05Game conditions: We played Kena: Bridge of Spirits on Nintendo Switch 2, both in docked mode and in portable mode, thanks to a code provided by the publisher.
A new welcoming land
If you don’t know anything about Kena: Bridge of Spiritslet’s take a brief reminder of what Ember Lab’s gem is. Unveiled in June 2020 during the flagship PlayStation 5 conference, the action-adventure game with a visual close to a Pixar production directly directed the public’s gaze towards it, until its shy release in September 2021 after several postponements. Featuring a young girl, Kena, presented as a young spirit guide in search of a sacred mountain, she will have to free the spirits trapped in a forgotten village thanks to the help of powerful spiritual companions, the Rot.
We talked to you about it extensively in our test released at the time, the game will then focus on the theme of the passage of spirits from the world of the living to that of the dead. Helped in her task by these famous Rots as cute as they are furry, the young girl would have to combine her physical abilities with those inherited from her status as a guide to bring the different environments she crossed to life, all in a dark and mysterious atmosphere.
Carrying a very good 81 Metacritic score, Kena: Bridge of Spirits was able to convince with its aesthetic as cute as it is intoxicating, but also with its not-so-accessible adventure with combat that is just as challenging as it is technical, parries, dodges and attacks that must be rhythmic and rhythmic, requiring good technical mastery. This was the case on PlayStation 5 (which took the opportunity to showcase the prowess of its DualSense controller) and generally all the supports concerned since, but what about its Nintendo Switch 2 version?
Still so beautiful
We must first point out that this Nintendo Switch 2 version benefits from all the additions previously made on competing platformsnamely the Anniversary Update adding the New Game +, new enemies and even new phases for some bosses, such as charm stones, additional trials accessible from the sanctuary of masks and an improved photo mode. So many additions have added to an already very complete experience, to be completed in around ten hours. Sold for €39.99, this Switch 2 version is therefore rather accessible, even if we regret for the moment the absence of a physical version.
Several years after having touched the “triple-i” jewel for the first time, as we could call it, it took us a few dozen minutes of adaptation to regain our former reflexes. Particularly because we might tend to forget that Kena: Bridge of Spirits is not a simple “easy access” adventure game but rather a more action-oriented epicwith multiple confrontations, and even quite tricky boss fights, which will reward us with mastering the controls of our heroine, in addition to being embellished with sumptuous music here and there.
The handling returned to its peak, what was the pleasure of diving back into this universe so bucolic, so strange too, screaming with cuteness and still so well animated. Even if on this last aspect, we still have to separate our observations into two parts: first the cutscenes (criticized at the time for their framerate based on animated films compared to the gameplay which can go up to 60 fps), which retain their characteristic touch and their brilliance without deterioration, for our greatest visual pleasure.
However, it is not the same for the entirety of the gameplay phases, which will sometimes inherit the weaknesses of their new home consolesalthough this is surprising because of the power offered by the new Nintendo machine, capable of running more ambitious titles (as we saw with Assassin’s Creed Shadows And Star Wars: Outlaws notably). As a result a drop in framerate during more intense fights, camera problems (quite rare, let’s admit it) but also and above all some more organic issues grouping fairly present aliasing and even popping of elements on screen.
But still imperfect?
An observation that we were more easily able to make in docked mode, where the machine should have provided more power and therefore fewer elements relating to a less powerful platform than the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series or a well-calibrated PC. Despite some additional concessionsvisible mainly during sustained visual effects, Kena: Bridge of Spirits does really well in nomadic modewhere one might have believed in more drastic technical concessions to keep things running smoothly. Our verdict is necessarily linked to the size of the screen, less practical for seeing all the faults, but it remains more than enough to admire an achievement, which is also often breathtaking, and which underlines in a quite subtle way the story of a Kena who is nevertheless quite self-effacing, unfortunately.
The opportunity to clarify that, contrary to what we thought, we do not have the possibility to choose between two rendering modes. On Nintendo Switch 2, everyone will play in the same configuration and with the same settings, namely textures approaching an upscaled 4K (a little runny) on TV and 1080p in nomadic mode, and 30 frames per second in both cases. The textures are then poorly refined, sometimes unsightly at times (except during the cutscenes), while the fights considered quite nervous could be frustrating when you are used to playing with an increased framerate these days. In the end, we could compare this port to a PlayStation 4 or even PlayStation 4 Pro version, given certain boosted sequences.
Other technical problems tarnished our experience somewhat, namely problems with the user interface and/or the display of text on signs to read, the text of which overflowed on both sides of the screen. Various collision bugs and some poorly positioned hitboxes also blocked us in a few places. On the other hand, let’s admit that it improved greatly during the successive updates surrounding the commercial launch of the game.
The adaptive triggers of the Joy-Con 2, however, provide a welcome semblance of resistance, while we could regret the lack of finesse of the HD vibrations provided by the Nintendo console, occasionally too pronounced and noisy, which necessarily contrast with those, very subtle, of a DualSense, without supporting the touch screen either in passing. But here again, the comparison could lack interest as the proposals are different, to refocus on the essential: it is now possible for us to play natively Kena: Bridge of Spirits quite pleasantly and that will be more than enough for most players.
With inevitable but sometimes surprising technical concessions given other game ports from the same generation, Kena: Bridge of Spirits does not shine as much as we would have liked on Nintendo Switch 2. Far from being a disaster, the port ignores various improvements expected in docked mode, by offering quite marked aliasing, popping of elements and other display bugs and slowdowns during frenetic combat, while strangely doing a little better once in our nomadic hands. It nevertheless remains a pleasure to find Kena and her furry friends in an adventure that is still as cute (and demanding), in full edition, before discovering the rest of their adventures later this year, which we hope will approach the same level on Nintendo Switch 2 as on its living room competitors.