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Kena: Bridge of Spirits - Information Thread, update: Steam release and Anniversary Update announced for September 27

Commissar SFLUFAN

By Commissar SFLUFAN
in The Spawn Point

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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8 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

GOTY contender? I mean in a year where I got Psychonauts 2, Deathloop and Tales of Arise, each being far, far better than I was expecting, that's setting some high expectations. And that's only from like the last month.

 

Yeah, I don't see anything in this game to elevate it to GOTY contender. It will have to do something really special over the next dozen or hours.

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JPDunks4

JPDunks4

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I started this tonight after finishing up Psychonauts.  So far I'm enjoying it.  It sells itself with its visuals and charm.  It's a pretty game, and has an adorable art style.  It's definitely far up there for an indie game in terms of visuals.  

 

Gameplay wise its okay.  Combat is comically easy so far, but I'm still early in.  The stuff with the Rot is a little too hand holdish so far as well.  I am only an hour or so into it though so still probably in the tutorial type phase of the game.  Hoping the difficulty and puzzles ramp up though.

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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8 hours ago, stepee said:

Played up through the title screen drop, this is going to be my non switch game for the moment now. I am totally down for a whole bunch of ps2 style $40 12 hour games that look like this. Digging the style, and yeah it’s just gorgeous, dense af on pc.

 

Talking to a friend about how could a game being a PS2 era action adventure be a negative when we realized we're old fucks because the PS2 came out over two decades ago. A lot of gamers and reviewers in their twenties had the PS3 as their first console in like kindergarten or first grade. You know, just in case anyone else wanted to tell old today.

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JPDunks4

JPDunks4

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3 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

This game is way harder than I had expected. I'm not really talking about the puzzles or platforming or anything like that. The boss battles really are no joke.

 

How far into it would you say you are.  Difficulty has perked up a bit, mainly due to number of enemies it can throw at you, which is nice.  Camera feels a tad too zoomed in at times during combat which makes knowing when to dodge difficult.   I can't even remember if there is a visual warning at all anywhere.

 

I still find it rather easy overall so far from a combat perspective.

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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11 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

How far into it would you say you are.  Difficulty has perked up a bit, mainly due to number of enemies it can throw at you, which is nice.  Camera feels a tad too zoomed in at times during combat which makes knowing when to dodge difficult.   I can't even remember if there is a visual warning at all anywhere.

 

I still find it rather easy overall so far from a combat perspective.

 

Currently facing up against Corrupt Taro. I normally die a few times with each boss before I get a good read on their moves, but Taro is just so fast I'm having to rely on some audio cues to know when to dodge.

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JPDunks4

JPDunks4

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3 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Currently facing up against Corrupt Taro. I normally die a few times with each boss before I get a good read on their moves, but Taro is just so fast I'm having to rely on some audio cues to know when to dodge.

 

Just cleared that fight tonight.  I died to a few of the other bosses, mostly those that have lots of adds.  Managed to finish the fight you mention first try, thought it was fairly challenging at times. 

 

Fighting in this game mostly just comes down to timing parries, like many other of it's type.  If you can do that, most fights become really easy.

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JPDunks4

JPDunks4

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Finished this last night.  Took around 11ish hours total I think.

 

Played it on hard the entire way through and didn't have much of any issue with any of it, but the Final Boss was annoying enough that I turned it down just to finish the game.

 

I tried maybe 8 times on Hard, and due to the nature of the fight, just didn't feel it was worth it to keep trying.  Some 3rd person games I just can't stand due to the camera being a bit too zoomed in, and being unable to see your surroundings well enough.  The final boss fight had enough issues that just felt cheap enough that I turned it down to Normal, and beat it pretty easily 1st try.  The jump in difficulty from Normal to Hard is pretty stark.  

 

Overall I did really enjoy the game.  I do think it starts to wear itself thin a bit by the end, and I was wanting it to be over.  It does everything it does pretty well, but also doesn't really do anything so well that it had me wanting it to continue.  There was a lot more combat than I initially wouldve thought going into the game, as I was anticipating more a Pikmin puzzle type game.


Either way, it'd probably be a solid 7.5ish for me.  The visuals and art style are definitely the stands outs.  Combat is decent and the difficultly of the game overall was actually pretty good as it did ramp up quite a bit as the game progresses.  Very solid outing from Ember Labs for their first game.  Definitely a studio to keep an eye on.

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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8 hours ago, JPDunks4 said:

Finished this last night.  Took around 11ish hours total I think.

 

Played it on hard the entire way through and didn't have much of any issue with any of it, but the Final Boss was annoying enough that I turned it down just to finish the game.

 

I tried maybe 8 times on Hard, and due to the nature of the fight, just didn't feel it was worth it to keep trying.  Some 3rd person games I just can't stand due to the camera being a bit too zoomed in, and being unable to see your surroundings well enough.  The final boss fight had enough issues that just felt cheap enough that I turned it down to Normal, and beat it pretty easily 1st try.  The jump in difficulty from Normal to Hard is pretty stark.  

 

Overall I did really enjoy the game.  I do think it starts to wear itself thin a bit by the end, and I was wanting it to be over.  It does everything it does pretty well, but also doesn't really do anything so well that it had me wanting it to continue.  There was a lot more combat that I initially wouldve thought going into the game, as I was anticipating more a Pikmin puzzle type game.


