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.
It might take a flow-chart or two to understand its premise, but it takes experiencing a loop or two or three to discover its genius.
It's the sort of framework that's easy to grasp, and one that plays into a lengthy and rewarding tale. An adventure that sees Even travel from the lowliest slum-like villages of Onecroft all the way to the shining beacon in the sky that is Sixtopia.
And it honestly doesn't take the game long to deliver on that hinted at promise.
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Going even more retro is fine too, whenever No More Heroes III dips into EGA and CGA monochrome computing for little story vignettes it's always captivating.
It's comforting and familiar and simply does what it does without a great deal of fuss. In many ways it feels like the ideal pandemic lockdown game. I'll happily load King's Bounty 2, pull up the covers and settle in for the weeks and months to come.
Playing in a squad is the experience in terms of actual playability, and on that front it’s fun to be in the midst of a distinct 1986 cinematic Aliens vibe for a time. Sharing in the look and feel, pointing out the similarities, the inconsistencies, and questioning some of the questionable logic. In the end the impressive, but static, visuals and sound design do a lot to put you into the universe. But, at best Aliens: Fireteam Elite is what you play in the arcade before jumping into the cinema proper.
In setting expectation for the journey ahead, pulling teeth and using them as weapons in a brain wholly fixated on dental fears is about as clear an indication as you need.
City of Logistics Managers is an excellent game, even if it may not be the one you're anticipating.