You collect a lot of hats in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Kena assumes the role of Spirit Guide, adventurer, and friend of furry little spirits known as the rot. Kena will adventure through a vast forest and many mountain shrines to uncover the secrets behind her forgotten village.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits story is mysterious but, quite intriguing. While you don't meet many characters along the way, Kena herself is a very joyful character. I wish they could have given her more back story and more character development. The character interactions between Kena and some of the other spirits are a joy to see.

Visually Kena: Bridge of Spirits hits all the right notes. Developer Ember Labs have done a fantastic job at making the characters come to life. The animation is top-notch and looks as it came right out of Disney or Pixar film. The world felt alive and lived in, long abandoned or overrun in other times with open environments seem stitched together funneling you in a specific direction while encouraging you to see and do everything you can. With the press of a button, Kena will send pulses through the environment that can target different points of interest and unlock hidden doors leading to chests full of collectibles.

Kena's spiritual companions, the Rot are a fun mechanic to the game. Similar to the game Pikmin, Kena can guide these furry little creatures to carry objects such as a pillar to create a higher platform or perhaps aid in opening a door blocking the way. The Rot can even aid Kena in battle, attaching to enemies and immobilizing them temporarily setting them up for some nice combo attacks.

I enjoyed how Kena: Bridge of Spirits subtly focuses on many different mechanics. Kena starts with an ordinary staff and a basic multi-hit combo. The combat is fast-paced enough and doesn't get overly complicated. As you progress further and collect more Rot this allows the player to unlock more abilities for Kena via a skill tree. Air and dash attacks are a great addition to your arsenal of attacks, and combat becomes even deeper once you unlock the bow giving you access to ranged attacks.

As a bonus, the PlayStation 5 version of the game features haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which will add tension to the right and while performing a charge attack with Kena's Staff or Bow. Lastly, Kena gets access to blue orb-like bombs that explode after a short while and can even attach to enemies. The bombs will even function as a tool to help Kena progress in her journey during specific puzzle sequences.

I think the biggest issue with Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the exploration. I didn't enjoy the moments where I would occasionally get lost. I felt like I was running around in circles. I wish there were an easier way to find collectibles than blindly exploring the map with no direction. It would have been nice to see a feature where you could mark stuff on the map like in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

On top of that, there were a few moments where I encountered visual a few visual glitches. Occasionally I would fail to jump to a platform that I barely made though my character would still slide off the platform without grabbing the ledge. However, this did not ruin my enjoyment of the game.

One thing I did appreciate, was the PlayStation help cards, which would help the player solve many of the game's puzzles. Kena Bridge of Spirits has more than 200 game help videos, which are a nice touch for those who do not wish to look hints up on a computer. However, the game's puzzles were pretty straightforward, that I did not need to use the feature often.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a heartwarming and fun-filled action-adventure game. There's a very healthy amount of content you can do once you finish the campaign and plenty of photos to take and hats to collect. Overall I am extremely happy with what Ember Lab has crafted, and I am super excited to see what their next project will entail. I can't wait to jump back in and collect more rot hats and take more wacky photos.

SCORE: 8.0

Review Copy Courtesy of Ember Lab