Kena: Bridge of Spirits tells the story of a young girl who teams up with the Rot to defeat the corruption causing chaos within a small abandoned village. In an interview with GamesRadar, Ember Lab’s co-founders Josh and Mike Grier explained how the Rot’s different abilities can be combined with those of Kena to defeat the enemies in uinque ways.
Kena is a young spirit guide who comes across the abandoned village while searching for a sacred place of knowledge. The corruption has spread throughout and is preventing spirits from moving on to the next life. While trapped, they’re causing complete chaos. Together with “tiny spirit companions” called the Rot, she needs to destroy the corruption to allow the spirits to move on, but they’ve taken on the form of “dangerous, animal-like enemies” that will be the game’s boss battles:
Kena can infuse any of her abilities with Rot to defeat enemies in unique ways. The Rot can swarm attackers, create piercing projectiles, and even form a shape-shifting cloud to pummel enemies. Finding and growing a larger Rot team enables more powerful attacks and unlocks additional upgrades. Working with the Rot, players will discover enemy weaknesses. Additionally, healing in combat is tied to using the Rot. Players will have to find a balance between delivering a strong blow or taking the opportunity to heal.
There will be over 100 different Rot to collect, which can be customised with cosmetics found along the way. One thing the PS5 will be able to do with its extra power is to “be able to show each of those little guys on the screen all at the same time“. Kena can also upgrade her skills and equipment. The DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers will also add another layer to the combat, giving players a feel of how her weapons will handle.
After an initial delay, Kena: Bridge of Spirits will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC on August 24. Those who purchase the game on PlayStation 4 will get a free upgrade to the PS5 version. The game will not be as much as a $60 “traditional full-priced retail game“, instead releasing at $39.99 for the standard edition and $49.99 for the Digital Deluxe Edition.
[Source: GamesRadar]
