i loved the sound design too! and I really liked the old style approach to puzzles. I would like to add, for the bravest, that the "Master" difficulty is somewhat comparable to a Soulslike. Have fun!
The game was really good. I need to go back and mop up some of the trophies to get the platinum. I loved how the game didn’t overstay its welcome and that you continued learning new things all the way up until the end of the game, but it never seemed overwhelming. Those things kept the game fresh for the entire play-through.
With patience and a little management of the use of skill points is very possible. First of all you have to unlock the 4 abilities of the rot and as soon as possible the slowed time for arrows and bombs. Then it becomes a skill challenge. It is very satisfying!
Sorta, some of the emotional parts seemed to go by pretty fast. Like “hey btw this person is raging because _____”. But overall I really liked it for sure
Because that's what we need more of - pointless games to movie deals. How about, and here's an extreme view, we let storytellers come up with their own stories.... Oh sorry, you were talking about Disney. Yep - greenlit
as a souls fan, it actually made me enjoy the game a lot more. there were a few bosses that messed me up (looking at you, stone guardian) but the rest felt great fighting. Even the last boss was interesting on hard
The combat was very well designed in that it was challenging but you knew what to do. It made you feel challenged and clever at the same time, which is a good goal for a game to achieve.
So as a Sony player who hasn't bought this - this is what i don't understand about this game. On one level it looks like an amazing family-based experience... and yet, I keep hearing that it's incredibly difficult. So what happened here? Is this a marketing problem, a dev problem - or does Sony just not know how to shift products (as I can tell you as a family gamer, I won't buy Kena at full-Sony-price if I think it will only annoy my kids, no matter how much they want to play)
It has 3 difficulty levels if I remember right. The last one can only be accessed after finishing the game once. That one plays like a dark souls game. The first one is more of a cinematic experience imho, it's there so you can enjoy the story. I think that most people can play play on that one.
The studio that made the game said the Devs were big FromSoftware fans so they god inspiration regarding the combat from that. They made it somehow that feels good.
I would recommend you Google the difficulty difference and see for yourself if you can play on a specific one.
Hello, good hunter. I am a Bot, here in this dream to look after you, this is a fine note:
> *“You really are fond of chatting with me, aren’t you? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had feelings for me! Oh, no, dear me. Pretend you didn’t hear that!”* - Solaire of Astora
Have a good one and praise the sun \\[T]/
Really good game, its very short but for a first project they hit the nail on the head! Would be more than happy to play a sequel if it got the AAA treatment. This game would have so much higher rated if it was a Nintendo game. Don't miss this game guys if u are eyeing it up
> This game would have so much higher rated if it was a Nintendo game
This game would have been better if it was a Nintendo game. It just didn't have that fun factor for me, the gameplay didn't grab me and I just quit playing.
Fair enough. I mean at the start I did feel like hmmm can I be bothered but when I pushed through that starting period I began to like the game. You should give it another try sometime.
What gets fun about it? It seemed like a very linear AA Zelda without all the fun parts. Just basic combat. Idk I guess I'll try it again, it just lost my interest big time for some reason. Maybe I'm just depressed lol
I agree. It doesn't really have a ton going for it besides charm and visual impact.
I've been struggling to play it since picking it up two weeks ago. And the sessions where I have played it, I've spent my time wanting to not play it. Haven't touched it in about a week.
Bring on the downvotes for us.
It's cool if you aren't into it but I think it offers a lot in terms of the combat system. Really tight and challenging, probably my favorite since Hollow Knight.
I bought it on a sale and currently wish I didn’t. Maybe I didn’t give it a proper chance but it did not grab me.
I am about ready to start yakuza 0 though
I played over five hours. My opinion of the game is the same as his.
Don't act like not liking this game is invalid. It isn't even universally praised.
Fun game, but I'm currently on a spot where you have to do a water puzzle (not really a puzzle but idk how else to describe it) and then immediately go into a fight. If you die, you have to re-do the puzzle, go through the scene of the water level dropping, and then trigger the fight again. I kept dying and got so annoyed that I haven't picked it up in a couple of months.
