit so Ember Labs can have another go at it, and hopefully get more ambitious and really nail down their combat. Meanwhile considering how much I was looking forward to this game, Kena: Bridge of Spirits can’t help but feel a little disappointing.
Ember Lab's first concoction triumphs by succinctly shepherding and remixing older genre staples.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a game in a million. Without being perfect or making big fuss, it manages to excite and involve us with it and show us how a good game should be.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Without a doubt, one of the essentials of the year
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a more than passable first attempt for a studio that has newly transitioned to video games. It’s a visually stunning world that is occasionally calming to poke around in. However, it’s still very evident that it is from a team that’s new to the medium, given all of its gameplay inadequacies and narrative missteps. There are glimmers of a truly great experience in here, but it’s hard to see underneath the spots of rot at the core. And unlike the little Rot wisps in the game, it’s not cute as it robs the game of its potential.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits offered a great story with high-quality cinematic scenes, great graphics, an enchanting world and boss fights with great music, but it didn't live up to that level in the gameplay department and some of the characters in the story are superficial.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Though it has its ups and downs, Kena: Bridge of Spirits ultimately brings exploration, puzzle-platforming, and close combat in a way that feels like a magical cinematic experience. It is important to remember just how ambitious of a game Kena: Bridge of Spirits is. It tries to achieve greatness in all aspects, balancing exploration with puzzles and a dazzlingly fascinating world on top of well-made characters
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.
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: 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.