It’s been a year since our launch. To celebrate, we’re excited to share our biggest update yet: the Anniversary Update! As a thank you for your incredible support, we’ve expanded the Kena experience with many new features including: New Game+, Charmstones, Spirit Guide Trials, Kena Outfits, accessibility features, and more.
The Anniversary Update will be a free update available to all new and returning PS4 and PS5 players on September 27.
During development, we sought to incorporate fan feedback while adding more unique features and gameplay to broaden the experience. New Game+ was a big one! Once players complete the game, they will have the option to convert their save file to a New Game+ game. From there they will start Kena’s journey again with everything
Charmstones are another big addition coming in our September 27th update. Individually Equipable – These unique collectibles each offer different adjustments to Kena’s stats and abilities. Some Charmstones contain an upside and a downside, encouraging players to strategize on how they want to deal with certain enemies and challenges. Rare Cursed Charmstones are for players who want a serious challenge by attacking the game with reduced abilities. Players will find most of the Charmstones hidden throughout the world of Kena, a few of which are connected to another important addition: Spirit Guide Trials.
In an all-new game mode accessible from the Mask Shrine, the Spirit Guide Trials will test players’ skills. By creating a variety of replayable challenges, we wanted to encourage all players to try out different combinations of their upgrades and deepen their combat experience. Spirit Guide Trials fall into three different categories: Obstacle Courses, Wave Defenses, and Boss Reflections.
Each event can be played as many times as players want and includes various objectives to complete in that particular event. In Obstacle Courses for example, players focus on Kena’s core abilities: Bow, Bomb and Dash as they navigate courses designed to test their accuracy, timing and platforming. .
Wave Defenses pits players against multiple rounds of increasingly difficult enemies. They must think strategically while moving through multiple waves of unique scenarios with limited chance of healing. We have prepared some pretty exciting and mind-blowing enemy combinations here, so be prepared.
Finally, Boss Reflects allows players to revisit their favorite boss fights and hone their tactics. While we love the excitement of all of our little combat encounters, we especially love a good boss fight. We wanted to make sure that players had the opportunity to retry these exciting events at their leisure in a single match, experiment with new approaches and become true masters.
What about rewards? By completing trials, players have the chance to unlock outfits for Kena, each inspired by one of the characters she encounters on her journey. Completing bonus objectives in each trial can unlock color variations of each outfit, as well as unique Charmstones.
There’s even an exclusive outfit for owners of the Deluxe Edition.
We hope players enjoy replaying or continuing their game of Kena: The Bridge of Spirits with these constant reminders of the special characters Kena helps along her journey as a spirit guide. (Plus, we also think they look pretty cool). Even though we tested them, each time we play with a different outfit, it reminds us of helping Beni and Saiya find their brother for the first time, or learning how to channel Rusu’s bow.
We can’t wait to share all of these additions with the September 27th Anniversary Update.