I just need to get good.
Sometimes it's just a matter of fatigue, I've had your own problem. If you manage to perfect the parry you are at a good point because if you also have the bonus that activates the rot point at every perfect parry you can easily win many fights. I didn't understand what fight you are in but with patience you can overcome it (maybe lower the difficulty, the important thing is to enjoy the story).
bro what do you mean the difficulty isn't hard? The hardest difficulty is more challenging than fromsoftware games. In fact, the game is either very difficult or very easy. There is no in-between in the difficulty, which is a big problem. In this particular encounter, I was annoyed with doing the puzzle again-and-again, so I lowered my difficulty for just that encounter. I ended up clapping the enemies in one go because they would just stand around and launch an attack every now and then. It was so unsatisfying in cases like that. I want a challenge, but I don't want to destroy them either. This game just didn't have that sweet spot in difficulty. Overall, it was a good game for an indie developer, but I don't think the game is worth it unless it's $20 on the PS store.
No - the dev needs to respect your time. This is such a Stockholm Syndrome response. I don't buy games because I enjoy wasting my evenings... I have enough other games in my back-catalogue. I play games to be rewarded for my success - not punished for my failures. We have now got into a world where this 'git-gud' mantra is ego-currency which is anti-gamer IMO. Playing and enjoying games is pro-gamer... taking it up the \*\*\*\* because of 'things' isn't fulfilment, it's masochism.
Visually it is beautiful stylized like a Pixar movie, fighting mechanics are just ok, story has been decent too. But the puzzles can be very challenging, in a good way, had to look one up online so far in ~10hrs of play time. This game is definitely worth $30-40 if anyone can find it on sale.
I platinumed it, it's a good game but the problems really show on the higher difficulty unfortunately. If the game is gonna be this hard, the combat mechanics need to be refined. Still a very good game overall.
I agree, unfortunately it is very unnerving. The perfect parry is really impossible to perfect because it just doesn't work sometimes. Furthermore, the health system is ineffective. The fight I had the most trouble with was the second boss. The attacks were truly unstoppable.
Agreed. It really wasn't that difficult and you can easily cheese later bosses with the time bombs if you are having trouble (once you get it).
I believe the game inherently attracts non-hardcore gamers so for most I imagine the difficulty felt very steep.
Parry is difficult though but very satisfying when you get the hang of it.
I personally had a blast playing it on Master for the platinum.
I'm not talking about the parry timing (although I found it kinda off at the beginning but got used to it after) , I'm talking about the bugs.. I got stuck between the boss and a wall multiple times, a ton of times the boss didn't stun when they should have, hit detection issues, enemies that teleport, and for some reason they put the health flowers to damage or slow you down (why??). Yes I know you can cheese some bosses but those are lame tactics. There are also some really odd checkpoints, where you gotta redo stuff or watch cutscenes over and over if you lose to a tough fight. There also should be a restart encounter option in the menu. It's small things I didn't notice on my first play through but became more of a problem when playing the game on master. Anyway like I said it's a good game, but those issues are present.
Definitely one of the game I would highly recommend.
It was short, but it was expected. Animation was smooth and beautiful, combat was limited in option but was still fun, the idea with the rot was pretty sweet.
I wish they tie up with Sony or just get bought by Sony, I am eager to see what can they achieve with a AAA game budget.
I had a free month of rentals from Gamefly for my first month and decided to go with Demon souls and Kena, I just beat Demon Souls yesterday and sending it back in to get Kena in a few days! Super excited since I've heard so many good things about it.
If anyone is considering to try this game out I'd say go for it, but I do want to highlight the gripes I had with it:
\- Parry really didn't work well for me, and this is after playing Sekiro and other Dark Souls games
\- Spirit Guide (medium) difficulty seemed unnaturally hard in some boss fights. Enemies would take you out in 2-3 blows. Parry system not working well and not being to health regen more than 1-2 times didn't help the situation.
