Kena: Bridge of Spirits is celebrating a year out in the wild with a massive anniversary update, adding New Game+, additional outfits, the Spirit Guide Trials game mode, and more. It's available now, on PS5 and PS4, as a free title update.
New Game+ is the big ticket item here, allowing returning players to relive Kena's journey all over again, letting you keep all of your unlocks, and engaging in redesigned and more challenging combat encounters. The Spirit Guide Trials will present a different kind of challenge in the form of boss rematches, wave-based defence missions and obstacle courses to overcome. Success will reward players with new Charmstones, and perhaps most coveted of all... new hats.
Did you play through Kena: Bridge of Spirits back when it launched? Will you be diving into New Game+? Pick up where you left off in the comments section below.
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Comments 22
I tried to play through it, but it just got way too rough for my taste. I just wasn't prepared for its shocking difficulty! Expected more Pikmin than Dark Souls going in ...
It's pretty, though. Very pretty.
Picked this up when it first came out but luckily only played a bit of it. Perfect timing to jump back in I guess! I'm a sucker for cosmetics.
I love this game and the devs are one to keep an eye on..this is how free dlc should be done and if a small studio can knock out a quality title such as this and support it with quality free dlc then it just goes to show how little the big studios think of their customers..bravo ember labs..
Since everything becoming feudal in next few games, that blue outfit at :15 may roll with. Haven't played for ages, loved it. Happy anniversary.
Perfect time to try Master difficulty
@Vil
Have you tried lowering the difficulty? Kena's normal difficulty is a design flaw. It's inconsistent with the game's tone and aesthetic. By all means, include a punishing difficulty option, but don't make it the default. Once I lowered the difficulty the game just opened right up for me. Combat is fun, yes, but exploring the drop-dead-stunning world and solving environmental puzzles and experiencing the story's many touching beats are the game's most significant offerings. Severe combat difficulty merely gets in the way. I'm glad I lowered it rather than giving up on the game entirely.
Any new trophies for the challenges? This site is usually good for mentioning it so I’m thinking not(?)
@Dr_Luigi to be fair i find most games these days are a mix of ideas borrowed from other games and stitched together. I cant think of a single game in recent years that are 100% original from start to finish..
@thefourfoldroot1 at the moment this site concentrates on trophys for petting animals a million times 🤣
I had the deluxe version on pre-order. Played on normal and was quite challenging. On normal I can't beat the last boss. I refuse to lower the difficulty to easy. The game is a masterpiece. There are enough games that can't touch this. That also applies beyond indie game devs.
New trophies or it didn’t happen
This would have been a perfect opportunity to put this onto the new higher PS+ tiers. Its a year old, massive update, console exclusive. Fantastic game!
@Dr_Luigi i get what you are saying and i agree but pretty much everything has been done in games..its going to be really hard to come up with something unique..
The difficulty in Kena is definitely a little uneven but it's hugely enjoyable once you turn it down. It's probably the most Nintendo-like game I've played on a PlayStation console and good god is it gorgeous.
@nofriendo @Vil As several have said the difficulty was brutal, and very unbalanced at times, with huge spikes, even on normal. There were some unfair moves that tracked you while rolling away while the opponent was midair, and some one or two hit insta-kills. It was frustrating at times, which lowered the overall enjoyment, but I persevered and got there in the end.
However I gave up on Master difficulty after dying to a relatively early boss about 30 times, knowing it wasn't one of the tougher ones.
What this game needed most of all was rebalancing. I hope there is a little of that including these additions of charmstones... because aside from that it was a charming and brilliant game that still stands out!
@thefourfoldroot1 There's nothing listed on PSN Profiles for Trophy DLC yet so I doubt it, sadly, but perhaps not updated yet.
Did it get a balance pass yet? I beat master on PS4 and it was zero fun and outright unfair. I'd love to play it on PS5 now I have one but if it's not been toned down a touch I'll skip it. Not putting myself through that nonsense again.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a wonderful game and an incredible first outing for Ember Lab. I am VERY surprised Sony didn't snap them right up. They are bound to be really cheap and have plenty of potential.
@Dr_Luigi @Northern_munkey You’re not wrong, but a few games come to mind that have new ideas — Dreams is definitely something that’s never been done. Death Stranding is an open world at its core, but is actually novel and new in its moment-to-moment gameplay. Concrete Genie’s gameplay had a little something I’d never quite experienced before. To a lesser extent, I might nominate NieR Automata, No Man’s Sky…. Still need to play Disco Elysium which seems really different in its gameplay approach. Also need to try The Pathless, it seems unique. I don’t know, those might be iterative in some aspects, but at the end of the day all games involve holding a controller and interacting with something on screen, so it’s just small things that will be new. VR is going to be your best bet for a truly groundbreaking experience, most likely.
But for standard play, the indie space is typically where a lot of the fresh ideas often come from though.
Started the game just last week and I’m thrilled how beautiful this game is. Story and Storytelling lacking a little bit for me but everything else is fantastic. The level design is top notch and I highly enjoy the small environmental puzzles.
Some fights are very challenging but I like it. Usually I’m able to beat every boss after 3-5 tries.
Love, love this game. So glad Ember Labs got so much recognition for it. One of my fav games
Read the blog with the brothers, Mike and Josh Grier and hard not to root for them also.
Sony/Epic did well on supporting them.
Dear SOny,
Please stop gatekeeping games and holding off there release on other platforms.
Sincerely
A real gamer
@Shigurui @themightyant @nofriendo @Vil While you can switch the game to Easy/Casual and beat it easily enough, attempting to platinum it requires playing thru the severely unbalanced Master Spirit guide difficulty setting.
Hopefully in due time they will rebalance the game to make it more fair...
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