Kena: Bridge of Spirits Review

What I love the most about indie games is how unexpectedly good they can be with a limited amount of resources. It reminds me of the games from the early 2000s where the developers had only a garage, 2 barely functioning computers and lots of ideas in their head.

One such game is Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a seemingly simple yet incredibly charming 3D action-adventure developed by Ember Lab. This might not sound like much, until you find out that this is the studio’s first game ever. After playing through the game and seeing all it has to offer, I must say that I was deeply impressed with what this team of developers managed to build here.

In this game you play as Kena, a spirit guide, whose purpose is to help restless spirits cross into the Afterlife. Her mission is to find these spirits that haunt places, discover the reason why they are still clinging to the living world and finally, offer them peace. In order to improve her spiritual abilities, she travels to the Mountain Shrine, a sacred place for spirit guides. However, she finds out that the mountain has been corrupted and the village tasked with guarding the entrance to the mountain has been overrun by monsters, led by a mysterious masked figure. Kena must liberate the village and the mountain from these monsters and discover the reason for the corruption.

The first thing that struck me is the beautiful aesthetic in this game. It reminds me of Pixar movies, especially in the choices of colors and themes. The clean areas are of a vibrant green and blue, filled with life and joy. In contrast, the corrupted areas are red or covered in black ooze, symbolizing the corruption that has been ravaging the land. If you’ve played Elden Ring, the corrupted areas bear a striking resemblance to Caelid. And believe me, they give off the exact same vibe.

The vibes any game are massively improved by the ambient music and the soundtrack. The village that you have to rescue has silly relaxing tunes once it’s cleared off the corruption, the corrupted zones have eerie unnerving notes, boss fight themes really underline the kind of monster you’re facing, pretty much the soundtrack further enhances whatever emotion you have in the specific area you are in. The best soundtrack to evoke this emotions would be the Battle Theme, which perfectly explains the mood of this game.

But what sets the tone best in this game is specific companion/mechanic – The Rot.

The first companion Kena encounters is a little spirit called Rot. These little guys are hidden throughout the land and you have to find all 100 of them – and it’s worth it, because they are the central “magic” behind Kena’s powers. Not only do they accompany you everywhere, but they also help you with puzzles, they can combine themselves into a mini-water dragon that can also help with puzzles and combat. The Rot can also be used to enhance your combat capabilities, acting as a sort of “mana bar” used to deliver more powerful strikes to the opponents.

But probably the most important ability of them all – the Rot are able to wear hats. Yes, you do collect hats in the world and they have no purpose other than equip the Rot with them.

If you think that sounds like a boring endeavor – think again. This is probably the best cosmetic the game could ever add!

Another surprisingly engaging part of the game is the story. I did expect it to be a lighthearted story, especially considering the little beans mentioned above. I did not expect it to get this serious and mature, while not losing its overall tone. Kena’s story is by no means complex or convoluted, at places it is even predictable, but at the same time it is very focused and to the point. It tackles some serious themes too (mainly loss and grief) which again reminds me of the Pixar movies.

Voice acting is also very good for an indie game.  Kena is very well voiced, but I think my favorite is the archer trainer Rusu, immediately followed by Toshi the former village leader. There’s not many lines of dialogue in this game, but this being the studio’s first title, I can’t blame them for not going to some crazy innovative or expensive routes.

For me however, the biggest surprise was the gameplay. I expected some silly light platforming, sprinkled with some cute encounters and an occasional boss fight. And for the platforming part, it’s kinda true – some jumps here and there, teleport to a flower, bring up some floating platforms, nothing out of the ordinary.

On the other hand, the combat is another beast altogether. Sure, on Normal difficulty you might whack the corrupted monsters in 2 hits and one shot the cute Wood Golem with your magical Rot Hammer. Crank the game up to Master difficulty however, which is required for the platinum trophy, and that cute Wood Golem turns into the Demon of Hatred from Sekiro, kicking your ass in one nasty combo. Kena can’t be the cute innocent girl with a magical stick anymore, she must turn into a true gameplay fiend, able to parry whatever attack the world throws at her.

This couldn’t work if not for the impecable combat mechanics that this game has. Kena has her trusty staff for light and heavy attacks, and a bubble that acts as a shield. She later receives a bow that has various sniping capabilities and a bomb that can both be used in platforming, where it reverses special environmental structures back to their original form, and combat, being able to stick them to the enemies and blow them up from afar.

The Rot can enhance these abilities. Once you get one full Rot bar, you have multiple actions at your disposal – if you unlocked them from the upgrade tree of course. You can either stun the enemy with the Rot, or convert your minions into an oversized hammer that slams the enemy. With the bow you can shoot a super arrow that pierces everything in its path and with a Rot infused bomb you can create a temporal area where time is frozen.

But the best part of combat is the parry ability. By blocking at the right time, Kena can stun the opponent for a few seconds and retaliate with attacks of her own.

I absolutely loved this system. It worked without an issue every single time, the parry window was pretty tight and once mastered, it turns even Master difficulty into a joke. Plus, it’s so fun to just stunlock the poor boss with your bubble shield and retaliate with one huge ass hammer to the face.

To give an example of how this combat works, I shared a video with a boss called the Wood Knight.

The platinum for Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not particularly difficult, most of the trophies covering collectibles and various actions you have to perform. The only roadblock could be beating the Master difficulty. While there are several ways to master this difficulty, which also includes an exploit, I personally feel that this game truly shines while playing on Master.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Kena: Bridge of Spirits. It’s a surprising little gem of an indie, with great graphics, a compelling story, and gameplay that really stands out with its impeccable controls and mechanics. It’s one of the better titles that is worth playing on the PS5.