Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4|5/Epic Games Store). ESRB rating for an Xbox Series X|S version.

And done. I don’t know who’s finishing this in 9hours for a first playthrough, it can definitely be done in that but not without really gunning it. Took me closer to 25 I think and was a few hours off 100%

Thoroughly enjoyed it and a wonderful debut from ember lab. It’s definitely a bit limited in scope but it feels like rather than blow the budget they kept it tight and made the game the game they wanted to make and it’s bloody fun throughout and in a couple of moments really sings.

The visuals are clearly where the majority of the time and budget have gone and they’re beautiful throughout. The environments can feel a little samey but when they look this good it’s hard to complain. Everything else is really solidly functional (the parry clearly needs tweaking) and when it all combines in a few action, exploration or puzzle set pieces it’s fantastic.

The world is wonderful and as I mentioned the central village is a joy to explore and the bonus exploration bits and pieces really make hunting secrets down worth it. It’s a shame that rewards kind of run out by the mid game so your just left with exploration for the sake of it but in environments this good that is satisfaction enough for the most part. It’s a shame they’re aren’t any side story elements to interact with. The plot plays out exactly as you would expect and despite the Majoras Mask inspiration is fairly one note and a bit vague generic mysticism throughout.

Despite its flaws though I found it a joy all the way through and can recommend it to all, especially thanks to the budget price which I think they could have gotten away with another £10 tbh. Probably my second favourite game of the year behind Village.

KK wrote:In a good or bad way?

I find it bloody irritating when the last boss is so difficult it's almost impossible to finish the game. One of the things I loved about Sackboy is that it was pretty easy to complete the main story missions, but extremely difficult if you wanted it to be (such as the time trial challenges).

In a good way. I’ve seen a lot of complaints a bout difficulty spikes but on normal I’ve found it pretty perfectly pitched. There is a big jump between ordinary combat, which can be a bit mindless, and the bosses which are usually a very significant challenge, but when you know how to tackle them they’re all reasonable. Final boss has you making use of all your skills in various phases and feels suitably epic throughout.

I don’t know what all the moaners on Resetera are about in switching it down to the easiest setting. It is very doable, didn’t even consider needing to drop it down.

Supporting My Local Mule Sanctuary Since 11/11/2014.

BOR wrote:I'm waiting for a physical copy. Look forward to it.

Same here.

Im a few hours away from finishing it, unfortunately I got sidetracked with the release of Fifa.

It is an enjoyable game.. and I intend to finish it still, probably the coming weekend.

The difficulty spike with the bosses have ruined the fun a bit for me, it was too much of a change in pace for the game, that I had to switch to Story mode for some of the bosses. It doesnt introduce anything revulotionary and it feels very basic at time but apart from that the game has some fun elements and the combat is varied giving you different options on how to dispose of your enemies. The puzzles are not overly complicated so they dont ruin the flow.

If you take into consideration that this is the first effort from this studio, I think it is a very encouraging start and defnitely good value for money at 32.99, like Captain Kinopio said this is not a ten hour game, and I challenge anyone not to take his time to try and find more rots and hats or secret chests or just noseying around and try to clear more corrupted areas.

I am happy to support this studio, looking forward to see what they can come up with next.

Which bosses did you have problems with out of interest.

I definitely found them a challenge, I don't think I beat any of the main ones in less than 3 goes but none took me more than 45 minutes. Maybe it's the speed of reloading on PS5 which makes it seem less of an issue. I see a lot of people on Resetera complaining that the Parry mechanic is too hard to pull off and while that's true (I think it's been patched now), I barely used it. I found it much more efficient to run away and find opportunities to attack. A lot of your attacks interrupt enemy attacks so once you find an opening its relatively easy just to exploit while backing off and using the shield when necessary.

Captain Kinopio wrote:Which bosses did you have problems with out of interest.

