Kena: Bridge of Spirits from Ember Labs finally released this week, initially capturing our attention at the PlayStation 5 gameplay reveal event last year thanks to a visually fresh, appealing presentation. Based on Unreal Engine 4, Kena shines through the artistic accomplishments of the developer, backed by a solid game design and mostly solid performance. However, underlying issues with UE4 do peek through - and they're especially evident on the PC version of the game.
In putting this piece together, we took a look at the game running in both quality and performance modes on PlayStation 5 and factored in platform scaling in both directions. In theory, the PC version should allow us to see Kena running at its absolute best, while taking a look at the game operating on PS4 Pro gives us an idea of how older hardware copes with a very attractive game. As it happens, everything plays out as logically as you would expect - but the extra horsepower in PS5 and high-end PC goes a long way in delivering Kena at its best.
In terms of what makes Kena special, it's not just the style of the art that stands out but also the basic quality in delivery. Every object, every texture and material seems to have been authored with a consistent style and polygon budget. There's an understanding of which edges need to be rounded and which can retain a more obvious polygonal structure. Combine it all together and you rarely find an object that sticks out as being of an inconsistently low res, or modelled oddly. On top of that, character expressions and animations are first class: Ember Lab previously worked on animation shorts for fan films, product advertisements, and other mainstream media.