Kena Bridge of Spirits is a third person melee combat game in the souls-like genre. The game is set in a wonderfully colourful and lush world where spirits have lost their way and corrupted parts of the world. The narrative revolves around helping the spirits and cleansing the world of corruption. The combat is basic and functional, but flawed in a subtle way. The game is an excellent introduction to the souls-like genre. However the veterans of the genre are likely to dislike the basic combat, and notice the flaws of the game.
The best part of Kena Bridge of Spirits is its presentation and especially the art-style, which is incredible good. The game has some of the highest quality cut-scenes I have ever encountered in a video game when it comes to its visuals. The overall atmosphere is so well executed, and especially the use of colour and lighting is masterful. The world is simply a joy to transverse and exist in from the perspective of its presentation; it is often easy to mistake the game for an animated movie while playing.
You have access to several basic abilities: light attacks, heavy attacks, block, parry and dodge. Upgrades and new abilities are unlocked as you progress in the game. Using this core set of abilities you fight regular enemies, mini bosses and bosses. The combat loop is functional, but revolves heavily around the parry mechanic to the point where most of the other mechanics are meaningless. It can be challenging to hit the parry at the highest difficulties, and the game does punish you heavily if you misplay; on easier difficulties the parry windows are much wider and you can make a lot of mistakes. There is no need to learn the bosses and their patterns if your reflexes are good enough as you can just parry everything.
Those that will enjoy Kena Bridge of Spirits will be able to overlook the basic and flawed combat and focus on the excellent presentation. If you have not experienced souls-like combat before I think you are unlikely to find major issues with the combat; the combat is functional and works, but it is just flat and one dimensional for people with experience in the genre. The game might be worth a play-through if you find the presentation appealing and don’t mind a shallow and basic combat system.
The critique of Kena Brigde of Spirits can be found here (Spoilers ahead).
| Playtime | 12 Hours |
| Game release date | 21 September 2021 |
| Review release date | 27 July 2024 |
| Light sensitivity | No issues |
| Sound sensitivity | No issues |
| Motion sickness | No issues |
| Steam-link | Metacritic-link (81 metascore) |