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Kena Bridge of Spirits Review Thread
- Thread starter kyliethicc
- Start date
FranXico
Member
No, they didn't.
Say cheese! Announcing Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ Photo Mode
Ember Lab shares details on the previously unannounced Photo Mode feature.
blog.playstation.com
ToTTenTranz
Banned
IMO reviewers/reviews that test games below their minimum specs are automatically invalidated to me. Who does game reviews in 2021 using a PC with 8GB RAM, other than the niche-oriented low-spec reviewers that already take their limitations under consideration?
I did read Eurogamer's piece though, and I found it to be really pretentious. It's a game that does really well what it proposes to do, yet the reviewer keeps complaining that it didn't reinvent the wheel.
FranXico
Member
Eurogamer is indeed a pretentious website, but that's not all. They also have a track record of scoring games depending on platform.
Bulletbrain
Member
^ re: PC GAMER: I believe the reviewers misgivings did not involve performance. He did mention the performance a bit, but he seemed generally happy with it despite some framedrops in the later part of game. His complaints was about the gameplay. So, his system being slightly below spec shouldn't have any relevance. If he trashed the game due to bad performance while playing on a below spec machine, things will be different.
EG: The most we can expect from reviewers is that they give a honest opinion. And it's quite clear what her misgivings are. She lays out his argument and comparison clearly. That's what's important don't you think. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the review is upto them.
Edit: Another recent review from the same EG reviewer was Biomutant, and surprise surprise, her views on that game was similar. "deeply conventional open world game". So she is consistent in her views. Anyone who played Biomutant and felt it lacked in the gameplay department would find her review on Kena to offer valuable insight.
EG: The most we can expect from reviewers is that they give a honest opinion. And it's quite clear what her misgivings are. She lays out his argument and comparison clearly. That's what's important don't you think. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the review is upto them.
Edit: Another recent review from the same EG reviewer was Biomutant, and surprise surprise, her views on that game was similar. "deeply conventional open world game". So she is consistent in her views. Anyone who played Biomutant and felt it lacked in the gameplay department would find her review on Kena to offer valuable insight.
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Kokoro2020
Member
I forgot this was coming out this month. I've been wanting to check it out.
Klayzer
Member
And can seemingly troll every Playstation thread without fear.
azertydu91
Hard to Kill
And you guys forgot the best part .... That anti semitic post that got him banned
ToTTenTranz
Banned
I usually like the reviews made by their in-house team and I don't find those to be pretentious, but this one seems to be some external contributor to whom they sent their reviewer key as they thought it would be an unimportant game, similar to what PCGamer did.
The reviewer keeps pounding on it because it's not reinventing the wheel or ending hunger and war in real life. At the end they even go into some vague accusations of cultural appropriation, as if the previous accusations of similar nature on Ghost of Tsushima hadn't fallen flat onto reviewers' faces.
I think this couple of sentences is a good summary of the review:
How dare they put elements that people like into a videogame that they want people to like!
yurinka
Member
I don't know if they grew, but according to wikipedia they are 14 people.
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nowhat
Member
Yeah L1, you just have to time it right.
yurinka
Member
Quote from some reviewer: "Best in class
kyliethicc
avatar-like visuals"
kyliethicc
avatar-like visuals"
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Kenneth Haight
Gold Member
Watched a few reviews and this confirms to me that this is a fantastic debut from Ember Lab.
I am going to have to support this and buy at full price, as it looks like a delight to play.
I am going to have to support this and buy at full price, as it looks like a delight to play.
ToTTenTranz
Banned
We never really know the true extent of the dev team once subcontracts fall into the mix. Those 14 people certainly don't include voice actors and music composers, not to mention asset creators.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
It's good like that?
Is it similar and how so?
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Wow. We've had a good run here of great titles. And we still have Diable 2 coming out in a few days!
Bernd Lauert
Banned
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
FranXico
Member
Your reasoning provides a better explanation than mine indeed.
Dusktildawn48
Member
Okay, what's up with the max camera setting? It still takes a full 2 seconds to do a 360 with the camera.
thatJohann
Member
Great news to wake up to. I know what I’m playing today after work. Woot woot
nowhat
Member
Hah, I'm playing this instead of work.
Markio128
Member
As much as I am happy for the dev’s, it just means that another great game needs to be purchased. I wouldn’t mind, I’m still ploughing through Tales of Arise and Deathloop atm! I’m probably (though don’t quote me on this) going to pick it up closer to Xmas. It seems like the perfect Xmas snuggle game. Considering Sony has no games this fall, I’m up to my eyeballs in the bloody stuff haha.
Raekwon26
Member
They continue to shame themselves.Some of you on here love taking Ls don't you?
First Deathloop was gonna be bad for overmarketing.
Then Kena was gonna be bad for undermarketing.
Now it turns out that both were amazing games after all
And they aren't getting off the hook.
Where's the Kena marketing? Its out in 2 days.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits comes out in 2 days. I've seen no ads, no marketing at all. It didn't even get a spot in Sony's state of play last week. How did this game go from hype to nothing?
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Roman Empire
Member
This game was on my radar the moment it was revealed but I quite forgot about it because there was practically no press for it. I bet there are a few publishers already salivating on acquiring this indie studio.
Rocco Schiavone
Member
Marty-McFly
Banned
Good one.
If you're basing that off reviews Zelda BOTW is a 96% at Metacritic and widely considered one of the best games ever.
