“This game is in memory of those who touched our lives and in recognition of their resilient spirit,” reads the splash screen for Tales of Kenzera: Zau, the brand new Metroidvania from EA Originals and Surgent Studios that releases today, April 23rd for all platforms.
Abubakar Salim, actor and founder of Surgent Studios, created this game as a way to process his grief after the loss of his father, so you are dealing with an adventure like Zau, the title’s protagonist.
See also: Embracer Group: Divided into three separate companies
For this reason the game is a Metroidvania, as the genre avoids linearity, forcing you to repeat the same path to eventually move forward.
To help you get through the beautiful story with relative ease, Tales of Kenzera cleverly provides a significant toolkit from the start, which helps avoid the traps that often affect a Metroidvania. Zuberi, a young boy who recently lost his father due to a long‑term illness, turns to a book his father left him. The protagonist in that book is Zau, a shaman who decides to bring his father back after a plague that ended his life. For’ this purpose, Zau summons Kalunga, the god of death, and promises to prove his worth by exchanging his father's return. To do this, he must travel to Kenzera, a land filled with lost souls, and face three of the strongest spirits. However, he has help – thanks to his father's teachings, Zau can harness the powers of the sun and the moon with two masks that you can easily switch by pressing L1 (or the corresponding button on your controller.
See also: “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” Revealed with Epic New Trailer
The Sun mask gives you strong close‑range attacks, while the Moon mask offers ranged attacks, and the switch between them is known as “the dance”. It's a fitting name, as Tales' combat system is smooth like ballet and the ease with which you can move between ranged attacks and close attacks makes the fight fun, though not necessarily original. As the game progresses, knowing when to switch between attacks becomes essential. Multi‑enemy attacks require you to move quickly and think even faster, switching to the close‑range mask attack to eliminate a distant enemy on a beachhead just to immediately put on the Sun mask to face an enemy approaching you with its unique special attack – a fiery tornado. Enemies with color codes detect which mask you should use each time.
And both masks have their own skill trees that you can progress through, and Zau can be equipped with Items (somewhat like the Amulets in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) to help him traverse this world. The Bamba’s Stones, allow you to freeze enemies, streams and waterfalls, the latter of which let you use them as walls to progress. Unlike other Metroidvanias, however, there isn’t much world exploration for the player offered by unlocking new skills and not much emphasis on collectible items.
See also: New Game Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
This, combined with combat that can occasionally feel similar (there are no multiple types of enemies) or very easy (some bosses can be eliminated easily), and Tales of Kenzera is clearly an accessible, easy-to-approach Metroidvania – suitable given the material. I can imagine that this is the type of game used to teach children (and adults with halted grief like me) about loss, and the easy playability is critical for’ that.
With foam-futuristic aesthetic
Although Tales of Kenzera: Zau does not break any boundaries in the Metroidvania genre regarding combat, it does so everywhere else. It is evident from the start that this game covers almost unexplored ground in the industry – there are Bantu myths, music inspired by Ghana (by composer Nainita Desai, with the same choir that lent its voices to Marvel's Black Panther movies) and stunning foam-futuristic landscapes. The colorful world blends the nature of West Africa with vibrant, futuristic science‑fiction structures, all sautéed in this spectacular style. As you run through its 2D environments, you will find many moments that will make you pause, either to admire a floating island of plants or to look at a luminous waterfall while wondering where it ends.
And the voice acting, led by Salim himself as Zau (you may recognize him as Bayek from Assassin’s Creed Origins, or as the Father in the TV series Raised By Wolves), is excellently performed. The youthful intense Salim behind Zau blends beautifully with the wise and patient Kalunga (Tristan D. Lalla). You'll get bored smiling every time these two meet, even if it's after a series of unjustified deaths. You develop a friendly relationship with them as easily as you quickly learn the combat system of the Tales of Kenzera game, and although there is a sense of comfortable camaraderie in all of this, the writing of its dialogue, which feels so easy, is the most difficult.
See also: Take-Two: New Layoffs and Game Cancellations
The bright moments are occasionally interrupted by intense points of sadness, but the flow is so good that you will manage – except for the moment when you start the game for the first time – to get through Tales of Kenzera without falling into hysteria. As you play, you will truly feel that this game helps in your journey of sadness, taking you by the hand to guide you (and sometimes through the difficult platforming sections).
There is something very special about Tales of Kenzera, something that seems to transcend video games and extends into a larger cultural commentary. Salim has said many times that this game was created to help him process his own sorrow, but what he created is a beautiful tool for all of us to confront this dark corner in our minds, with tears in our eyes.
The Tales of Kenzera never reaches a point where you think you have to quit – but it will keep you calm and focused during periods of emotional tension. When you take a break from the game to go get coffee, you will feel lighter, as if you just finished a particularly useful therapy session.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is out today, April 23rd for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S , and PC. It's a short game (it'll take you about 8 hours to finish), priced at $17.99.
Source: kotaku
