Grief is a messy, convoluted emotion to navigate. There’s not often an easy path to get by means of it; oftentimes it will probably really feel such as you’re strolling in circles round what you are searching for, or banging your head in opposition to the identical psychological roadblock many times. In some ways, the expertise of taking part in by means of a metroidvania mimics the sensation of working by means of grief–the style is constructed on the same path of development, the place the mandatory instruments to maneuver ahead are earned step-by-step, and a protagonist’s evolving moveset makes it simpler to beat its challenges and navigate a seemingly inescapable world. Tales of Kenzera: Zau leans into that parallel, creating a robust and transferring message inside the context of a stellar action-adventure sport.
Tales of Kenzera sees you play as Zau, the fictional hero of a narrative {that a} father wrote for his son simply previous to the daddy’s loss of life. Zau, equally, is working by means of the grief of a misplaced father. Unable to get previous the ache, he calls upon the god of loss of life, Kalunga, and provides him a deal: If Zau efficiently brings the three nice spirits which have resisted Kalunga to the land of the lifeless, then Kalunga will convey Zau’s father again to life. The god agrees and the duo set out, Zau counting on the shaman masks and coaching he inherited from his father to beat the risks of close by lands. As a metroidvania, the sport options moments the place Zau should backtrack and use newly unlocked talents (freezing water, for instance, or a grappling hook used to swing over giant pits), which Kalunga helps Zau grasp to navigate the distinct biomes of the map.
Impressed by Bantu mythology, Tales of Kenzera’s map is a ravishing maze that pulls from African tradition to characterize and taste the interconnected areas. The myths of the Bantu coloration the undertones to the story, equating Zau’s battle in opposition to larger-than-life monsters with a non secular journey–you do not query how or why Zau’s efforts to beat up a mom helps persuade her to return to phrases with leaving her daughter behind. Inside Tales of Kenzera’s lore, these actions make sense, reframing the bodily house of the world into one thing extra akin to a psychological palace. That reframing contributes to the explosive battles, too, with the sound design and orchestral rating of the soundtrack reworking every battle right into a frenetic dance of emotion and non secular power the place flame-infused shockwaves are stand-ins for violent outbursts and well-timed dodges equate to a fastidiously thought-about counterargument.
Every locale feels distinct from the others, each in coloration scheme and challenges. The sickly inexperienced swamps and large bushes of the forest to the west check Zau’s acrobatic talents, for example, whereas the volcanic warmth and dry oranges and reds of the desert to the north options loads of endurance-focused challenges that pressure Zau to face up to giant teams of enemies or resolve multi-step environmental puzzles. The construction of those areas interweave with the story, enriching the narrative in rewarding methods. The aforementioned desert sees Zau come to know that grief is not one thing that may be merely overcome–it continues to scrub over you in waves, very similar to the waves of enemies he has to take care of. And generally grief can waylay you by displaying up in a recognizable however barely completely different type, a lot in the identical means the quite a few environmental puzzles within the desert area are bigger, extra convoluted variations of what Zau needed to resolve in earlier areas. We because the participant overcome these obstacles alongside Zau working by means of his pain–he grows as we do, strengthening our connection to his journey.
The mentor/mentee relationship between Kalunga and Zau is entrance and heart all through, with Kalunga often showing to Zau to supply perception and steerage to the lands’ historical past and tradition, in addition to to assist Zau course of his effervescent feelings. Actors Abubakar Salim and Tristan D. Lalla lend unbelievable gravitas to their respective performances–Salim seamlessly dips backwards and forwards between hot-headed conceitedness and barely contained sorrow in voicing the grieving Zau, whereas Lalla lends an influence and authority to Kalunga’s fatherly tone. The 2 characters’ development over the course of the sport is surprisingly healthful regardless of the dour plotline, making it straightforward to speculate into Zau’s improvement as a shaman.
The opposite characters in Tales of Kenzera aren’t as fleshed out, solely showing a handful of instances and all the time being relegated to narrative gadgets that inform Zau what macguffin he has to chase after subsequent. The voice performing for these characters continues to be very good, however the supporting cast–both the people and the nice spirits–is let down by its minimal presence within the story.
The framing machine for Zau’s story–that it is a story left behind for a grieving boy in the true world–also feels disruptive. Close to the tip of Zau’s journey, you are abruptly yanked again into the real-world to be reminded of this framing machine, which felt extremely jarring. Zau’s story of working by means of loss was working as a therapeutic expertise for me and the sport felt the necessity to cease to clarify its personal premise, as if it had been straight telling me that media may also help folks overcome grief. And, sure, I do know. I used to be experiencing that sensation. The sport broke its personal phantasm to particularly remind me that it was an phantasm, and that lessened the influence of the ultimate moments of Zau’s journey. It did not smash the ending, however it definitely disrupted the narrative circulation main into Tales of Kenzera’s conclusion.
Tales of Kenzera’s fight mechanics, nevertheless, are improbable all through. Zau can immediately swap between sporting the masks of the solar and the masks of the moon, every granting him completely different mechanics. The solar masks focuses on melee whereas the moon masks prioritizes long-range assaults, however the cadence of every bleeds into the opposite, rewarding you for chaining collectively the actions of each masks with devastating pirouettes. Considered one of my favourite combos is slamming down right into a foe with the summoned spears of the solar masks, switching to the moon masks to blast them away, dashing towards them, and switching again to the solar to hit them with a four-hit melee combo that launches them skyward, giving me an opportunity to modify again to the moon and juggle them within the air with ranged assaults.
