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Kena: Bridge of Spirits


Whiskey_chaser
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I've put a few hours into this now and thought i'd post my initial impressions.

First up, can't comment on the PS4 version but on PS5 this game is absolutely gorgeous. It starts you off in a dark cave and the moment you step outside it's a real 'wow' moment. The vistas in this game are gorgeous, and the in-game cut scenes could be straight out of a Pixar film. 

Gameplay wise, i'd echo what some of the reviews say in that it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It almost feels like a PS2 game, but I mean that in a complimentary way. The in-game tutorial is incredibly brief and they seem to have taken a 'figure it our for yourself' approach.

The puzzles so far have been pretty basic and involve the use of the 'Rot' - the cute little black blob things that you collect which then follow you around and allow you to interact with certain elements of the level a la Pikmin.

Combat is standard Zelda 'lock on' fare, with a basic ability system that lets you unlock new moves and attacks by spending one of the in-game currencies. You can also buy and equip hats for your Rot to wear, which just adds to the games charm.

One of my favourite things about it so far has been the music. It could have been lifted from a Ghibli film. 

So for a first game from a new studio it's not doing too badly. I can't imagine it being a game that lodges itself in my memory for long after beating it, but it's a lovely game that's packed full of charm which is a nice change of pace from the hyper-intense shooters i've been playing a lot of recently.

 

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Whoever thought the bosses in this game were a good idea needs to have a serious talk with themselves. Can't remember the last time a game made me this angry.

Dark Souls difficulty bosses, mixed with janky controls (the dodge roll seems to lock in and move you TOWARDS enemy attacks), a system which means you have to charge up your rot until you can use a healing plant (if there is one) or an ability to do damage and a shield that seems to be made of paper mean they're not fun at all. Oh, and it seems you can only take two - three hits before you die.

I'm currently on a boss that has an opening, but there's so many smaller enemies attacking you it's almost impossible to get a hit in before the mega damage attacks come in and finish you.

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Some of the stuff I've read definitely makes it seem like button mashing isn't going to cut it... supposedly it's all about the parrying, which apparently was pretty difficult to pull off.

 

There's been a recent patch which should've made that a little easier.

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13 hours ago, Nag said:

Some of the stuff I've read definitely makes it seem like button mashing isn't going to cut it... supposedly it's all about the parrying, which apparently was pretty difficult to pull off.

 

There's been a recent patch which should've made that a little easier.


The good news is there's a Story difficulty, which i'll probably drop to (i'm playing on normal) as I beat the boss I was stuck on last night only to have to fight an even bigger bastard straight after. Ten attempts in and I just can't be arsed anymore. With the Souls games, at least I feel like I die because of my own ineptitude, not because i'm stuck on a piece of scenery, or i'm fighting ads and the boss leaps from the other side of the map. It's a shame because i'm really enjoying the rest of the game.

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I beat this last night, clocked in around ten hours in total. I ended up dropping to Story difficulty as I just couldn't be arsed with the bosses. It's a shame because there's such a huge difference, you melt through them on easy yet the step up to normal turns them into uber aggressive killing machines.

Overall though I loved the game. It doesn't do anything particularly innovative but it's so gorgeous that I just loved exploring the world. Doubt i'll go back to it anytime soon either as there didn't really seem any compelling reasons to hunt down the remaining rot/hats.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Next on my backlog of PS5 games is this, which I started earlier. I'm not looking for a cutesy Dark Souls and given the comments from @Whiskey_chaser I opted for story difficulty straight off the bat. I already know from my limited time with it I'm not going to be pulling of parries right left and center... that timing seems brutal.

 

As was obvious from what's been said already and the reviews the game really is pretty to look at...

 

17cc957c91259-screenshotUrl.jpg

 

I'm really early in at the minute (only played for around an hour)... controls feel a little stiff but I'm hoping I get used to them, I'm also looking forward to getting the bow and opening up some combat options. 

 

Anyway, look at this shit!

 

17cc957f94e47-screenshotUrl.jpg

 

How sickening is that!🤢

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  • 1 month later...

I played a lot of this today. Just cleared the whole forest area on the east side. Moving over to the west side of the village to see what’s over there.

 

I really love it. To me this game has a very PS1 feel about it, or maybe just Playstation platformer feel about it, it really fits in with Spyro, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank style action games. I think because, despite varying levels of quality and technology, they all try to do the same type of animation. So that is familiar. Then the game design on top is also within that mold as well. Dense, exploration areas. Very linear. Repetitive but fun gameplay. Collectible heavy. It really feels like a classic PlayStation game to me even though I know it’s 3rd party.


The game also looks amazing obviously. There are some weird graphic glitches, one notable one is when moving the swarm and Kena weirdly stutters. But nothing terrible and nothing that stops you from going wow look at this shit. I don’t think it looks quite as good as Ratchet. But Ratchet has ray tracing and a lot more varied environments where so far this has been all green forests interrupted by the odd cave. So it gets kind of samey to look at. But it still looks amazing.

