Kena: Bridge Of Spirits introduces more big bosses and adorable photo mode
All the better for capturing those excessively cute Rot spirits
The first game from former animation studio Ember Lab heads out on its spirit saving adventure tomorrow. Kena: Bridge Of Spirits definitely looks like it's made by an animation house, complete with excessively adorable little sidekick characters and all. Ahead of tomorrow's launch, Ember Lab have shown off another story trailer to peek a couple more of the big spirit bosses that Kena will be putting to rest along with the photo mode that you'll have to take full advantage of all that big screen-inspired character design.
Kena: Bridge Of Sprits is familiar third-person action game fare for the most part. Bow and staff wielding spirit guide Kena uses her unlockable magic abilities to battle gaggles of forest-y enemies along her journey with a bit of light puzzling and climbing too. The biggest spirits she has to fight are the main course, of course. They're longer encounters against angry dead folks that her posse of Pikmin-like little Rot companions help her tackle with special skills like stunning enemies or hammering them with Rot power. The new launch trailer down here gives a peek at some more of the big bads and a bit of story background too.
The boss fights look to be familiar action stuff as well—one where you'll jump over periodic waves of flame while attacking your target, the boss with a bow where you'll need to hide behind trees to avoid large attacks, and so on. The fella with the shiny whip looks neat as well.
Kena rated on Colm's list of top ten games of September to look out for this month and it easily made my personal list too. I got to take a spin with an early section of the game several months ago and was quite into it.
From my time with it, Kena was comfortably familiar. I'd initially worried that Ember Lab might wind up with a game that looks great but tripped up on the combat but, based on what I got to try, they stuck the landing. Kena doesn't seem to be reinventing the action adventure wheel, and that's just fine with me. I fought against an early boss with a giant club that I had to dodge, figure out how to stun it in place, and then shoot a weak point on its back with my bow. You know the stuff. Classic action with a fresh, adorable face.
Speaking of adorable, there is that photo mode that they've just announced as well. I usually don't bother partaking in photo breaks but if I were ever going to, Kena would be the one. Kena's little Rot spirit friends in their cute unlockable hats seem well worth stopping to snap pictures of and its forested environments are lovely too. Ember Lab also point out their "cheese!" button in photo mode that has characters pull various personal poses. "Many characters have multiple poses, so you can snap a great variety of fun shots in the same location," Ember Lab say. You can catch the trailer for that down below.
Kena: Bridge Of Spirits is set to launch tomorrow, September 21st over on the Epic Games Store, and PlayStations, for $40.
