Most of you must already know that Ember Lab’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits releases tomorrow. PlayStation fans have been waiting for this game to release impatiently as the game looks great and it can easily one of the best games in 2021. The game is also releasing on PC via Epic Games Store.
The reviews for the game however, are not out yet and it seems like Ember Lab has chosen the release date of the game to be the review embargo date as well. In any case, we will get those reviews soon.
In the meanwhile some interesting tidbits about Kena: Bridge of Spirits have been revealed about the game in an interview with SegmentNext. For instance, the COO and Co-founder of Ember Lab revealed that while there are other activities in the game, the main campaign of Bridge of Spirts will last for 8-10 to hours on average:
Obviously, this will be something we will know better once everyone has the chance to play the game, but it also has a lot to do with how the player decides to play. We intentionally kept the main story relatively short in order to focus on developing a great story and memorable characters. However we also encourage exploration by including collectables and optional areas to unlock. Some of these include tracking down all the Rot companions to increase Kena’s power and abilities, finding Rot Hats to customize her little friends, as well as Spirit Mail left behind by lost spirits that will enable the player to access new areas and challenges. Depending on the difficulty setting the main story can be completed in 8-10 hours.
While talking about the replayability, he revealed that players can challenge themselves at different difficulties and the “Master Spirit Guide Mode” will be quit a test for the players:
While it’s true that Kena is a story-driven adventure, it is also a skills-based combat game. While there is a set plot that the player will experience, the combat aspect offers plenty of replayability where players can test their skills by increasing the difficulty level to put their proficiency and tactics to the test. Only very skilled players will be able to best the challenges in Master Spirit Guide mode. We also hope that, like a great film, players will want to experience the story and characters again, even once they have completed the game the first time.
So while the game is short itself, the difficulty design and some side activities will keep players busy for a descent amount of time. Personally I support the decision of small engaging stories as in bigger games, the plot and story, due game’s length, becomes dull and bland. Hopefully, Kena: Bridge of Spirits will offer players an engaging narrative experience.