Many would call Kena: Bridge of Spirits a Pixar Souls game, and they would be right. Mix Pixar’s styleart and atmosphere with the glooming story and hard difficulty in boss fights from the Souls games.
The world has gotten infected – something that affects plantlife, animal life and humanoid life alike. A problem, only a Spirit Guide can solve with the help of the Spirits and the life of the forrest – the Rot.
You play as Kena, a Spirit Guide of the forest. As you progress, you can unlock different abilities – which is needed as the game gets more intense fights. You’re told a very sad story from various characters you meet, and truth to be told you will never be sure if they are alive or spirits. You get more powerful the more Rot you find, so look out for light purple items. Rot will also help you find clues.
Magical adventure
Walk through the forest, find the clues as to what has happened, and find a way to fix things for the better. As you collect Rot and crystals, you can open for abilities that better your chance in the very hard fights ahead of you. When in a fight, it’s key that you learn the patterns and clues from the enemies you face if you are to succeed.
There is also a few collectibles to deal with, that is not essential to experience the full story, such as crystals, Rot and chests. The latter one have a cursed version you will encounter from time to time – and they are not random. You can replay these when you find them in the world after previously beating them. These chests can be extremely hard to beat when on a time limit.
One of my most favourite things in Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the Rot and how you can accessorize them with hats and masks you find in the world, and earn by doing different tasks and missions.
Looking fabolous
The look and feel of the game is impeccable, and I have yet to meet any bugs, apart from small clipping in a corner through snow I was not supposed to be in. It looks downright beautiful from start to finish, and the Rot is very cute looking. Enemies can look very intimidating when they are defending their ground.
To round up this review, I can mention the difficulty spikes on big encounters. I was stuck a couple times in a big fight, but that doesn’t mean everyone will. The fights are impressive and have a great flow of cues, patterns and phases, and every boss fight is a learning experience.