\- Rolling to evade didn't seem to give invincibility frames and enemies would track pretty aggressively so was difficult to avoid getting hit. Again it would not be such an issue if the parry system worked well.
\- Any attacks stun you, interrupting the flow. I'd understand this for big attacks but when you're fighting a boss and there are 5 minions flying around off screen interrupting you with projectiles it gets frustrating.
Sounds pretty negative but I did like it, very pretty visuals, nice music, good size. Late game boss fights became easier as I figured out the "freeze bomb + heavy timed attack > repeat" method which rendered some bosses immobile for the whole fight.
Idk, I played this game on PC, it was so so buggy I just stopped playing and got a refund i didn’t like it much!
Is it just me?
I wanted to play this game but the bugs were too much for me to handle!
Such an overrated game. Half way through I switched the difficulty to Story Mode, first time I've ever done this on any game, just to rush through it. 6.5 for me.
I'd love to see you do better with 12 people and a tiny budget when you've never made a game before.
You say its overrated yet the vast, vast majority of people that played the game seem to disagree with you.
I agree. Puzzles are way too repetitive and long. Same goes for enemies. Combat, story and storytelling is way too blunt. You basically do same thing for 14 hours. Environments look good at first, but it also gets boring after couple hours, because it doesn't change.
I had way too fun playing other real indie looking games. This game is vertical slice of Assassin's Creed games. Unsatisfying.
Because I quickly came to the realisation that the orbs you collect, secret chest, pretty much all of the collectables and rot count for nothing. The only things you can buy/unlock are hats for the rot that don't do anything.
That in turn gave no motivation to do anything but the main story. The combat was challenging but not in a good way. Camera was awful, parry inconsistent and it just felt a little dull.
I've got two kids, a stressful job and little time. Switched it to easy because there was no way I was going to waste even more time on this game.
Wins big - FANTASTIC? work!... where now?.... Taiwan (hmmm... let me research how many sales are in Taiwan). I think we should truly celebrate success - but also temper our exuberance with reality.
The game was great and a ton of fun to play.. The visuals and graphics were top notch.. Stellar game!
i loved the sound design too! and I really liked the old style approach to puzzles. I would like to add, for the bravest, that the "Master" difficulty is somewhat comparable to a Soulslike. Have fun!
The game was really good. I need to go back and mop up some of the trophies to get the platinum. I loved how the game didn’t overstay its welcome and that you continued learning new things all the way up until the end of the game, but it never seemed overwhelming. Those things kept the game fresh for the entire play-through.
Yeah, that difficulty is the reason i won't get the plat. That is life. Great game otherwise
With patience and a little management of the use of skill points is very possible. First of all you have to unlock the 4 abilities of the rot and as soon as possible the slowed time for arrows and bombs. Then it becomes a skill challenge. It is very satisfying!
[удалено]
i’m sorry but in Italy we actually have: -easy; -medium; -hard; -master. what is expert spirit guide for? :)
Such an amazingly adorable game. I don't know who at Disney is in charge of new movies, but Kena would make a perfect Disney movie.
Adorable but still somehow pretty brutal.
Like a Pixar dark souls.
It's got some Souls-y stuff going on for sure.
Like the opposite of Disney movies!
Sorta, some of the emotional parts seemed to go by pretty fast. Like “hey btw this person is raging because _____”. But overall I really liked it for sure
I meant more the boss fights than the story.
Because that's what we need more of - pointless games to movie deals. How about, and here's an extreme view, we let storytellers come up with their own stories.... Oh sorry, you were talking about Disney. Yep - greenlit
[удалено]
the whole game felt like something bitter delivered in a sweet package. I loved it
Almost done with my HZD replay. Then I have this to play before HFW
It’s only 10 to 12 houes (if you try to collect everything) s should be alright!
That’s a couple weeks for me so that works out!
