We often joke that all indie games are about depression and grief. Although this title does not exactly classify as an indie game—Surgent Studios is a medium-sized team and received support from Electronic Arts—it is about the protagonist’s pain over the death of his father and could be another example of that trend. However, Tales of Kenzera: Wide It is not only one of the games that best handles the theme of the loss of a loved one, it is a very good ‘metroidvania’ and in this review I will tell you everything about it.
Zau is a young shaman who is having difficulty dealing with the death of his father. In the midst of his grief, he invokes Kalunga—god of death—and makes a deal with him. If he manages to defeat three powerful spirits who escaped death, he will return the beloved slime to him.
As I said, this is a ‘metroidvania’. That means that we travel through an interconnected 2D map and that we will obtain powers that allow us to find new paths in areas already visited. This is a genre that is somewhat saturated, but this work is special. Let’s see what to do to stand out among so many others.
Welcome to Kenzera
Kenzera, the land where most of the game takes place, is a fantasy place inspired by the cultures bantues. Although he does not use the gods and names of a specific African mythology, he does respect the ideas and cosmology of many of them. An example of this is Kalunga. Although there is no god of death by that name in the religions of Africa, That term does exist in Bakongo beliefs and refers to the line that separates the worlds
Visually, Tales of Kenzera: Wide It also reflects the myths and legends of much of that continent. They are full of tribal iconography, but do not fall into the typical error of showing the continent only as a wild land. He balances it with an Afrofuturist environment that frames the story. Although the settings can be described as traditional video game biomes—forest, caves, desert, lava level—they all have their own personality. I say this not only for its visual elements, but also for its excellent music with evocative choruses.
We have too many video games inspired by Greek, Norse and Japanese mythologies. One inspired by legends as generally unknown as African ones is more than welcome. I hope it serves as an example so that more and more emerge.
Losing someone dear
Many games that deal with the theme of grief do so under layers of metaphor and symbolism. Although Tales of Kenzera: Wide It is a fantastic story, it is the most direct game I have seen in terms of the way of expressing the pain and emotions caused by the death of a family member. The way Zau expresses—or fails to express—what he feels was painfully familiar. It is possible to feel empathy for this young man even if we have not lost anyone.
The voice work, both in English and la lengua africana Kiswahili (the texts are translated into Spanish), it is absolutely fantastic and full of feeling. This makes a lot of sense if we consider that the voice of the protagonist is that of Abubakar Salim, founder of the studio and the creative mind behind this game. He has been very public in saying that he was inspired by the death of his father when giving life to this work.
That doesn’t mean that the plot leaves more subtle elements aside. The three great spirits who serve as bosses throughout the adventure have rejected Kalunga and each represents a different way of facing the loss of a loved one, the fears we have at the prospect of dying, and the terrible consequences of not accepting that destiny. Argumentally, it is a very well thought out game in which each narrative element revolves perfectly around the main theme.. Some may think that the Afrofuturist framework in which the plot is told is “excessive,” but that is not the case. It is important that this be “a story within a story” to achieve the depth it has.
The powers of a shaman
That all sounds great, but how’s the gameplay? Tales of Kenzera: Wide It is a ‘metroidvania’ that is quite simple in its structure. We don’t even have to return to areas already visited if we just follow the main story. If we return to explore again with the new powers we gain, we can find collectibles, platform challenges, combat and amulets that give us improvements or delve deeper into the lore, but it is completely optional.
This makes some powers are honestly a bit boring. Some are only useful at strictly defined times. Others arrive very late and we only take advantage of them if we decide to return to explore unvisited areas, which is complicated because the map does a very poor job of indicating where we have been and where we have not. It doesn’t even allow you to put bookmarks.
Some of these abilities can be used in combat and complement it well, but the star of the show is Zau’s shaman masks. At any time, even in the middle of a combo, we can switch between the Mask of the Sun, focused on close combat, and the Mask of the Moon, suitable for attacking from a distance. This lends itself to confrontations that are dynamic and very entertaining. Although there is not much variety of enemies, their combinations and the obstacles of the arenas in which we find them make fighting fun and sometimes a challenge.
The fights were exciting, especially against the bosses, but my favorite gameplay moments in Tales of Kenzera: Wide were the platform sequences. Zau is a fast and easy to control character, going at full speed jumping and using his abilities to overcome obstacles in a chain feels very satisfying.
Death may come quickly, but the checkpoints are quite generous. There is no feeling as pleasant as finally overcoming a challenge after dying numerous times in it. Of course I can say that some of those deaths were not my fault. There are times when the camera doesn’t seem to respond to Zau’s speed, leaving little room to react to what’s coming.. There are also spikes and enemies with a very strange ‘hitbox’ and there were fights in which there were so many enemies, shots and effects at the same time that I lost sight of the protagonist.
I want to go back to Kenzera!
I enjoyed a lot Tales of Kenzera: Wide y I hope the love I feel for bella history of the game is reflected in this review. But I also have to say that, At a playable level, it didn’t seem like anything special to me. A few months before I played Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownwith which it has many similarities, and that Ubisoft work is much better in terms of mechanics and structure.
The defects it may have at the gameplay level are quite compensated for by its setting and story. It is not the best of the ‘metroidvania’, but it is a game that I definitely recommend to lovers of the genre, to newcomers to it and to all those who feel attracted by a very emotional story that takes us to a world rarely seen in the past. video game.
The name of this game makes me believe that Zau’s story is just one of many tales set in the fantastical land of Kenzera. I’m excited about the idea of playing more titles in this same universe.
It’s true that there are too many ‘metroidvania’ style games, but they all have something interesting to contribute. In the case of Tales of Kenzera: Wide We have a fantastic setting inspired by African legends and culture, as well as a beautiful story about a young man who cannot get over the death of his father. Its gameplay full of action and platform challenges is nothing special, but it is very fun and sometimes even exciting. Although it feels a bit wasted on a playable level, we fell in love with Kenzera and want to see more games in this universe.
Review made with a digital copy of Tales of Kenzera: Zau for PS5 provided by Electronic Arts. The game will also be available for PC, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.
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