‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’: How Long Does It Take to Beat?
Fifteen months after its initial reveal, Kena: Bridge of Spirits finally hit PC and consoles on Sept. 21. The studio behind the highly-anticipated video game, Ember Lab, teased an action-adventure filled with engaging combat, but does the story last a while? Here’s how long it could take to beat Kena: Bridge of Spirits, plus Ember Lab’s hopes for players.
What is ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ about?
Kena: Bridge of Spirits follows a young spirit guide named Kena, who uses her magical abilities to help the dead reach the spirit world. When a village in the forest is abandoned after a tragedy, Kena must help the lost souls find their way, restoring the town in the process. However, some of these spirits have become corrupt. Before they can move on, Kena must defeat them in battle, and she’ll need assistance.
Enter Rot, a breed of spirit companion that can help Kena on her journey. Rot can complete tasks, aid in combat, and even serve as a distraction to enemies. The more Rot players collect, the more strength Kena has in her abilities. Kena can also build Karma by restoring the village, which will further improve her powers.
How many hours is ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’?
In an interview with SegmentNext, Ember Lab co-founder and Kena co-creator Josh Grier estimated that the story takes about eight to 10 hours to complete. However, the game has multiple difficulty settings, affecting how long it takes to beat.
According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the easiest mode is Story Mode, which offers less aggressive enemies and weaker damage. From there, enemies increase in difficulty with Spirit Guide and Expert Spirit Guide. A final difficulty setting, Master Spirit Guide, unlocks when players finish the game for the first time. When players select Master Spirit Guide, they can’t go back and change the setting later.
In addition to the main story, Kena: Bridge of Spirits features extra areas to explore and several collectibles. Finding these will add gameplay time, especially for players who want to earn all 42 trophies.
“We intentionally kept the main story relatively short in order to focus on developing a great story and memorable characters. However, we also encourage exploration by including collectibles and optional areas to unlock,” Grier told SegmentNext. “Some of these include tracking down all the Rot companions to increase Kena’s power and abilities, finding Rot Hats to customize her little friends, as well as Spirit Mail left behind by lost spirits that will enable the player to access new areas and challenges.”
Josh Grier hopes ‘Kena’s combat will make for replayability
Kena: Bridge of Spirits only has one path in the plot, but Grier said he hopes the combat and the nature of the story will bring players back for multiple playthroughs. He told SegmentNext:
While there is a set plot that the player will experience, the combat aspect offers plenty of replayability where players can test their skills by increasing the difficulty level to put their proficiency and tactics to the test. Only very skilled players will be able to best the challenges in Master Spirit Guide mode. We also hope that, like a great film, players will want to experience the story and characters again, even once they have completed the game the first time.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is now available digitally on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Physical editions for the PS4 and PS5 are expected to arrive in November.