I definitely found them a challenge, I don't think I beat any of the main ones in less than 3 goes but none took me more than 45 minutes. Maybe it's the speed of reloading on PS5 which makes it seem less of an issue. I see a lot of people on Resetera complaining that the Parry mechanic is too hard to pull off and while that's true (I think it's been patched now), I barely used it. I found it much more efficient to run away and find opportunities to attack. A lot of your attacks interrupt enemy attacks so once you find an opening its relatively easy just to exploit while backing off and using the shield when necessary.

I would say the trigger that made me switch to story mode was the

until that I was relishing the challenge, I accepted I would die a few times(or a lot of times) until I started registering their moves.

I dont have long to go now, finished

who was also a bitch last weekend, and should finish this weekend, but I think I will just proceed on easy.

edit: dont know why I spoilered the bosses names :slol:

This is one of those games that my wife has shown an interest in enough that I'm going to hold out and let her pay for it :slol:

Finished over the weekend, I "ruined" a bit of the experience as I left the game on story mode for the last section of the game. (and even so, nearly died during the final boss, but mainly as I could not figure out how to actually do damage to it)

All in all, it was a lovely experience for me, however, the insane difficulty spikes on some bosses were too much for me to handle and although I'm not someone that enjoys playing difficult games, playing on easy makes me feel stupid, so maybe it's just a personal thing.

I loved how the combat evolved throughout the game from basic light and heavy attack to using multiple bombs and making them chain explode with a rot arrow felt really good. The showstopper however was the art style of the game, the game looks and feels lovely and I felt the cutscenes were intense with emotions.

Apart from the difficulty spikes the only other gripe I had with the game, was that at times it felt very basic. I dont know how to elaborate properly on this its just a feeling I got at certain points in the game.

All that said, Im excited to see future projects from this dev studio.

It seems like 19th of November release date for the physical copy.

I've ordered a physical copy and I will save it until Christmas Day.

Can't wait. :wub:

Got this for Christmas. I'll play it later. :wub:

BOR wrote:Got this for Christmas. I'll play it later.

I picked it up for the girlfriend for Christmas.

Annoyingly, she has recently got into GTA V (late to that party), so god knows when I'll get my ps4 back! Kena does look great, I plan to give it a play through myself at some point too.

I decided to pick this up in the sales (£23) and it looks gorgeous. Seems like a pretty simple game but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Exactly what I need right now. Definitely not in the mood for anything taxing.

He choose... poorly

twitter.com/VVildhart/status/1475291863162703874

Got £40 in PSN vouchers for my birthday so I'll be buying this in a moment :wub:

Loving this game so far.

But it does not do a good job of training you.

Like there's a puzzle where I was meant to know to pay attention to some candles so I knew which order to shoot some stones.

Not only does the game.noy teach you to pay attention to any candles at all, the candles themselves and the effect when they light up just look like normal candles, they're not even blue or anything.

Encountered similar stuff with some of the other puzzles/routes the game wants you to take. Feels like they didn't play test with many 'new' players

Played the first hour or so and it's lovely. Definitely getting that PS2 era adventure vibe and it's just what I need right now.

Also it will constantly finish major game section and then ask you to backtrack when there is no warp shrine anywhere near you :lol:

Fade wrote:Loving this game so far.

But it does not do a good job of training you.

Like there's a puzzle where I was meant to know to pay attention to some candles so I knew which order to shoot some stones.

Not only does the game.noy teach you to pay attention to any candles at all, the candles themselves and the effect when they light up just look like normal candles, they're not even blue or anything.

Encountered similar stuff with some of the other puzzles/routes the game wants you to take. Feels like they didn't play test with many 'new' players

This is easily the worst puzzle in the game. Spent ages trying to work out what I was supposed to do.

Glad I'm not the only one.

All they had to do was make the flames larger and blue like the crystals are and it would have been 10x easier to notice/figure out

The built in PS plus guide got me through that bit.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4|5/Epic Games Store). ESRB rating for an Xbox Series X|S version.

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