Kena: Bridge Of Spirits demands attention for being a narrative-driven outlier that poeticizes the finer details of environmental storytelling. The PlayStation exclusive and debut from developer Ember Lab hits the canonical highs of the action-adventure genre—and, in a very Pixar way of doing things, binds clever puzzles and kinetic combat to the coziest swells of exploration. Instead of posing a debate on “fidelity versus mechanics,” Kena traces the growth of a young Balinese heroine, and as the studio tells WIRED, it uses her story to underline the importance of player-led discoveries in video games.
For the Orange, California–based animation studio, hitting that sweet spot means everything. The team—founded in 2009 by brothers Josh and Mike Grier—started small. They developed animated projects for Coca-Cola and Major League Baseball, designed convention displays for Hisense, and produced experimental shorts such as Dust and Majora’s Mask—Terrible Fate—two films that harmonized with Sony’s commitment to arming independent artists with a bigger canvas.
Courtesy of Ember Lab
Kena's story has an unsettling charm, conducting readers through the labyrinthine path of emotions as one might get lost in a dense forest—leaving us endearingly curious yet somewhat disoriented.
Kena successfully crafted an ambience that enthralls the reader into a state of liminality, akin to wandering aimlessly within vast forests—a sublime journey lost in thoughts and sensations.
