As a very young console, players and programmers alike are still learning what the PS5 can handle. Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which looks like a cross between Zelda and Pikmin, may be the first game to show off its graphical capabilities in full.
The story and gameplay of Kena: Bridge of Spirits have been elaborated on somewhat, and don't seem to break new ground. That's not a bad thing of course, as a simpler, more laid-back story is often welcome. What does literally look like a game changer is the look of the game, both in graphical detail and style.
The parade of gorgeous looking Kena details have not stopped, as Ember Lab recently released several new screenshots from the game. This has become a regular practice, and each new batch illustrates more and more why Kena is a game to look out for. The new details revealed for Kena show off beautiful landscapes, the title character interacting with the Rot (tiny, adorable spirits), and staring down a foe made of branches and what looks like fire. It all calls to mind similarly gorgeous games, like the recent Call of the Sea, which really leaned into its lush environments like Kena seems to be doing.
What really sells the game though is its use of lighting. Games like Kena, that lean heavily into their visuals, can often have a gorgeous design that is marred by uniform brightness, leading to an overly saturated or cartoony (in a bad way) look. Kena's use of lighting mitigates this, allowing for something that looks realistic while still being a very good looking cartoon. While details about Kena's gameplay are known in broad, it is unknown as of this article how large a role light will play in anything other than making the game look good.
The most obvious use for dynamic lighting like this will be to split the gameplay into more exploration focused day segments and spookier night segments. Kena's insect and monkey creatures will no doubt strike more fear when only their glowing eyes can be seen. In addition, it's known that there's a focus on finding Rot to add to the group, so visual acuity will likely be focused on heavily for the search.
No doubt the best realization of these graphics will be in the PS5 version of the game, which Ember Lab is optimizing the game to take advantage of. That Kena can apparently boot up in two seconds on PS5 is certainly a testament to the hardware.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits releases in Q1 2021 for PC, PS4, and PS5.
