Everything We Know About Kena: Bridge Of Spirits

After a mates of delays, Kena: Bridge of Spirits finally launches adjacent week, September 21. It’s been a agelong clip coming for the whimsical game, which was initially revealed alongside the PlayStation 5 and positioned to motorboat alongside it. We featured the rubric on our cover, but we’d forgive you if your representation has go hazy. Fear not, this useful primer should drawback you up connected the main beats if you're inactive connected the obstruction astir whether oregon not Kena's escapade is for you. 

Who Is Making Kena: Bridge of Spirits?

Kena is the debut rubric by Ember Lab, a tiny workplace founded successful 2009 by brothers Mike and Josh Grier. The institution chiefly specializes successful creating animated contented for conglomerates such arsenic Coca-Cola, MLB, and KFC. Perhaps the studio's astir celebrated enactment is an animated abbreviated movie based on The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask that went viral successful 2016. With Kena, the workplace is applying its animation and world-building chops to crippled improvement for the archetypal time. 

Who Is Kena?

Kena (pronounced “kay-na”) is simply a young tone usher and the leader of the adventure. She’s liable for helping troubled spirits modulation peacefully into the afterlife. When idiosyncratic dies with unresolved problems oregon traumas, their tone tin go trapped betwixt the realms of the surviving and the dead. Lingering ghosts whitethorn origin occupation for surviving people, truthful Kena helps lick immoderate issues they person to guarantee a pleasant travel to the adjacent life. Kena is besides the lone idiosyncratic susceptible of cleansing an all-consuming blight that gradually overtakes the world.

What's The Story?

Believe it oregon not, we inactive don’t cognize a ton astir Kena’s crippled extracurricular of its setup. Kena travels to an abandoned colony acold from her homeland successful hunt of a ineffable upland shrine. The surrounding onshore is suffering from a mysterious curse that turns corrupted spirits into unsafe monstrosities. She’s the lone 1 who tin cure it and sets retired to bash conscionable that.  

What Kind Of Game Is It? 

Kena is simply a third-person action-adventure game. Combat involves executing basal melee combos of airy and dense attacks utilizing Kena’s magic staff. She tin besides crook her unit into a tone bow for a ranged offense. Kena besides boasts an arsenal of spirit abilities, specified arsenic the pulse bubble that tin parry incoming attacks, and she tin conjure a tone dragon to supply other combat muscle. Outside of battle, players climb, shimmy, and likewise leap astir their surroundings to the Uncharted bid portion besides solving biology puzzles to entree caller areas. Kena tin besides usage her powers to purify paths blocked by corrupted growth. You'll besides assistance restless souls find bid by curing immoderate ails them while gradually rebuilding and repopulating the abandoned village, which serves arsenic your hub area. 

Is Kena Set In A Big Open-World? 

Nope. Former Game Informer exertion Jeff Cork champion summarized Kena’s satellite plan arsenic “wide linear” successful our screen story. You’ll travel a wide captious way but tin subdivision disconnected to research alternate routes that whitethorn pb to goodies specified arsenic hidden Rot. 

Rot? What Are They? 

The Rot are the different stars of the game. They’re tiny adorable creatures liable for decomposition, breaking down decaying materials to marque mode for caller life. Thus, they compliment Kena’s occupation successful maintaining the rhythm of life, death, and rebirth. When Kena bonds with these critters, they’ll tag on to assistance with combat and puzzle-solving. In battle, the Rot are excessively shy to lend an contiguous helping hand, but successively landing attacks fills a metre indicating Rot courage. Once full, players tin telephone upon the Rot to augment their attacks to crockery retired much potent forms of offense. You tin besides nonstop the Rot to distract enemies, forcing them to driblet their defenses to supply windows of attack. 

Up to 100 Rot tin beryllium obtained, with 60 of them being optional. You’ll find Rot hiding nether rocks, wrong of hanging fruits, and different nooks and crannies. The much Rot you have, the much almighty your attacks go and the much helping hands you person extracurricular of battle. You tin adjacent personalize the Rot by purchasing a assortment of cute hats for them to wear.

Hats? Does That Mean Microtransactions?

There are nary microtransactions successful Kena: Bridge of Spirits. You bargain items from vendors utilizing in-game currency. 

Can The Rot Die?

No, thankfully. While the Rot stock gameplay similarities to Pikmin, these small guys aren’t astir arsenic fragile, truthful you don’t person to interest astir losing your cute companions successful battle. Feel escaped to propulsion them astatine arsenic galore monsters arsenic you spot fit! 

How Long Is Kena And How Much Does It Cost?

Ember Labs has stated that Kena takes betwixt 8-10 hours to decorativeness and person to 12 hours for completionists. The fund terms reflects that scope astatine $39.99 crossed each platforms. There’s besides a $49.99 Deluxe Edition. 

What Platforms Is Kena Available On? 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via the Epic Games Store. It is simply a digital-only game, but Ember Lab has suggested it whitethorn get a physical merchandise down the road. 

What Are The Differences Between PS5 And PS4?

We haven’t seen footage of the crippled moving connected PS4, but we cognize that connected PS5, you’ll spot much Rot represented connected screen, and foliage appears denser. The DualSense controller’s haptic feedback creates realistic hostility erstwhile pulling backmost connected the bowstring arsenic good arsenic different sensory features. 

You tin work much stories chock afloat of info astir Kena: Bridge of Spirits by visiting our exclusive cover communicative hub.