Kena: Bridge of Spirits Reviews
Kena: Bridge of Spirits should take most gamers around 10 to 12 hours to complete, depending on the amount of exploring and the level of difficulty. While the blockbusters games of 2021 continue to deliver the same ho-hum experience of 2021, Kena is a much needed ray of sunshine to the current choices of titles available and more importantly, looks fantastic on the PlayStation 5. Additionally, the story and characters creates an enjoyable fairy-tale experience from start to finish on this next-gen console that is definitely a must play game of 2021. Kudos to the development team of Ember Labs for delivering a truly immersive experience, not to mention those surprising twists along the way.
From the very first moment till the very end of your journey, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a heart-warming experience and a real pleasure between the visuals, puzzles and combat. Atmospheric music, beautiful lively graphics, believable heroes and cute little Rots - each little element is woven into the amazing whole that is the gaming experience provided by Kena.
Telling a number of touching tales of loss and love, Kena is a visually stunning action-platformer that feels like a classic PS2 game in mostly the right ways.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a solid game that hearkens back to titles of the sixth generation of games, with a coat of paint indicative of modern gaming that should appease younger players while offering enough gameplay variety for anyone to enjoy.
It first pulls out the folk culture and religious culture in the east Asian cultural circle from other art forms, and then injects it into Disney-like painting style, which combines to produce a wonderful chemical reaction that makes "Kena: Bridge of Spirits" impressive enough.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits delivers an all around excellent experience that's consistently engaging and manages to enrapture the player, even without doing anything particularly new or innovative.
It might be a strange way to phrase things, but Kena suffers from feeling too much like a game for a game’s sake. The latter third is essentially a string of linear levels with puzzles and boss fights, so much so that by the time the climactic confrontation rolls around it affects the dramatic tension the story has spent several hours slowly building towards. It’s by no means bad, or anything close to that. Instead, you get the feeling that much like commanding the Rot to prop up a fallen statue the experience itself is given the very same vibrant animated lift based on how it looks.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an astonishing action-adventure with a unique art direction. It proposes brilliant puzzle-platform sections and let the player be free to explore and manage the pace with their own rhythm.
Review in Italian | Read full review
An incredibly thought-provoking tale, that explores what happens to those who pass away. The charming story, Disney quality visuals, and well-calculated gameplay mechanics all make for a vastly enjoyable experience.
As Ember Lab’s debut title, Kena: Bridge of Spirits delivers a visually-striking experience and decent enough gameplay that warrants a closer look at what the developers come up with next.
Ultimately, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a by-the-numbers 3D action-adventure game. It might look like a modern Zelda game but doesn't play like one. It's largely just a series of arena-based combat routines, stitched together by long stretches of traversal, and cutscenes that are well-designed but feel like a forgotten Hollywood B-movie. Too often, Kena: Bridge of Spirits reminds you of better games you've played and that it's borrowing from — which is not a good sign. There's no harm in learning from others, it's certainly well made, but it's lacking in originality. There's little personality to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, for it's adopting the sheen of others. For a debut title, this is undoubtedly a good effort — but I fear Ember Labs have played it too safe.
That said, I found Kena: Bridge of Spirits to be one of the best treats of the year, both for the eyes and for the soul. Not only does it show elaborate craftsmanship, but it also feels like it was infused with joy and awareness. I'm happy it's here, and I look forward to seeing where Kena's bridge can lead.
Although Kena doesn't have mechanics or mind-boggling gameplay that we've never seen before, it's a production you'll enjoy a lot of time with.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
A good first attempt by a studio that has only worked on animation, but not enough substance in the gameplay to keep you hooked to the very end.
An enjoyable old-school 3D-platformer that looks great and doesn't have annoying issues of its predecessors of old, like outdated mechanics or janky gameplay.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Kena is a beautiful, fun and charming adventure experience and from a new developer in the arena and I can say that the developer kept his promise and gave us a very beautiful game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
One of the most beautiful games of the year. And with amusing gameplay.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Kena Game: Bridge of Spirits, both in terms of gameplay and the world of animation like that, can bring with it any player interested in adventure games
Review in Persian | Read full review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a title of high artistic value, but one that stumbles in gameplay. It's got charming characters and setting, a decent story and great looking cutscenes, but actually playing through the experience is largely underwhelming.
Kena Bridge of Spirits is a charming adventure that packs a ton of heart, as well as a wealth of engaging systems.