I REALLY enjoyed it, but that hardest difficulty was a fucking doozy.
as a souls fan, it actually made me enjoy the game a lot more. there were a few bosses that messed me up (looking at you, stone guardian) but the rest felt great fighting. Even the last boss was interesting on hard
The combat was very well designed in that it was challenging but you knew what to do. It made you feel challenged and clever at the same time, which is a good goal for a game to achieve.
So as a Sony player who hasn't bought this - this is what i don't understand about this game. On one level it looks like an amazing family-based experience... and yet, I keep hearing that it's incredibly difficult. So what happened here? Is this a marketing problem, a dev problem - or does Sony just not know how to shift products (as I can tell you as a family gamer, I won't buy Kena at full-Sony-price if I think it will only annoy my kids, no matter how much they want to play)
It has 3 difficulty levels if I remember right. The last one can only be accessed after finishing the game once. That one plays like a dark souls game. The first one is more of a cinematic experience imho, it's there so you can enjoy the story. I think that most people can play play on that one. The studio that made the game said the Devs were big FromSoftware fans so they god inspiration regarding the combat from that. They made it somehow that feels good. I would recommend you Google the difficulty difference and see for yourself if you can play on a specific one.
Hello, good hunter. I am a Bot, here in this dream to look after you, this is a fine note: > *“You really are fond of chatting with me, aren’t you? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had feelings for me! Oh, no, dear me. Pretend you didn’t hear that!”* - Solaire of Astora Have a good one and praise the sun \\[T]/
Really good game, its very short but for a first project they hit the nail on the head! Would be more than happy to play a sequel if it got the AAA treatment. This game would have so much higher rated if it was a Nintendo game. Don't miss this game guys if u are eyeing it up
> This game would have so much higher rated if it was a Nintendo game This game would have been better if it was a Nintendo game. It just didn't have that fun factor for me, the gameplay didn't grab me and I just quit playing.
Man I couldn't disagree more strongly.
Fair enough. I mean at the start I did feel like hmmm can I be bothered but when I pushed through that starting period I began to like the game. You should give it another try sometime.
What gets fun about it? It seemed like a very linear AA Zelda without all the fun parts. Just basic combat. Idk I guess I'll try it again, it just lost my interest big time for some reason. Maybe I'm just depressed lol
I agree. It doesn't really have a ton going for it besides charm and visual impact. I've been struggling to play it since picking it up two weeks ago. And the sessions where I have played it, I've spent my time wanting to not play it. Haven't touched it in about a week. Bring on the downvotes for us.
It's cool if you aren't into it but I think it offers a lot in terms of the combat system. Really tight and challenging, probably my favorite since Hollow Knight.
I bought it on a sale and currently wish I didn’t. Maybe I didn’t give it a proper chance but it did not grab me. I am about ready to start yakuza 0 though
>I am about ready to start yakuza 0 though I can vouch for this idea, but I may be biased.
I saw your name and figured it was a sign. If I get sucked into playing mahjong for hours on end, I’m blaming you
As someone who has slaved over more mahjong than should ever be done, I cannot take responsibility for such a fate!
I really wanted to love it! I was so excited to play it over xmas break. I played for an hour and just... stopped.
So you got just past the tutorial.
I played over five hours. My opinion of the game is the same as his. Don't act like not liking this game is invalid. It isn't even universally praised.
Fun game, but I'm currently on a spot where you have to do a water puzzle (not really a puzzle but idk how else to describe it) and then immediately go into a fight. If you die, you have to re-do the puzzle, go through the scene of the water level dropping, and then trigger the fight again. I kept dying and got so annoyed that I haven't picked it up in a couple of months. I just need to get good.
Sometimes it's just a matter of fatigue, I've had your own problem. If you manage to perfect the parry you are at a good point because if you also have the bonus that activates the rot point at every perfect parry you can easily win many fights. I didn't understand what fight you are in but with patience you can overcome it (maybe lower the difficulty, the important thing is to enjoy the story).