Either way, it'd probably be a solid 7.5ish for me.  The visuals and art style are definitely the stands outs.  Combat is decent and the difficultly of the game overall was actually pretty good as it did ramp up quite a bit as the game progresses.  Very solid outing from Ember Labs for their first game.  Definitely a studio to keep an eye on.

This is where I am. Good fun. I enjoyed playing it. It needs some refinement, especially in the animation department, and the weird sliding physics when you jump on something you shouldn't. It's cute and fun, but not especially amazing in any way. 

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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Finally beat this. I quite enjoyed myself. This is not, in any crazy world, a game of the year contender. I don't really feel like it overstayed it's welcome, though I probably would have felt that way if I had gone for 100% with the game.

 

What it does do it does really well. It's very much a well conceived first outing. You can tell they put a lot of time into thinking this one through. Everything fits really well and nothing really feels out of place. Rather than cutting corners, it feels like they just kept their expectations in check and were realistic about what they could and couldn't do with a small team and a lot of outsourcing.

 

I'm a fan. I'm looking forward to what Ember Lab does next.

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  • 2 weeks later...
stepee

stepee

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just wanna bitch about this puzzle which is a spoiler i guess for very close to the end of the game 

 

in toshi’s love to create a realm door you have to hit four crystals in a certain order, also while standing on the correct one of the four platforms marked with an arrow. Then to find out which one you hit while on the platform, the stars that are near the crystal will change to show you the order from the left you hit the crystal. I didn’t pay attention to the stars it was obtuse as fuck for a main story puzzle. Fuck that puzzle.


 

This game is so breathtaking though, my goodness. Highly recommend editing engine.ini to remove some shitty post process and clean the iq, it looks even more stunning: 

 

 

I didn’t like the AA suggestion so so just turned that to 6 but man is this a painting.

 

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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2 hours ago, stepee said:

just wanna bitch about this puzzle which is a spoiler i guess for very close to the end of the game 

 

 

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in toshi’s love to create a realm door you have to hit four crystals in a certain order, also while standing on the correct one of the four platforms marked with an arrow. Then to find out which one you hit while on the platform, the stars that are near the crystal will change to show you the order from the left you hit the crystal. I didn’t pay attention to the stars it was obtuse as fuck for a main story puzzle. Fuck that puzzle.


 

This game is so breathtaking though, my goodness. Highly recommend editing engine.ini to remove some shitty post process and clean the iq, it looks even more stunning: 

 

 

I didn’t like the AA suggestion so so just turned that to 6 but man is this a painting.

 

 

That puzzle threw me for a loop as well. Took me a good few minutes before I figured it out.

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stepee

stepee

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3 hours ago, best3444 said:

Jesus. I forgot about this game. I plan on playing this, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, and I want to replay TLOU2. I'm currently playing FC6 which I anticipate will last me another 20 hours. 

 

Yeah tons of great stuff to play right now, I haven’t even started Psychonauts 2 and that could be a goty fit me for all I know, barely touched Deathloop!

 

I did beat this game though last night. I liked it more as it went on, about half way through is when I really got into it (besides the graphics which are amazing the entire journey), the story kind of takes forever to build and even then mostly just exists in a couple 3 minute cut scenes at the end of certain sections. And it takes too long to get some upgrades that make the gameplay come into its own a bit. 

 

But at its worst it’s still a charming ps2 era platformer that happens to be one of the most stunning looking things out there. But it gets pretty creative and juggling enemies with the bow/staff gameplay becomes really solid for this type of game by the time you get the sticky bombs. I love slow motion double jumping with a fully charged arrow to the enemy’s face.

 

At first I laughed at some people saying goty potential in the reviews, but while this would not be my pick, I could at least see it by the end.

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  • 10 months later...
Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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IGN can exclusively reveal that the game will receive a free Anniversary Update on September 27, which includes New Game+, Charmstones, Spirit Guide Trials, Kena Outfits, accessibility features. On the same day, the game will get a Steam release, having previously been an Epic Games Store PC exclusive.

  • "New Game+, which will allow players who've completed the game to restart Kena's journey with all of their previously unlocked abilities, upgrades, outfits, Rot, etc and take on redesigned and more challenging combat encounters."
  • "Charmstones that are individually equipable - these unique collectibles each provide different adjustments to Kena's stats and abilities."
  • "New game mode called the Spirit Guide Trials, challenging players' skills with a variety of replayable challenges across three different categories; Obstacle Courses, Wave Defenses, and Boss Reflects."
  • "Completing the Spirit Guide Trials unlock outfits for Kena, each one inspired by one of the characters she meets along her journey. Succeeding at bonus objectives within each trial can unlock color variations of each outfit, as well as some unique Charmstones."
  • "An exclusive new outfit for Deluxe Edition owners."

 

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    • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Kena: Bridge of Spirits - Information Thread, update: Steam release and Anniversary Update announced for September 27
    • 11 months later...
    stepee

    stepee

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    Michael-and-Josh-Grier.jpg?width=1200&he

    From commercial animation to indie game debut success: The story of Ember Lab

    WWW.GAMESINDUSTRY.BIZ
    Ember Lab has been around since 2009, starting out as a company specialising in commercial animation and digital conten…


    Random bump, but very cool how successful this was. I would give anything for there to be a big market of these AA kind of smaller scale but highly polished releases, especially in genres ignored by the major publishers.

     

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