4/5 ★ – FoofDeckman's review of Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

[SPOILER FREE] When I heard that this game was made by an animation house, I asked the question "oh, well I wonder what that'll look like?" The answer being that it'll look like one of the best games I've ever played. To say this game is beautiful is a genuine understatement. People are heavily sleeping on this game and that is truly criminal. This is one of the few games where I've had that feeling of the "Every Frame is a Painting" concept fleshed out to the maximum. Every horizon, village, cavern, forest and corrupted zones are so visually beautiful, yet distinct from each other that it is genuinely impressive. I feel like the people who believe corporate lingo such as "TRUE NEXT GEN" aren't the brightest of the bunch, as for a while nothing that was marketed as that didn't really seem like anything that couldn't be on the previous generation. It just seemed like this false promise that eventually something truly breathtaking will come along and prove a point, and this is that game. BUT NOBODY IS PLAYING IT!?!? Not only is this game absolutely gorgeous to look at, but the gameplay is stunning as well. The combat is surprisingly difficult for a game of this nature, which is seemingly market towards a younger audience. I had a hard time beating this on normal, especially during some of the major difficulty spikes found throughout the game. The thing about difficulty in this game is that it always feels like my fault when I lose, I don't blame the game and the fact that In my head I know I can beat the upcoming boss pushes you through this game. While the combat loop might seem like it would get boring after a while, you throw in combos and special abilities that you can unlock through just generally progressing through the game. All of this leads to a really fun combat system, outside of the difficulty spikes that is. Now I know I mentioned that the difficulty didn't hurt the game for me, and that's mostly true. The game just has these really inconsistent spikes of difficulties when it comes to fighting certain enemies. At times this game will be a cake walk, while others you're struggling to even get something to half health. Usually games have a gradual curve of making you stronger, while also making the enemies smarter and stronger. It's meant to be challenging, but the constant back and forth of dying, respawning, dying can sometimes come out of nowhere. I truly wish this game had a bit more consistency when it came to it's arena difficulties. This game is extremely fun, and definitely one of the best looking games I've ever played. This is one of the few games I'd go back to just to use it's photo mode, it is just that good. I highly recommend checking this game out as I feel nobody has really talked about it, even when it was released. The fact that more people aren't saying anything about Kena is truly the worst crime of them all, check this game out.