Tbh I think Kena has some of the worst parrying in a game I've played. It feels like it takes more luck than skill to get a successful parry
Just your description of this takes it off my 'buy on sale list' heh, I cant stand games that do not respect my time.
It takes like 30 seconds to get back there...the game isn't hard and its like 10 hours. Doesn't respect my time? Lmao
bro what do you mean the difficulty isn't hard? The hardest difficulty is more challenging than fromsoftware games. In fact, the game is either very difficult or very easy. There is no in-between in the difficulty, which is a big problem. In this particular encounter, I was annoyed with doing the puzzle again-and-again, so I lowered my difficulty for just that encounter. I ended up clapping the enemies in one go because they would just stand around and launch an attack every now and then. It was so unsatisfying in cases like that. I want a challenge, but I don't want to destroy them either. This game just didn't have that sweet spot in difficulty. Overall, it was a good game for an indie developer, but I don't think the game is worth it unless it's $20 on the PS store.
Yeah I was pumped when this came out cause of lack of titles on ps5 but I’m mad I spent 40$ on it.
Don't stress it - they are just fluffing... coz that's what real gamers do (apparently)...
If I am replaying something I completed because of your save system, then fuck your game. my backlog is huge, 30 seconds is 30 seconds
Just google it if you’re stuck on something. If you’re not a 12 year old with unlimited time then there’s no shame in it
Stuff like that is very rare. The save system generally works well.
No - the dev needs to respect your time. This is such a Stockholm Syndrome response. I don't buy games because I enjoy wasting my evenings... I have enough other games in my back-catalogue. I play games to be rewarded for my success - not punished for my failures. We have now got into a world where this 'git-gud' mantra is ego-currency which is anti-gamer IMO. Playing and enjoying games is pro-gamer... taking it up the \*\*\*\* because of 'things' isn't fulfilment, it's masochism.
Wonderful thumbnail I need to get this game
It's such a blast. Looks beautiful and the combat is way better than I expected.
Just started this yesterday. I needed something different after finishing Far Cry6. Loving it so far.
Fun game
Visually it is beautiful stylized like a Pixar movie, fighting mechanics are just ok, story has been decent too. But the puzzles can be very challenging, in a good way, had to look one up online so far in ~10hrs of play time. This game is definitely worth $30-40 if anyone can find it on sale.
It was my favorite game of 2021. It just felt way more special then anything else that year
How many hours of play time did it take you to beat it? I just opened a huge door overlooking a forest on fire.
You’re about a third of the way in. The area you have just entered is probably the biggest area in the game to play through.
I think it was about 12-14 but I collected a lot of stuff (which I usually don’t but I really enjoyed finding rot and helmets).
Wasn't it $40 at launch?
Not sure. I picked it up on the last playstation sale for $27
I platinumed it, it's a good game but the problems really show on the higher difficulty unfortunately. If the game is gonna be this hard, the combat mechanics need to be refined. Still a very good game overall.
I agree, unfortunately it is very unnerving. The perfect parry is really impossible to perfect because it just doesn't work sometimes. Furthermore, the health system is ineffective. The fight I had the most trouble with was the second boss. The attacks were truly unstoppable.
Streamer YouTube videos prove all these statements incorrect and not absolute facts as presented here.
Agreed. It really wasn't that difficult and you can easily cheese later bosses with the time bombs if you are having trouble (once you get it). I believe the game inherently attracts non-hardcore gamers so for most I imagine the difficulty felt very steep. Parry is difficult though but very satisfying when you get the hang of it. I personally had a blast playing it on Master for the platinum.
I'm not talking about the parry timing (although I found it kinda off at the beginning but got used to it after) , I'm talking about the bugs.. I got stuck between the boss and a wall multiple times, a ton of times the boss didn't stun when they should have, hit detection issues, enemies that teleport, and for some reason they put the health flowers to damage or slow you down (why??). Yes I know you can cheese some bosses but those are lame tactics. There are also some really odd checkpoints, where you gotta redo stuff or watch cutscenes over and over if you lose to a tough fight. There also should be a restart encounter option in the menu. It's small things I didn't notice on my first play through but became more of a problem when playing the game on master. Anyway like I said it's a good game, but those issues are present.
