Taro's Story & Fate

Yahtzee reviews Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a game that's not bad but forgettable, with a unique art style that doesn't quite fit its tone.

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee reviews Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

Yahtzee found Kena: Bridge of Spirits to be a relatively short and forgettable open-world game. He notes that while it doesn't do anything particularly wrong, it also doesn't innovate much, featuring standard combat, puzzles, and climbing mechanics. The story's weakness, according to Yahtzee, is the protagonist Kena's lack of personal connection to the events, making her feel like a detached janitor. He appreciates the lack of extraneous collectibles and complex equipment systems, but criticizes the reward system, where optional chests often contain only hats for the game's 'potato-men' (Rot) instead of meaningful upgrades.

A major point of contention for Yahtzee is the character design, which he likens to a Disney Pixar style with overly large eyes and chubby cheeks. He feels this art style clashes with the game's more serious tone and themes of being a psychopomp. Despite these criticisms, Yahtzee concludes that the game is not inherently bad, but its forgettable nature and peculiar art style prevent him from fully engaging with it.