Kena: Bridge of Spirits really took me by surprise. Ever since the first trailer at Sony’s State of Play last year, it was obvious that Ember Labs’ animated adventure was going to be breathtaking. It looks like a Pixar movie, and its story isn’t far off from a modern CG animated film either. But as a game, it’s a bit harder to nail down. Calling it an action/adventure experience isn’t particularly descriptive, so whenever people ask me what it’s like, I’ve been telling them it’s closest to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. At first, I figured this was just a useful shorthand to describe a third-person melee action game with linear progression and minor backtracking, but the more that I think about the comparison, the more things I find that and Fallen Order have in common. In fact, there's more overlap between them than things that set them apart.
Barring the obvious fact that they’re both third-person outings with “sword” fighting, the biggest thing that Kena and Fallen Order share is their Metroidvania sensibilities. While traditional Metroidvanias like Ori and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hollow Knight do still exist, the genre has evolved into 🅺more of a set of design principles, and Kena and Fallen Order take near identical approaches to level design and progression.
Both games feature individual exploration zones, let's call them, with interconnected pathways that form maze-like areas to explore. Venture just a few feet off the critical path, and you’ll likely find a simple puzzle that will offer you optional rewards. As you progress toward your objective, you’ll eventually face a mini-boss and be rewarded with an upgrade allowing you to explore somewhere new. Just as you collect your new ability, you’ll find yourself dumped right back where you started, ready to explore a new area and pursue another upgrade.
Unlike a traditional Metroidvania, neither Kena nor Fallen Order require exploration to find the critical path. You always know exactly where to go next, and anytime you find an upgrade, there’s only one place to take it. Abilities are keys that unlock doors, but you never have to worry about finding the door or choosing which door to open next. Those abilities will help you find collectible🌸s that weren’t previously accessible꧋, but these secrets aren’t strictly tied to progression the way they would be in Ori or Axiom Verge.
This♋ leads me to the same complaint I have about both games. While hunting for secrets is fun in and of itself, there’s not enough power progression tied to either one. In Fallen Order you collect ponchos, and in Kena you collect hats for your tiny Rot friends, but in both cases, there’s very little incentive to backtrack or go out of your way to collect things unless you’re a collector by nature. It’s all cosmetic.
While Kena trades Force powers for Rot powers, character progression itself feels nearly identical. You begin with very few abilities and a limited health pool, but as you collect upgrades and new ab🌜ilities, you become a much more formidable fighter. Both games actually feel harder at the beginning despite weaker enemies simply because mistakes are a lot more costly and you don’t have a wide variety of tools to leverage. You dodge, you block, your light attack, you heavy attack. I would argue that both Kena and Fallen Order begin with unenjoyable combat that slowly evolves into something pretty satisfying once you develop your abilitie❀s. The power fantasy is effective, but the slow start means both Kena and Fallen Order only shine once you begin to progress.
If you enjoyed the pace and progression of Fallen Order, you’re almost certainly going to have a good time with Kena: Bridge of Spirits. There’s enough Metroidvania DNA to scratch the exploration itch, yet it's direct and guided enough to avoid needless frustration.. Kena isn’t particularly innovative, even beyond comparisons to Fallen Order, but the formula it follows is a satisfying one. There’s some simple platforming, some basic progression, a bit of exploring, a little backtracking, and a lot of snappy combat. It might be easier if we just come up with a name for Fallen Order-likes, so I think I’ll call them “Metroidplainias.” Feel free to start spreading that around. #metroidplainia