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HotPocket69
Banned
Strider Highwind
Banned
Played for 2 hours after the unlock, woke up and got another hour and a half in. This and Deathloop were two of my fave games from the showcase last summer and both are just what I was expecting, loving it
HotPocket69
Banned
Review: Kena: Bridge of Spirits is this year’s best Zelda 35th-anniversary gift
Studio's first-ever game is a 15-hour adventuring triumph, GOTY contender.
arstechnica.com
rickybooby87
Member
Pre-ordered this gem for my PixarStation5.
I am only about 2 hours in, and it's worth every penny. The atmosphere is really charming, downright magical in some aspects. Ember Labs brought the big guns out for their first foray into vidja game development.
I am only about 2 hours in, and it's worth every penny. The atmosphere is really charming, downright magical in some aspects. Ember Labs brought the big guns out for their first foray into vidja game development.
Doctor Hades
Member
Played about 45 minutes of this game on the PS5 (and briefly tried the PS4 version as well) and inital impressions are that it sure looks gorgeous, the tribal-influenced music is really excellent and adds a lot of atmosphere to the game. I'm playing in the 60 fps Performance mode and did notice a couple of framerate stutters. I also tried the 4K 30 fps Graphics mode but that just feels horrible after playing at 60 fps. The 4K/30 fps mode is only good for taking screenshots in my opinion and thankfully you can switch between both modes without having to restart the game (unlike Deathloop!). Incidentally, there's no mention of the Photo mode, which is accessed by pressing Up on the d-pad.
Not played enough to comment on the gameplay but what little I tried was fine. There's weak and strong attakcs on the R1 and R2 should buttons, you can dodge with circle and the game also has a lock-on system. It seems to play fine and the camera was generally good too at keeping everything in focus. Playing on Normal difficulty, I did manage to die once as respawning enemies attacked me while I was trying to use the Rots to clear an infected plant. I'm not saying that the game is hard, just that I wasn't paying proper attention to what I'd been told to do!
I also got a bit stuck at the first puzzle where you had to use the Rots to move a block to climb up into another area. I got distracted, looked away from the screen and missed the on-screen tutorial that explained the controls so it took me a few minutes to work out what the controls were (hold L2, points at where the block is to be moved to then press circle). Unfortunately, this game does not allow access to the tutorials from the Pause menu once they disappear - a silly oversight in my opinion and one I hoped will be fixed in a patch.
The only minor issue I have so far is that Kena herself is very quiet and doesn't comment on the surroundings as you explore. This in my opinion would help flesh her out as a character and give her more personality. It would also help explain the game world, what she is doing and what the various stones and shrines are that you encounter as you explore. This silent approach is a surprising oversight as the opening section has very little in the way of an introduction. There's no opening cinematic either, you get a screen of text that tells you about Spirit Guides then it just cuts straight to Kena in a cave. I thought there would be some kind of opening cinematic to set the scene?
Looking forward to playing this more later. This is exactly the kind of game that I enjoy and it does seem very promising from my brief play this morning.
Not played enough to comment on the gameplay but what little I tried was fine. There's weak and strong attakcs on the R1 and R2 should buttons, you can dodge with circle and the game also has a lock-on system. It seems to play fine and the camera was generally good too at keeping everything in focus. Playing on Normal difficulty, I did manage to die once as respawning enemies attacked me while I was trying to use the Rots to clear an infected plant. I'm not saying that the game is hard, just that I wasn't paying proper attention to what I'd been told to do!
I also got a bit stuck at the first puzzle where you had to use the Rots to move a block to climb up into another area. I got distracted, looked away from the screen and missed the on-screen tutorial that explained the controls so it took me a few minutes to work out what the controls were (hold L2, points at where the block is to be moved to then press circle). Unfortunately, this game does not allow access to the tutorials from the Pause menu once they disappear - a silly oversight in my opinion and one I hoped will be fixed in a patch.
The only minor issue I have so far is that Kena herself is very quiet and doesn't comment on the surroundings as you explore. This in my opinion would help flesh her out as a character and give her more personality. It would also help explain the game world, what she is doing and what the various stones and shrines are that you encounter as you explore. This silent approach is a surprising oversight as the opening section has very little in the way of an introduction. There's no opening cinematic either, you get a screen of text that tells you about Spirit Guides then it just cuts straight to Kena in a cave. I thought there would be some kind of opening cinematic to set the scene?
Looking forward to playing this more later. This is exactly the kind of game that I enjoy and it does seem very promising from my brief play this morning.
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Doctor Hades
Member
Reminds me a lot of Horizon Zero Dawn which also had laughably bad jumping animation. Erm, in my opinion!
Dusktildawn48
Member
No one else cares that the max camera sensitivity is stupidly low?
HotPocket69
Banned
Lunarorbit
Member
This looks pretty good. Like the art design and feel. I'm just getting burnt out by 3rd person action/adventure games. I started playing control and am halfway thru;I really like it but it starts to get repetitive.
I was waiting to finish that before I played Returnal. I had Returnal borrowed from the library for 2 months and never even tried it. I might just need a break from games for a bit.
I was waiting to finish that before I played Returnal. I had Returnal borrowed from the library for 2 months and never even tried it. I might just need a break from games for a bit.
Ogbert
Member
You’re trying way too hard.
HotPocket69
Banned
Settle down Sogbert