Kena: Bridge of Spirits hands-on premiere: As good as “Legend of Pikmin” sounds

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  These cute blobs are known as the “Rot,” and when you’re not running around kicking tree-monster butt, you can sit and even meditate with your spooky-cute companions. [credit: Ember Labs ]

Until I played Kena: Bridge of Spirits this week, I wondered why I would carve time out of my gaming schedule to play yet another third-person adventure game. Sure, the game looked cute, but who the heck is this new studio, Ember Lab? And why should I assume this upstart has anything to add to a crowded genre beyond a stylish mystical-forest aesthetic?

One Parsec demo session later, my tune changed entirely.

I was invited to test the new game, slated to launch August 24 on PC, PS5, and PS4, as part of its inclusion in this week’s first-ever Tribeca Games Festival. The title is a serious coup for the fest (especially in a month full of online game reveal “events”). My hands-on hour with the game’s opening quests suggests that Ember Labs may indeed deliver on its promise of presenting a refreshing Zelda-like adventure with a tasteful sprinkling of Pikmin‘s minion-control systems.