Tales of Kenzera: Zau Reviews
Tales Of Kenzera has a sensitive story and is beautifully designed, with an intriguing world to explore - but some imprecision lets it down in the platforming and combat. It's still more than worth a go for players looking for something fresh.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau tells an emotionally impactful story reinforced by creative design decisions that put a physical feeling to abstract emotions. Its struggles lie in its approach to the Metroidvania genre, as its surprisingly straightforward structure sometimes undercuts the winding tale of acceptance. It’s an imperfect debut, but that’s fitting for a game about something as messy as grief.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU rests on a solid foundation, yet prioritizes its narrative at the expense of its game design. Rather than allowing its gameplay and narrative to support each other, it discards some of the medium's unique strengths for a competent if bland experience that fails to give full weight to its subject matter.
Zau's journey with grief is compounded by his desire to be a valued member of his society, and to fill the empty footsteps left behind by his father's death. Surgent Studio's efforts to twist the heartbreaking experience of a son mourning his father with metroidvania style gameplay gives homage to how one person's time with grief is not always linear. Just as grief presents new challenges, we learn new tools to cope with the obstacles. It is an excellent juxtaposition that is marred with some frustrating technical issues and the need for just a bit more polish.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU feels like a studio stretching its legs for the first time. Visually inventive, and full of great platforming, average combat and exploration lets it down
By far and away the best thing about Tales of Kenzera: Zau is its narrative, Surgent Studios have proven themselves to be quite the masterful storytellers. A story tackling grief, acceptance and loss is rare in this day and age and the team have done extremely well of making it relatable. Not only that but the world and imagery in Kenzera is some of the best I’ve seen and I hope that this is just the beginning for these tales of Kenzera, as I am certainly ready for more.
A classic and enjoyable metroidvania, which does not offer any particular creative ideas and delivers a challenge in line with most games in the genre. Platforming, combat and environmental puzzles alternate through scenarios inspired by African culture, in which an important story comes to life, well told and punctuated by a well-shaped cast of characters.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Tales Of Kenzera: ZAU is a solid debut title from Surgent Studios, with its strongest aspects coming from the art style, world design and a truly impactful story. It's gameplay however lacks the same depth, and doesn't do enough to set itself apart in a genre crowded with some of the best games ever made.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a stunning, impactful and exciting first outing for Surgent Studios and, for us, a classic in the Metroidvania space that could go toe-to-toe with recent big hitters like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Blasphemous 2. Surgent Studios has delivered a beautiful story that resonated with us as we explored the world of Kenzera, and we couldn’t recommend it more highly.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU proves that innovation isn't always necessary to craft a compelling experience. With its heartfelt story, compelling protagonist, and solid metroidvania gameplay featuring excellent pacing, Zau's journey is one that resonates, especially for those grappling with similar grief to the young shaman.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU tells a touching, personal story of family, grief, and loss, but it's wrapped up in a game that makes appreciating that narrative a lot harder than it should be. A Metroidvania in only the most basic of ways, its combat and platforming are spoilt by basic design and structure, as well as controller issues and frustrating one-hit kills. At its best when left to simply tell its story, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU falters once you have to start playing.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a well-made Metroidvania with an intriguing and culturally unique narrative and setting. It doesn’t try to reinvent the genre, but there’s nothing wrong with sticking to a familiar path if the result is polished and fun. Tales of Kenzera: Zau has a colorful, welcoming vibe with a mythic story to tell and enough action to keep players engaged.
It's time to take stock of Tales of Kenzera: Zau and we believe that no matter how good the story is and how quickly it makes us empathize with what happens, the game is left to owe in certain aspects that could have been better. This is not to say that the game is bad, not at all, because it possesses a message that feels sincere.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is yet another proof that the metroidvania genre can be very satisfying, whatever the story you try to tell.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Yet, at the end of the day, what could have been just a run-of-the-mill Metroidvania is transformed into a tale of growth and resilience in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU that is well worth the investment. With Kenzera being an utterly beautiful place full of mysteries and wonders, joining Zau and Kalunga as they fight and platform their way across delightful biomes in a bid to let go and move on became a therapeutic journey that I never knew I needed. We don't need actual loss to remind ourselves that things can be difficult, but having a reminder goes a long way in keeping us all on the right track of focusing on joy instead of grief.
It is therefore artistically that Tales of Kenzera Zau stands out, on all levels. From its narration to its visuals to its OST, everything is done to take us on an extremely touching and personal journey.
Review in French | Read full review
That narrative undercurrent makes Tales of Kenzera: Zau’s mechanics and direction less about lack of ambition than accessibility. At a mere 10 hours, this is a game whose brevity is by design. After all, its story is, ultimately, about letting go, about accepting life’s harsh limits, and finding meaning in the time you have. Even as short as Tales of Kenzera is, it speaks in meaningful ways about things that audiences have needed to hear for a long time.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau builds upon the Metroidvania formula to deliver exciting action, emotional storytelling, and African cultural specificity.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU accomplishes the difficult role of translating a deeply personal concept into the medium of gaming. With a lack of intricate backtracking and complex combat, Surgent Studios’ platformer is relatively simple. But the extraordinary narrative, paired with equally powerful visuals and audio provide an experience that is engaging enough to not commit the sin of forgetting it must also be fun and resonant.