 

The only thing I don’t care for is the story. I’ve lost interest, and it doesn’t matter. Also as good as the game animates Kena’s face has no expression on it at all during gameplay and it looks weird. Even Link has been turning his head and looking at stuff since the GameCube. It just stands out how dead behind the eyes she looks when playing. 
 

Overall I think it’s awesome. It’s repetitive, it feels kind of old in a lot of ways. But it’s still satisfying to play and the look of the game helps carry it the rest of the way. At this point I feel like it’s a 7.5 kind of game. 

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Finished the game. Think I got every trophy except playing it on master difficulty. Which will be tough. Even on normal this game is no push over.

 

I really liked it, but it is repetitive and did wear thin for me. I also think the buttons are too slow for how fast the combat is. When firing the arrow I really had to concentrate that I wasn’t letting go of aim straight after fire because sometimes Kena just puts the bow down. Likewise the counter is very precise, like has to be only a few frames for the window. But when the buttons are slow I found it really hard to get, and after a while it started to annoy. 
 

But overall I really liked it. Maybe I shouldn’t of played it in such big sessions and did a little bit at a time, perhaps that would of helped with the repetition side of things. 
 

Very cool, though. Nice game. 

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I’ve been playing this on Master Mode today and this shit is rough. It is doable, but it really makes you work for it. The thing that makes it unique isn’t just that you do (A LOT) less damage to bosses and everything hits harder, but it changes how the super meter works. Not only is it extremely difficult to build meter, I’m sure that if you get hit you also lose meter. On normal mode I got really used to spamming super moves because I always had some, but here I’m usually around 1, maybe 2 moves at most available to me. This is where it’s making me work. You have to really map out a game plan for each difficult boss/encounter and play around trying to build meter and pick your shots.

 

It’s serious. 
 

Most normal encounters are fine, though very possible to die. The bosses and mini bosses are the problem. You die in 3 hits but your attacks don’t really do shit to them.

 

There’s an ability where for every successful counter you get a free bar to do a super with. So some of the strategies are counter the adds running around, then use the super on the boss. Of course some don’t have adds which are sort of harder because you can’t build bar.

 

It’s definitely hard and made me swear at my TV a lot. I still think the animation priority is killer for how fast the combat can be. But I have been enjoying the game a bit more than before. It definitely evolves the experience in a way.

 

Also just knowing where to go and blasting through the game feels good too.

 

I was really dreading the final boss of the second area. Even on normal she fucked me up some. But thankfully she glitched the fuck out and I just stood behind her pelting with arrows and won lol. Even after a life bar was depleted she was still standing there, I was like oh no it’s glitched to the point where I can’t finish. But thankfully a big stagger attack made her move and her death animation kicks in. It was a bit broken, but the game did continue.

 

Hopefully the game registers the check properly and doesn’t glitch the trophy 😓

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Ayyyy job done

 

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I recorded beating the penultimate boss and then the final boss

 

Second to last
 

Spoiler

 


I thought this was going to be impossible. Then I found out he is super weak to the dash attack. It staggers him almost every

time, but weirdly it also appears to be tied to proximity. So if you keep dashing at him, he only staggers on the first. You have to dash, combo, run a good distance away and then repeat. It’s weird but I got it. Before I figured that out I thought that was the end. He’s a terror without it. Phew

 

Final Boss

Spoiler

 


This was actually not so bad since I had a lot of practice on Normal difficulty. The problem is the large enemy in the middle of the fight. Genuinely tougher than the boss itself. Because, for story reasons, no super moves are available at all. So unless there’s something I don’t know you just need to chip him down. It takes forever. Also the thing about this fight, and it doesn’t matter what difficulty you play on. You die, back to the beginning. No check points at all. So it can take a long time to get this.

 

Really like this game. It’s not the greatest game ever by any means, but I really enjoyed it actually. 

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  • 1 month later...

I made a start on this yesterday. & couldn’t put it down. I really, really like it. 
Just to echo what most have said already but it really is truly gorgeous! I think it might be best looking game I’ve played yet on PS5. The screenshots and shitty YT videos don’t do justice to it (as is becoming the norm lately I’m finding). Sure, Ratchet is technically more impressive but this is just beautiful. Animation is top notch too. Although the scenery is pretty static and doesn’t really react. 
 

Im quite enjoying the combat too. I like how it’s got some teeth to it against the almost childish like visuals. Actually had to learn the patterns to a couple of the bosses and get the parries down. Nice!

 

Its so pleasant to play too, I’m just loving wandering around and exploring the environment solving simple puzzles. 
 

Great game so far. Just reached the Ox relic and looking forward to playing more. 

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Think I’m nearing the end of this now. I’ve got the spirit dash for reference. Just done 3 bosses this opens up. Keeps impressing this game, really enjoyed those and how it made you use a different skill set to beat each.

 

I am starting to feel slight fatigue at the general loop though so hope I’m not too far from the end. I’d hate it if it outstays it’s welcome and start feeling cooler towards it. 

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