Zau is highly effective, however his enemies are quite a few, reworking fight right into a puzzle the place situational consciousness trumps energy. As such, the sport encourages you to bounce between targets, overcoming overwhelming odds by being nimble. The actions of each Zau and enemies are sharp and the sport makes good use of color–blue and orange for Zau and inexperienced and purple for enemies–to hold the fast-paced fights readable. Hardly ever does it really feel like a loss is because of poor luck–the visible muddle of particle results can grow to be an issue should you’re ever standing nonetheless lengthy sufficient for enemies to encompass you, however that feels extra like a consequence of a mistake on the participant’s half somewhat than a detriment of the sport itself.
You aren’t getting many upgrades to Zau’s fight all through the journey. There’s a ability tree, however unlocks are geared towards enhancing current mechanics–charging the projectiles of the moon masks to unleash a extra substantial assault, for example, or rising the solar masks’s combo chain from three to 4 strikes. As an alternative, many of the fight’s evolution relies on the enemies that Zau has to battle. You initially solely face warriors armed with easy melee assaults or slow-moving projectiles, however you shortly must tackle enemies who protect themselves or quick ball-like foes who willingly explode to take you down with them. And none of them evaluate to the dastardly fireflies who sap your well being to heal different enemies.
Tales of Kenzera’s straightforward opening belies its shocking problem, particularly its powerful latter half. There’s a problem slider that means that you can modify how a lot Zau can endure earlier than dying and the way a lot injury he has to deal to ensure that an enemy to perish, so there may be some management in how powerful fight is (you may modify the slider at any time as properly, so you will not be punished for unintentionally choosing a setting too powerful or straightforward at the beginning). On the spot-kill hazards will not be affected by problem, so there isn’t any approach to make traversal challenges simpler, however the sport is beneficiant with the checkpoints (save for just a few exceptions, which we’ll get into in a bit), stopping any seemingly insurmountable partitions from changing into frustratingly so.
Zau’s efforts to drag the nice spirits into the realm of the lifeless culminate in boss battles, and the fight is at its greatest throughout these. Most of them see Zau conflict with monstrously giant beings who’re grieving in their very own proper. Their emotional state informs not solely how they battle however what Zau should do with a view to get by means of to them and defeat them. An important spirit overcome with rage angrily lashes out at the whole lot round him, for instance, creating large partitions that push out at Zau and threaten to pressure him off the ledge of the sector until you utilize his lately acquired means to blast by means of obstacles. This additionally causes the spirit’s personal assault to blow up and briefly stun him–his anger actually blowing up in his face makes it more durable for him to battle you.
The drama and rigidity of those encounters are amplified by highly effective musical scores. I needed to step away from Tales of Kenzera and compose myself after battling the nice spirit who’s overcome with worry, because the escalating rhythm of the rating and rigidity of the string devices taking part in by means of the boss battle made an already hectic battle a extra unnerving expertise than I anticipated. The true power of those fights is how they’re emotionally resonant in addition to mechanically satisfying–they’re the moments when the sport is firing on all cylinders, utilizing fight and traversal mechanics, enemy and sound design, and music to emulate one of many extra pivotal steps in a single boy’s battle with grief. They’re all highly effective spectacles that I am nonetheless marveling over.
However, Tales of Kenzera has just a few chase sequences that veer towards irritating. These cinematic platforming sections are a typical inclusion within the metroidvania style, a staple that goes again to the unique Metroid and Samus’ scramble to flee Zebes after killing Mom Mind. Normally, nevertheless, these sequences both afford you an opportunity to get well out of your errors (like Metroid) or incorporate quite a few autosave checkpoints all through the part (like Ori and the Will of the Wisps or Hole Knight). Tales of Kenzera does neither, that means a mistake normally leads to a loss of life that sends you again to the start of the sequence, forcing you to redo it time and again. There is a significantly powerful sequence close to the tip of the sport the place Zau is being chased by one thing that can kill him immediately, which requires hopping between slim platforms and over lava that may also kill him immediately to flee. Perhaps I am simply getting previous, however it took me practically a dozen makes an attempt to get by means of that a part of the sport and by strive quantity seven, I used to be actually pissed off that I needed to begin over every time.
Thematically, you could possibly say that these sequences emulate working by means of the worry and anger components of grief, as each sections take care of the nice spirits that embody these feelings, in addition to the concept false begins are an inevitable a part of the therapeutic course of. And in the identical means that there are not any save factors in working by means of worry or anger, there are not any checkpoints to those platforming sections. That comparability loses worth when the remainder of the sport is hypervigilant about autosaving your progress, nevertheless. It is in these moments that there’s a battle between the enjoyable you count on from a metroidvania and the potential need to convey an emotional state. Tales of Kenzera cleverly blends the 2 by means of most of its components (particularly its world and boss design), however falters on the subject of these traversal challenges–the sheer frustration of those platforming do-overs outcomes extra in an absence of enjoyable than it summons a sensation of anger or worry. Fortunately, these moments are few and much between, that means they’re solely a small irritating blip to what’s in any other case a enjoyable sport.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau’s power lies in its highly effective narrative, digging into how one navigates the unhappiness, rage, and terror that accompanies the worst moments of grief. Its story has its hiccups, however Zau’s journey of coming to phrases with loss resonates by means of the beating coronary heart of the thumping musical rating, standout vocal performances, and dance-like battles that really feel straight out of Bantu delusion. Loss is a common human emotion, making Zau’s makes an attempt to grapple with grief uncomfortably relatable. However there’s catharsis to be earned in working by means of that discomfort alongside Zau, and a touching story to get pleasure from alongside the way in which.