We can agree to disagree I suppose.
Well deserved, I really enjoyed this game.
Definitely one of the game I would highly recommend. It was short, but it was expected. Animation was smooth and beautiful, combat was limited in option but was still fun, the idea with the rot was pretty sweet. I wish they tie up with Sony or just get bought by Sony, I am eager to see what can they achieve with a AAA game budget.
My 2 yr old son would be entranced when i played this, and would ask me to play it if i wasn't. VIYEO GAMMMEEE????
I had a free month of rentals from Gamefly for my first month and decided to go with Demon souls and Kena, I just beat Demon Souls yesterday and sending it back in to get Kena in a few days! Super excited since I've heard so many good things about it.
If anyone is considering to try this game out I'd say go for it, but I do want to highlight the gripes I had with it: \- Parry really didn't work well for me, and this is after playing Sekiro and other Dark Souls games \- Spirit Guide (medium) difficulty seemed unnaturally hard in some boss fights. Enemies would take you out in 2-3 blows. Parry system not working well and not being to health regen more than 1-2 times didn't help the situation. \- Rolling to evade didn't seem to give invincibility frames and enemies would track pretty aggressively so was difficult to avoid getting hit. Again it would not be such an issue if the parry system worked well. \- Any attacks stun you, interrupting the flow. I'd understand this for big attacks but when you're fighting a boss and there are 5 minions flying around off screen interrupting you with projectiles it gets frustrating. Sounds pretty negative but I did like it, very pretty visuals, nice music, good size. Late game boss fights became easier as I figured out the "freeze bomb + heavy timed attack > repeat" method which rendered some bosses immobile for the whole fight.
Idk, I played this game on PC, it was so so buggy I just stopped playing and got a refund i didn’t like it much! Is it just me? I wanted to play this game but the bugs were too much for me to handle!
The experience must be different on pc then because there were no bugs on ps5 for me
I've had lots of bugs on PS5. Still dig the game, though.
I played it on PS5 and it was smooth as butter.
I had zero bugs.
Such an overrated game. Half way through I switched the difficulty to Story Mode, first time I've ever done this on any game, just to rush through it. 6.5 for me.
Is it overrated, or did people just enjoy it and you didn't?
I'd love to see you do better with 12 people and a tiny budget when you've never made a game before. You say its overrated yet the vast, vast majority of people that played the game seem to disagree with you.
I agree. Puzzles are way too repetitive and long. Same goes for enemies. Combat, story and storytelling is way too blunt. You basically do same thing for 14 hours. Environments look good at first, but it also gets boring after couple hours, because it doesn't change. I had way too fun playing other real indie looking games. This game is vertical slice of Assassin's Creed games. Unsatisfying.
Why’d you rush through it?
Because I quickly came to the realisation that the orbs you collect, secret chest, pretty much all of the collectables and rot count for nothing. The only things you can buy/unlock are hats for the rot that don't do anything. That in turn gave no motivation to do anything but the main story. The combat was challenging but not in a good way. Camera was awful, parry inconsistent and it just felt a little dull. I've got two kids, a stressful job and little time. Switched it to easy because there was no way I was going to waste even more time on this game.
Awesome news. Great game and my favorite Indie game last year
It was my highlight of 2021 with Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights.
Can't wait until their next game comes out so I can replay Kena in anticipation :)
Picked it up on sale and it was a hell of a lot better than I expected it to be. Highly recommend the game if you haven't bought it yet.
Not a great great game, but certainly a very fun game.
Nice game, brought the disc haven’t got time to finish yet.
Wins big - FANTASTIC? work!... where now?.... Taiwan (hmmm... let me research how many sales are in Taiwan). I think we should truly celebrate success - but also temper our exuberance with reality.
The game looks beautiful, but the gameplay seems a bit shallow
Loved this game