God, it feels like an entire world of stuff has happened since I last talked a game reveal on the Internet. Where was I- Kena? What's that... Oh, I remember! And that's quite the quirk, wouldn't you say, for a single game to be so instantly memorable even in the deluge of gaming news and reveals that have been hitting us not just this month but this week alone. I mean, we've already had a new 'Crash Bandicoot' be announced, had an open table reveal of that new 'Avengers' game and even seen a plethora of Cyberpunk 2077 footage that I have watched in triplicate by now. Yet through all that this game seems to have found it's way under my skin and into the ol' 'recall' section of my cortex. What I'm trying to say is, this game must be doing something right already!
Okay, so what was it exactly about 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' that made me sit up straight and start paying attention? Well, look at the trailer yourself and I'm sure you'll get an inkling in no time straight. This game looks gorgeous from the quality of the textures to the animations to the lighting and the artistic vision; everything bleeds quality and passion. In fact, the trailer looks so good that whenever I see a frame or still from it, one thought alone jumps into my mind and it's 'Pixar level animation'. Now of course, the scenes I'm talking about are all cinematics; this isn't one of those games where you struggle to tell the difference between action and cutscene due to the sheer quality of it all. In actual gameplay you can spot the natural clunkiness of player controlled actions, but even then this still just looks positively stunning. In fact, the quality of this game's animation reminds me of those old Blizzard animations we get once a blue moon, except this is somehow an entire game full of them. (That blows my mind)In fact; this game looks a little too good; Where exactly did this 'Ember Lab' come from? Let me take a little look at them on Google and... Oh! It all makes sense now. When it comes to the topic of 'fanmade homages' there are a few examples that comes to mind; that stunning Warhammer 40k animation 'Astartes'; the great live-action 'Uncharted' video starring Nathan Fillion and 'Majora's Mask: Terrible Fate'. That last one in particular is loved for it's fantastic animation that blends real-life locations with computer generated creations flawlessly and it's stunning fidelity which vastly surpassed the source material and bought a beloved old-school Zelda game to life and yep, you guessed it, that video was put together by a studio called 'Emberlab'. It seems that their love for video games and undeniable talent has finally paid off as their work now is being used to demonstrate the capabilities of the next generation of Playstation. (From fan-creators to another extension of the corporate machine; everyone's dream, no?)
But back to the game in question; what exactly is it about? Good question, I would say, because I'm having trouble nailing that one down to anything exactly satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I've read the synopsis; but the 'heart' of the game is escaping me right now as I'm struggling to identify the purpose of it all. (Which isn't a huge problem yet; this is just a trailer.) 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' puts us in the shoes of the eponymous heroine, Kena. She is a young, vaguely Asian-looking girl who serves as a 'Spirit Guide' with some tasks and probably a little prophecy ahead of her. (These stories tend to follow similar routes) What follows appears to be a 'destiny-fulfilled' story as she journeys through this decently diverse forest in search of answers and in order to free the many spirits who are her ward. Of course, the trailer also takes time to introduce us to the minion-like 'adorable' fodder in the black-fluffy 'Rot'. Creatures with such a misplaced name that I'm 90% certain that some super secret ending is going to involve sacrificing them because in actuality they are indicative of the plague spreading and destroying the forest. (I've played these sorts of games before, Ember Lab, I know what's up.)
It's in motion that the world of Kena really shines; with the otherwise typical forest setting seeming bright and vibrant in action. I think this represents one of the advantages of the stylised game presentation, in that the artists can paint this lighter note into the scene to make it seem fluffy and whimsical in the puzzling sections and then drop it all to stark colourless blackness in the perilous battles against corrupted Spirits. It's important for the team to make such a distinction apparent, as from the footage it is apparent that the spirit-affecting malady which Kena seeks to cure is affecting the forest. This makes for a very impressive scene for when this corruption is healed, as we she in the moment where she destroys some totem only to watch the world around her bloom to life like she's some sort of Hamon maestro. (No! You can't make me stop the JoJo references. No one can!) In fact, in a weird way this actually reminds me of 'Shaun White Skateboarding' in that game's whole 'paint the city in order to free everyone from the authoritarian government through the rad power of Skateboarding' angle. Though I'd imagine the team were probably going for something more akin to the 'Prince of Persia' cell-shaded remake's 'curing the kingdom' plot.
Speaking of her quest, something else that Ember Lab seemed keen to show us was the fast and fluid looking combat system. As of so far we've seen very creative and dynamic-looking scenes that effortlessly capture this unique cinematic flair to them; honestly I wonder if this is something the whole game can keep up. It all looks rather simple at face value, with your typical dodges, bows and magic blasts, but the marriage of motion, shot composition and liveness of the action seems to elevate everything impressively. In fact, and knowing what I know about Ember Lab I simply loathe to make this comparison, it all reminds me of 'Breath of the Wild'. I know, it's 'lazy' to draw such a conclusion, but honestly this was the exact first thought that popped into my head when I saw this game and everytime I look at more footage to analyse I keep coming back to it. We already know these people are Zelda fans so it's possible that such inspiration made it to their game. If I'm right; then I'm just glad the team went their own way with it and didn't just copy-paste the game like 'Genshin Impact' did.
But now for the one question that I force myself to forever ask on this topic; is the game worthy for showcasing the PS5? And strangely I think it is, despite the fact that what we see isn't traditionally what one would associate with 'pushing the boundaries of the technology.' Typically I think of the more tangible elements in questions like that, such as the load speed of objects or the ability to move quickly through cluttered environments without a hit to the frame-rate; but this game cuts it's teeth on the crispness of the animation. Everything we see appears to be of the utmost, movie quality, in terms of texture and movement, to the point where I find myself decently sure that current gen hardware couldn't accomplish it. Off course, we do have those late gen consoles like the 'PS4 Pro' and the 'Xbox One X' which could probably just manage it, but I believe the team when they say that PS5 is the only way to do the title justice.
Ultimately; 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' is a title that appeals to me mostly on the strength of it's visual appeal, and that's completely okay. The whole backstory seems somewhat derivative and reminds me of 'The Last Airbender' for some reason, but when I look at the rest of the gameplay I know all of that is just window dressing; the real treat is the talent of the studio who put all of this together. It's refreshing to know that such a high-quality looking product can be put together by a studio practically on their own and hope this sets an example going forward; you don't have to bend to the whims of big business to achieve something special. (At least, not all the time.) Kena is presented as a Playstation title, but has a listing on the Epic store so I feel it's safe to assume it won't be an exclusive, I say give it a look in at the very least, Ember Lab deserve that much. (Oh and before I go' why is it not "Ember Labs"? That's driven me nuts this entire blog!)
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