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Kena: Bridge of Spirits (21st September 2021)


Julius

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From Ember Lab comes a story-driven action adventure with a stunning visual aesthetic combining exploration with fast-paced combat. Players find and grow a team of charming spirit companions called the Rot, enhancing their abilities and creating new ways to manipulate the environment. Kena: Bridge of Spirits seamlessly blends action and narrative into an unforgettable experience. Travel with Kena, a young Spirit Guide on a quest to uncover the mysterious story surrounding the demise of the village.

Honestly looks pretty cosy and one of the games from the PS5 event I'm most interested to see more of.

Coming to both PS4 and PS5. 

Edited by Julius
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Kena is going to be Game Informer's next cover story, with a 14-page spread to boot! 

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Kena: Bridge of Spirits was one of the standout trailers shown during Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event, introducing players to a beautiful world and a host of cute helpers known as the Rot. We're excited to announce that Ember Lab's lush adventure game is our next cover story. In the next issue of Game Informer magazine, we take a closer look at the game and its fascinating development.

How did a studio with roots in commercial animation move over to the world of video games? How did the team land on the idea of a young adventurer on a mission of healing and reconciliation? What the heck are the Rot? And how did an up and coming studio not only get their hands on PlayStation 5 development tools but also land a highly coveted slot in the console's first major announcement event? 

We explore those questions and many more in our 14-page cover story, which will be hitting next week. Sorry to keep you waiting, but we were too excited about this one to stay completely quiet. 

Really looking forward to hearing and seeing more about this game! 

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Yeah, that totally sucks, but understandable. Sucks even more so perhaps because they were literally just Game Informer's cover story, and I'm sure that might have helped get more eyes on the game too with a prospective Holiday 2020 release. 

Fingers crossed they don't end up with a weird release date where they butt heads with a bigger game in Q1, but regardless, still can't wait to play the game when it does make its way out. 

Hopefully this is only a small bump in the road, and the rest of development is smooth from here on in :peace:

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It's getting to the point where you can't trust any initial release date anymore, from most studios. 

Anyway, looks amazing. Actually I don't understand how it can look that good tbh, even on new gen hardware. :o

I'd love to know what to expect from this, are we talking a 5-6 hour adventure or is it something more substantial. I'm fine either way would just like to know so I can manage expectations because they're sky high atm. Feels Zelda-like which is obviously ok by me!

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Just checked the PS Store and prr-orders are up, which means we now know the cost of this thing! 

Standard Edition will be £32.99 / €39.99 / $39.99 USD and the Digital Deluxe Edition will be £39.99 / €49.99 / $49.99 USD. 

Pre-order bonus: 

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Digital Deluxe Edition bonuses: 

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The Golden Rot skin is adorable...until you start wondering if that's what Minions look like without the goggles and overalls. 

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Delayed until September 21st. 

Makes sense that we didn't see anything from it during the most recent State of Play with that in mind, as I thought it was a lock for that presentation considering it was due for release at the end of next month before.

Still looking forward to it, but I do hope this is the last delay we see for it, otherwise I think we'll have a good reason to start sweating. Fingers crossed! 

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6 hours ago, Ronnie said:

The norm in the industry now, it's more of a surprise if a game doesn't get a delay letter posted on Twitter.

While I always think it's best to let a game cook as long as necessary and not rush it out - and in Kena's case it is Ember Labs' first game, so I'd probably be a bit more understanding in this instance than if it were another more experienced team - I think any delay just some four weeks out is good reason for a bit of justified concern, especially considering it was supposed to come out earlier this year initially, so this is the second time we've seen such a letter from them.

Obviously it's been impacted by COVID, as countless other games have, but even at the time the game was first announced we were in the thick of it, so it was always going to be the case that it would be a factor. Again, it's their first game so I think it's a bit easier to understand them not quite getting things right in terms of their development timeline, especially with everything going on, but I can't help but wonder why a game like this has been delayed twice publicly now, when other indie games shown for the first time at the same event don't even have a release window yet. Maybe they were just riding the high of the reactions and wanted to capitalise on that, but for me, I always think it's best to be vague until you're more than confident of hitting a date. 

Guess we'll have to wait and see, but I think it'll be a bit of a red flag for nothing more than their management if we see it delayed again. 

6 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Expecting Horizon Forbidden West's any day now...

Horizon is such a weird one, because considering the size of the team and the project, it's funny that we've never had anything more than a vague "we're aiming for Holiday 2021" from them, and heck, we first heard about them aiming for this year in a post-State of Play interview with the director. As far as I can recall, they've never put that release window as a screen in their trailers or State of Play either, so that potential delay letter is going to be a bit weird for some who haven't been following the game - "wait, this was supposed to be coming out this year?!

Honestly, I respect them for being open like that since the start and making the conscious decision to not stick a release window in when first announcing the game, especially given the size of the event (ahem, God of War). Everyone knows what's going on in the world, not to mention that game development already has more than enough hurdles to overcome before you account for COVID. And let's be honest, there's potentially some goodwill from the higher-ups, because having a success under your belt is always huge, and to be frank, it probably doesn't hurt that their former managing director is now the head of Worldwide Studios either. 

Not a delay I want to see but I do agree that a delay for Forbidden West does seem inevitable, so I'm curious to see what, if anything, they'd have up their sleeves to replace it in their slate, though it's probably just leaning on third parties in the holiday season. I think that's where the big difference for me is between PlayStation and Nintendo for example, I can always expect Nintendo to make good if a game gets delayed as something else might be announced as a surprise and take up its place or something could get bumped up, whereas PlayStation - especially since the launch of the PS5 and probably due to COVID - seem to have played most of their cards already. 

Either way, not like I still haven't got plenty of other games to play, so it's always hard to complain! 

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