Why ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ is the Perfect Game for Fans of PS2 Platformers

As the gaming medium continues to make major leaps forward with every passing year, it sometimes can be incredibly refreshing to play a game that reminds you of the past, even if you might not have been around to experience it yourself. This could be a reason why games with sprite-based aesthetics are so popular nowadays, as well as their ease of use in comparison to the more hyper-realistic style that many bigger budget titles gravitate towards. When it comes to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, it acts as a wonderful touchstone for one very specific time and genre of games, as it harkens back to the long-forgotten days of the PS2 platformer.

Kena recalls a time where collectathons were in vogue, and segmented levels were the norm. Because a lot of those PS2 titles might have been the only game a kid would be able to play for months, being able to dump a lot of time into a title and collect all the goodies that inhabited it were one of the big selling points. With the way games have evolved, certain quality of life changes have also made their way into the Kena, making those sometimes frustrating sections of games much more palatable. One major area that this comes into play is in the way Kena provides a nice feature for completionists. The game provides you with a map, and on it, they allow the player to toggle on and off which collectibles that they want to see, essentially allowing you to get an easier handle on what items you might be missing, and where on the map they’re located.

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This is a game that masterfully mixes together old and new, a design philosophy that can grow increasingly frustrating if handled incorrectly. So often, certain games try to ape specific design concepts from games of the past, and the final product ends up resulting in something convoluted and worse off because of it. In their first game as a game development studio, Ember Lab has put out one of the most impressively polished first efforts from an indie studio in a very long time.

If you take away the eye-catching visuals, which will be the first thing most people notice about the game, there are a number of other factors about Kena that are simply downright impressive. The animations for Kena as a character are wonderful. Whether it’s her little twirl in the air as she double jumps, or her run animation; it all looks fantastic. The combat animations, in particular, are one of the most impressive aspects of the game. You’ll often end up in heated battles, as you dive and dodge, all in the hopes of setting up for your next strike with your staff and bow. As you explore vibrant and downright gorgeous locals, you’re also solving puzzles and taking on incredibly difficult bosses. Even on normal difficulty, these enemies pose dangerous threats, as you’ll more often than not find yourself having to learn their patterns rather than aimlessly pressing the attack button to beat them.

It’s a game that, like many old PS2 platformers, places a much more important focus on how you move around the environment, and in a day and age where platformers like Celeste are often much more precision-based, it’s refreshing to return to one that puts such a focus on collectibles, presentations, and combat. Playing through the game is like if you were visualizing a title from years past, and because of that, it offers a fresh perspective that’s rarely found on this scale.

Kena does a great job of not throwing all mechanics at you early on in the game. For some, this might be a bit annoying, as some of the coolest powers that Kena unlocks come near the end But in reality, it acts as a motivation to work towards them. In a way, it’s a type of Metroidvania element that you’ll come across while playing, as you’ll notice certain collectibles and inaccessible areas early in your journey. Being able to utilize your new skills via platforming and various puzzle elements is also a lot of fun, as you’re able to carefully handle Kena as she navigates her way in collecting these various items.

As mentioned earlier, Ember Lab does a great job of implementing ideas of years gone by with the newer design decisions that are so often utilized throughout the industry nowadays. Kena could essentially be seen as an open-world game if you really wanted to think of it that way, but in more ways than one, it acts as an evolution of what those old PS2 platformers were essentially at their core. Rather than having individual levels that you’d load into like the early Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper games, Kena is more akin to an open world that funnels you through different segmented areas, which you are meant to explore, but not entirely right away. This doesn’t mean that you’re stuck only in that one area of the map for that specific period of time, but rather, that’s where you’ll end up getting a specific set of powers, which you’ll be able to utilize later on in your journey.

Because of how the game works, you’ll find yourself returning to areas and utilizing your new powers in order to collect more items. Though many of these collectibles are just cosmetic, namely hats for the Rot, many of them actually benefit you in gameplay. The aforementioned Rot, which are cute little creatures that act as a secondary attack for Kena, are scattered throughout the land. Being able to trek back and scour areas that were once untraversable in hopes of tracking one of them down is easily one of the most satisfying portions of the game.

For better and worse, it does also carry over some unfortunate pitfalls that were also present in many games of the PS2 era. Though it does have gorgeous graphics and the cutscenes themselves are wonderfully framed and presented, a lot of the performances just fall flat. Kena herself is one of the least interesting characters in the entire game, and though she gets some moments that allow her to grow, the real meat of the story lies within the supporting cast and their stories.

The eye-catching visuals aren’t necessarily going to be the aspect of Kena that draws a lot of comparisons to those PS2 platformers of long ago, but it’s a great hook to entice those who might otherwise not be that familiar with platformers and collectathons. Seeing that this is Ember Lab’s first effort, the talent on display for this indie studio is quite staggering. They’ve done a good job of utilizing modern hardware in a way to provide the player with a familiar type of game that’s been used rather sparingly over the years on this type of scale. For fans of this particular genre, and those who long for the days of the PS2 platformers, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a game that’s definitely worth checking out.

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