Snake Games Reviews: Kena: Bridge of Spirits

The debut game of the indie studio Desura, which graced 2021. Wonderful, but not without nuances. On the occasion of the recent release of Kena: Bridge of Spirits on Steam, we present to your attention our review of the game.

Developers who used to create animated videos began their journey in the gaming industry with an open-world action snake game reminiscent of a Disney cartoon. Quite unusually, it is more common to see small pixel snake games. But in Desura they coped with a difficult task.

The experience of developers in creating video content is immediately visible. Kena looks amazing, in terms of the degree of impact on the brain centers responsible for the perception of beauty, it resembles Ori. Graphics, animations, design of locations - this game makes you want to admire it. Optimization against the background of visual splendor is not the best, sometimes "Kena" requires too much from hardware.

The soundtrack does not lag behind , plunging into childhood and punching goosebumps. Most of all, the videos resembling high-quality short films are striking. The hand of the animators is again noticeable. Directing, staging and visuals at a very high level. But the cut scenes are good on their own, apart from the plot.

And the link is this. Kena is a pretty girl who helps the spirits find peace. As a spirit guide, she must help a few restless ones find peace. In the meantime, because of them, the forest is afflicted with filth. She disfigures plants and breeds insane entities that are trying to destroy the main character. This is such a simple thread. There are no action-packed stories here, and in general, the plot cannot be called the strength of the project.

At first, the game seems very simple. Like a cartoon adventure that you can “run” on an average difficulty level in a few hours. But the gameplay is rapidly becoming more complex, and it turns out that we have before us not just a pretty cartoon.

Kena has only a staff at the start, then a bow and other items for combat appear. However, the most important thing, of course, are the creatures that the localizers, for some reason unknown to science, called flies. These are small and surprisingly cute creatures, so much so that I would like to reduce the degree of charm. The main reason why the game makes you smile. Especially if you buy hats for them. But smolts are not soft toys.

Little guys are the main helpers of the heroine. They find important items in locations, carry heavy items and participate in combat. To do this, the player needs to press the appropriate keys and send the flies forward to the enemy. Tiny "helpers" also destroy the filth, and they must also be collected during the snake game, increasing the total number. In general, without them it would be more boring and sadder.

The level of difficulty, if we talk about the average and above, does not correspond to the initial perception. Even choosing not the most difficult option, I still suffered a lot from opponents. The enemies are very diverse and do not let you relax, the bosses even more so. The combat is moderately deep and flexible. No innovations and revelations, but this is not necessary. Gradually pumping skill branches, Kena becomes more savvy.

Amazingly beautiful open world is fun to explore. It contains many rewards, chests and other items. And simple riddles sometimes make you think. A meditative study of the local beauties turns into intense battles in time - and vice versa. Kena: Bridge of Spirits doesn't get boring until the end, although it seems somewhat monotonous.

Desura showed how to debut. The studio gave us an amazingly charming snake game that was fun to play and didn't want to look for cons. One of the best releases of last year.