‘Kenzela’s Story’ review: A compassionate Afrofuturist exploration of grief

Of all the metroidvania elements in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, my favorite are the trees. Quite simply, meditating inside a tree can improve your health. Here, the camera pans to reveal these great, almost magical natural structures that provide safety, shelter, and moments of reflection. The protagonist Zau is a hot-headed and grumpy young man who wants to save his father, but sits quietly on the tree trunk. He is just a boy.

The trees are a key example of how The Kenzela Story transplants the genre to an African setting, and what is at its heart: the relationship between father and son. The game’s creator and voice actor Abubakar Salim (best known for playing Bayek in Assassin’s Creed: Origins) specifically opened up about the personal inspiration behind the game: he himself experienced the death of his father The tragic experience afterwards. There was even a touching short film released before the game. Yet even without knowing this, Kenzella’s story itself radiates passion and love.

It’s a story within a story, set in the fictional Afrofuturist land of Kenzela, and follows Zau, a desperate shaman who bargains with Karenga, the god of death, after his father’s death. Zou must free three souls to win back his father, and during the course of his adventure, he learns to cope with feelings of grief. Kalenga becomes his fatherly guide, speaking in proverbs and ordering Zau with stern but comforting lessons; in return, Zau listens, resists, argues, and accepts.

Back in the Woods: Here we learn more about Zaw’s relationship with his father. As he recalls moments from the past—like those you would misunderstand as a child but appreciate with the wisdom of adulthood—he recognizes the value of these lessons. Zhau must learn to let go, and through reflection in these trees with Karenga, he realizes his loss and finds hope for the future. Throughout the adventure, Zhau struggles with his feelings and learns to express them as he deals with what each of the three souls represents. Karenga acted as pseudo-therapist: “I saw before me a strong, brave and intelligent young man who chose to defend hope over despair,” he once told Zaw.

There is also humor that goes deeper than sincerity. Kalenga tells Zhau tales of past shamans whose abilities he gradually gained in typical Metroidvania fashion, but Zhau is often unbelievably overwhelmed by these seemingly silly stories. laugh. These are Bantu tales, traditional folktales from across Africa that Salim shared with his father and directly influenced Kenzela’s story. The narrative often revolves around intergenerational hostility, but it’s not hard to imagine Salim himself having similar conversations with his own father. He is the voice of Zau and their words are one. Despite its sad subject matter, Legends of Kenzella’s storytelling is filled with honesty and warmth, which enhances the gameplay to be well-executed, if a bit rote at times.

If there’s one thing that’s absolutely true about Metroidvania Story, it’s free movement. Zau starts the game with basic abilities that he has already learned, such as sprinting and double jumping, indicating his basic abilities as a hero. The feel of the game is excellent as he darts, wall-hops and leaps through each beautiful African-style environment, while later abilities like the grappling hook and power smash complement the skillset. Narratively, these abilities are based on Bantu legends, telling Zhau and us these fantastical and insightful fables – from wrestling with clouds to alleviate drought, to sacrificing a sister to protect her shamanic brother. However, on a gameplay level, they often serve a single purpose and do not creatively push the limits of their functionality. Take the first ability, for example, which can freeze water: this allows Zau to run along rivers and wall-jump over waterfalls, but after its initial use, the game doesn’t build on this in a meaningful way, or move the This is combined with later abilities to solve more complex platforming puzzles.

Zau also starts the game with his primary combat abilities: two masks, one tied to the sun and one to the moon, providing melee and ranged attacks respectively, and switching between them with the press of a button. The animation also changes depending on the mask worn, from the spiral gymnastics of the moon to the graceful rotation of the sun. Well, Zau is a capable warrior whose attacks build up psychic energy that can be used for healing or unleashing powerful anime-style blasts of energy. These are later enhanced through unlocks in a simple upgrade tree. Again, everything works well and feels satisfying at first, but the combat is ultimately let down by a lack of enemy types, which leads to repetitive visual design and strategy made possible by simply throwing in more enemies at once. Higher difficulty. Still, the bosses add a welcome challenge to the story and gameplay, and there are some thrilling chase and escape sequences.

If some of this sounds familiar to you, there are a variety of gaming devices that reveal Salem’s gameplay influence, from Gears-esque reloading to prevent spam shots, to Ori-esque projectile blocking. The other is a trinket system, similar to badges in Hollow Knight, which can provide useful boosts, but its impact is diminished by the need to switch between workbenches that are too sparsely spread across the map. Tales of Kenzera leans into what players have come to expect from a Metroidvania-like experience, resulting in an enjoyable and simple 2D adventure experience.

But I’m not so convinced that it meets the needs of a metroidvania. When I think of this genre, I mostly think of being lost in a maze-like world and needing to think creatively about my ability to keep going. This didn’t happen to me in Legends of Kenzela for two reasons. Firstly, the map itself is a bit hard to read between the negative spaces that reveal an area in its entirety at the start, meaning you never get the feeling of exploration and discovery as you move on. Second, while the world branches off in multiple directions, progression is linear. There are some optional areas to delve into to find new trinkets, and there’s usually plenty of immediate danger of death (and therefore, lots of spikes), but for the most part the main path is clear and more than simple ( and literally) keys and locks. Metroid fans expecting a connected world filled with backtracking and disorientation may be disappointed.

Still, while it’s easy to spot flaws, they’re forgivable due to the game’s primary focus on sympathetic storytelling (mostly told through expressive artwork). Kenzela’s Story thrives on its authentic African setting and therefore provides important representation. The care and attention to detail here is evident, from the integration of the aforementioned Bantu stories to the addition of Swahili dubbing. The presentation of the game blends modernity and tradition in a unique global melting pot of ideas. There’s a lot of Afrofuturism and folklore in its sweeping visual design, intricate costumes and hairstyles, and outlandish battles in the animation. Its incredible soundtrack combines Western orchestral music, sci-fi synths and ethnic instruments. I haven’t played a game like Legend of Kenzella before because this type of setting just doesn’t exist enough in games, whether due to underrepresentation in the industry or lack of player interest. But these stories deserve to be told, and Salem deserves credit for creating a game with such a fresh and unique world.

The gaming industry needs diverse stories that both highlight differences and demonstrate universality. “The Kenzella Story” thrills with its authenticity, but its real power lies in its emotional, heartfelt narrative of a father and son’s sad story that is relevant to all of us and our hopes for the future. . As Zaw told Karenga: “One thing I know about the human spirit is that if there’s an opportunity – even a glimmer of hope – to make things better, we take it.” So. Reach out and grab it.

EA provided a copy of Tales of Kenzera: Zau for review.