In the past, Ember Lab was a producer and animation company that helped to do some projects like "Answers to Nothing" (2011), or "Majora's Mask: Terrible Fate" (2016), and nowadays their name is well-known in the world not for these type of projects, but for nothing more and nothing less than their first own video game - Kena: Bridge of Spirits. They combine their unique production and animation techniques to create a type of indie game that no one has seen before inspired by the Eastern culture and its locations (more specifically, from Bali and Japan). Suddenly, the game appears in the market and called the attention of many gamers so much that it lead the creators to win the game award of the best indie video game of the year! Let's see the important features of this great project created by the brothers Mike and Josh Gier.
Character and plot:
As its name says, the main and playable character is Kena, who is a spirit guide and wants to reach the Sacred Mount Shrine because of its strong connection to the spirit world. The task of the spirit guides is to use their magical abilities to help the spirits of deceased people that are trapped between the physical and spirit world. It is not easy because what happens with these trapped spirits is that they will get corrupted and that corruption can spread and change the environment.
First of all, I want to say that Kena is one of the best characters you can sympathize with quickly. Her personality is peaceful, sweet, and entertaining, and she also shares her wisdom as a spirit guide. Despite her personality, she also can fight against the corrupted spirits using her powers with her staff and shows a lot of courage and brave too. She is a very expressive character which makes people like her a lot.
Animation:
The type of animation they used in this game is a new experience, they were inspired by using different eastern locations like Japan or Balí. And the great detail in the characters' expressions is because they were hand-animated using keyframe animation. Their proposal was a little different from others because they create a modern animated cartoon open-world video game focusing more on the details of the colors, textures, and brights and shades. The game avoids realism, which it made it easier to create zero difference between the cinematic scenes and gameplay. I saw that some people describe its animation as a Pixar film transformed into an Eastern project, I would even call it a type of Anime mixed with Eastern features. What all can agree on is that this is an original and interesting animation technique and strategy that no one has ever seen before in a video game.
Eastern culture:
This is why they could implement a lot of new things and ideas in the game that are not similar to others. They could define an interesting new world using music based on this specific culture too. They even worked hard with the Cudamani group, so they can respectfully create this game. So, everything in this game looks so characteristic of the culture and, just with a piece of music from it, you can realize they used some specific instruments to make an harmonized symphony, which it is because of the strong connection it has with the Eastern spiritual culture and their beliefs in the spiritual world.
Not just the physical animation of the characters, but also everything else (like the soundtracks and its specific peaceful environment), communicate the cultural features. No matter if I was having a difficult battle, I didn't get stressed, tense, frustrated, or something else, but only I feel a peaceful and fun mix. Everything is perfectly mixed which provides a full experience.
Gameplay:
Besides Kena's abilities, she have also companions, who would be the Rot. These spiritual creatures help Kena to increase his magical abilities and use special and strong powers you will unlock. The more Rot you find and collect by exploring this world, the more benefits you will have.
Also, there are two types of currencies, first is the Karma which allows you to upgrade your abilities and techniques, and then there are the Crystals, where you can buy hats for the Rot and outfits for Kena. To earn more of them you have to collect and do different things while you explore the world like feeding the rots with fruits or solving some interesting and challenging puzzles by finding statues.
Some basic techniques you can do with Kena are attacking with her staff, using a magical shield, creating a spirit bow with the staff too, throwing a spirit bomb, and doing a spirit dash. Also if you activate the shield at the right time, you can do perfect parry. And speaking of this last feature, I have to say its system is the most difficult one but also fun and interesting, while other games are easier to identify the right time, this one is a little tricky but the satisfaction when you do it is great and you will keep the rhythm once you understand it. Besides, There are charm stones, and you have to find them by exploring too. These stones provide special and different benefits like increasing the damage of the staff, the spirited bombs, and so on.
The best feature of the gameplay is also a cultural one because you can find meditation spots, once you meditate, you will increase your maximum health. And I have to say this was a genius add because you can enjoy and appreciate more the environments and Kena.
Enemies:
There is a high variety of enemies you have to fight while you are trying to end Kena's journey. So you will have to discover the best way to fight each one. Many of them are created by nature as a result of the spread of corrupted spirits. There are different normal enemies that for example can attack by land or air, but also some specific minibosses and bosses with different abilities. The category is large because there are the bosses created by nature but also the main ones like the people's spirits who got corrupted, or even The Mask Maker, The Warrior, and The Huntress.
Other features:
For unlocking Kena's outfits you will have to do the spirit trials. These challenges have different phases and, if you want to have all the outfits, you must complete all of them. The more phases you advance, the more difficult the challenges become, and I have to say that finishing all of them was really complicated for me, especially during the last trial. I actually do not remember if I played something more difficult than this last one.
Also, the game has different difficulties including the new game + option, where you can repeat the whole game with everything you earned before. Besides, depending on the difficulty or if you choose the new game +option, there would be new challenging enemies, and also the bosses will have a new battle phase.
Other things you can do too in the game are getting all the collectibles like finding and delivering the spirit mails to free all locations from the corruption.
Conclusion:
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not a common game, it delivers a new type of game to the players and the reason for its success is that it is from a new and interesting studio that put a lot of effort into creating a great project where you can not just enjoy the gameplay but also all the cultural features from it. The mix of the techniques of Ember Lab and their devotion to making the game respectful for the Eastern culture, lead them to win the Game Award of the Best Indie Video Game in 2021.
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