One of the best factor we are able to say about Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is that it’s an honest gateway sport into the Metroidvania style. The Change is so chock filled with unbelievable titles at this level that it may well usually be tough to know the place to start out (we will help with that too, by the way in which), however Kenzera supplies a comparatively breezy 6-7-hour expertise that ought to provide you with a sign as as to whether or to not dip your toes in a bit additional. For style veterans, nevertheless, whereas the gameplay is definitely ok to see you thru to the top, there’s little right here that hasn’t already been performed elsewhere… and higher, too.
What elevates the sport, nevertheless, is its setting and story. In case you’ve been following Tales of Kenzera’s growth in any respect, you’ll know that a substantial amount of the plot takes inspiration from Sugent Studio’s artistic lead, Abubakar Salim, and his private expertise coping with parental loss. By the way, Salim (a stage and display screen actor and the voice of Bayek in Murderer’s Creed Origins) additionally supplies the voice for protagonist Zau, and we have now to commend the voiceover work as a complete; it’s brilliantly performed all through and helps the plot resonate much more than if we have been merely studying strains of dialogue.
Zau himself is on a journey to revive his deceased father by capturing the spirits of three monsters and providing them to Kalunga, the God of Loss of life. Kalunga accompanies Zau in his quest and supplies recommendation each sensible and philosophical, and we have now to confess that we relished each second that the sagely spectre confirmed up. General, Kenzera’s story is a touching, heartfelt story elevated by the performances of the voice actors, and have been it not for this, we concern the sport would have slipped from our reminiscence nearly instantly.
Now, we should always stress that Kenzera’s gameplay is strong. Motion feels fluid, you’ve acquired a splash skill that’s nearly all the time satisfying to drag off, and the fight, whereas definitely not deep or difficult, feels impactful and enjoyable. The problem we have now is which you can actually inform that that is the studio’s first crack at a Metroidvania sport; there’s little or no problem concerned, exploration is saved at an absolute minimal, and the unlockable skills don’t add a substantial amount of selection or depth.
The largest disappointment for us comes with that lack of exploration. The perfect Metroidvanias boast stunning, interconnected worlds stuffed with secrets and techniques that make you need to go off the crushed observe, and though Kenzera’s world is definitely stunning, the branching paths quantity to little greater than linear corridors that result in a particular purpose. When you’ve collected the required merchandise or crushed the boss, you need to backtrack by means of the identical corridors till you attain what we’d describe as a mini hub space. It’s solely right here which you can then unlock a brand new door or attain a brand new space to progress additional.
Fight encounters are sprinkled all through the expertise. You’ll come throughout a number of enemies on the fly as you make your means by means of the sport, however most fight segments are restricted to particular areas wherein the exits are blocked off; sort of like Bayonetta or Satan Could Cry.
You’ve acquired the choice to take out your foes with melee assaults and long-range projectiles, and you may toggle between these with a faucet of ‘L’, swapping out Zau’s solar and moon masks and thus altering his look and moveset. Some enemies are colour-coded to point their strengths and weaknesses, so the sport does a great job of making certain you’re not simply sticking to 1 methodology of assault. Nicely, in principle not less than.
Sadly, each enemy selection and the arenas the place you battle them are restricted. We just like the fight, however when the twentieth encounter feels precisely the identical as the first, it will get awfully repetitive. You’ll be able to attempt to combine up your technique as a lot as you want, however when the sport throws the identical enemies at you in the identical patterns over and over, it’s onerous to not simply utilise the identical offensive ways each single time.
Fortunately, there are talent bushes tied to every masks, so you may increase each your melee and long-range skills independently. So for instance, you may unlock a transfer wherein you soar up and slam down into the bottom to deal injury, or you may add an additional hit to your primary assault combo. Unlocking every new skill feels welcome, however it doesn’t add an excellent deal or depth or selection to the general fight gameplay. Truthfully, we sort of want it have been all simply accessible proper from the beginning.
By way of its total aesthetic, Kenzera is a vibrant journey that’s most likely finest described as a cross between Ori and the Blind Forest and Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown. The map display screen particularly seems prefer it was swiped straight from an Ori sport, and to be clear, that’s actually no dangerous factor. Sadly, like many multiplatform video games nowadays, Kenzera does endure from muddy visuals and stuttering body charges on the Change (although that is reportedly underneath investigation). It’s admittedly not as dangerous as we’d initially feared, however that is positively a type of instances the place you probably have beefier {hardware} accessible, then we’d suggest enjoying it elsewhere.
Conclusion
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is an honest sport, however it sits within the shadow of a lot better Metroidvanias on the Change. We love the setting and storyline, however as Surgent Studios’ first stab at what has confirmed to be a wildly common style over time, it struggles to set itself aside with fairly bland exploration and repetitive fight. Coupled with compromised visuals and efficiency on Change, veterans of the style could need to give this one a miss. For newcomers, nevertheless, the breezy gameplay may make for a pleasant introduction to Metroidvanias.
