The best thing we can say about Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is that it’s a decent entry-level game into the Metroidvania genre. The Switch is so packed with amazing titles right now that it can often be hard to know where to start (we can help with that, by the way), but Kenzera provides a relatively light 6-7 hour experience that should give you an indication of whether to dip in a bit more toes or not. However, for genre veterans, while the gameplay is perfectly good enough to see you through, there’s little here that hasn’t already been done elsewhere… and better, too.
However, what elevates the game is its setting and story. If you’ve been following the development of Tales of Kenzer at all, you’ll know that much of the plot draws inspiration from Sugent Studio’s creative director, Abubakar Salim, and his personal experience dealing with the loss of a parent. By the way, Salim (stage and film actor and voice of Bayek in Origins of Assassin’s Creed) also voices protagonist Zau, and we have to commend the voice work as a whole; it’s brilliantly done throughout and helps the plot resonate a lot more than just reading lines of dialogue.
Zau himself is on a quest to revive his deceased father by capturing the spirits of three monsters and offering them to Kalunga, the god of death. Kalunga accompanies Zau on his quest and offers advice both practical and philosophical, and we have to admit we enjoyed every moment the wise ghost appeared. All in all, Kenzera’s story is a heartwarming, heartfelt story elevated by the voice actors’ performances, and if it weren’t for that, we’re afraid the game would slip from our memories almost immediately.
Now we should emphasize that Kenzer’s gameplay is firm. Movement feels fluid, you have a dash ability that is almost always satisfying to pull off, and the combat, while certainly not deep or challenging, feels impressive and fun. The problem we have is that this can really be said to be the studio’s first crack at a Metroidvania game; there’s very little challenge involved, exploration is kept to an absolute minimum, and the unlockable abilities don’t add much variety or depth.
The biggest disappointment for us comes with the lack of research. The best Metroidvanias boast beautiful, interconnected worlds full of secrets that make you want to veer off the beaten track, and while Kenzera’s world is certainly beautiful, the branching paths are little more than linear corridors leading to a specific goal. After collecting the required item or defeating the boss, you have to go back through the same corridors until you reach what we would describe as a mini-hub. Only here can you then unlock a new door or reach a new area to progress further.
Combat encounters are scattered throughout the experience. You’ll encounter a few enemies on the fly as you make your way through the game, but most combat segments are confined to certain areas where the exits are blocked; something like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry.
You have the option to destroy your enemies with melee attacks and long-range projectiles, and you can switch between them by pressing ‘L’, changing Zau’s sun and moon masks to change his appearance and moveset. Some enemies are color-coded to indicate their strengths and weaknesses, so the game does a good job of making sure you don’t stick to just one attack method. Well, at least in theory.
Unfortunately, both the variety of enemies and the arenas in which you fight them are limited. We like the fight, but when the 20th encounter is exactly the same as the first, it gets horribly repetitive. You can try to mix up your strategy all you want, but when the game throws the same enemies at you over and over in the same patterns, it’s hard not to use the same offensive tactics every time.
Fortunately, there are skill trees associated with each mask, so you can independently improve your melee and ranged abilities. For example, you can unlock a move where you jump and slam into the ground to deal damage, or you can add an extra punch to your basic attack combo. Unlocking each new ability is welcome, but it doesn’t add much, depth or variety to the overall fighting game. Honestly, we kind of wish everything was available from the start.
In terms of overall aesthetics, Kenzera is a colorful adventure that is probably best described as a cross between Ori and the Blind Forest and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The map screen in particular looks like it was swiped straight from an Ori game, and to be clear, that’s really not a bad thing. Unfortunately, like many cross-platform games these days, Kenzera suffers from blurry images and stuttering frames per second on Switch (although this is reportedly under investigation). Granted, it’s not as bad as we initially feared, but this is definitely one of those cases where if you have better hardware, we recommend playing it elsewhere.
Conclusion
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a decent game, but it’s overshadowed by the much better Metroidvania on Switch. We like the setting and the story, but as Surgent Studios’ first attempt at a genre that has proven extremely popular over the years, it struggles to set itself apart with fairly bland exploration and repetitive combat. Coupled with the compromised visuals and performance on the Switch, veterans of the genre may want to give this one a miss. However, for newcomers, the light gameplay could be a good introduction to Metroidvanias.
