Kena: Bridge of Spirits lit up eyeballs when its charming, Pixar-esque world was trailered all the way back in June 2020, for Sony's big virtual showcase.
The game looked like a cross between a Disney movie and Japan𓄧ese anime, and this winning art style drew enormous attention for the rookie developer behind the game, Ember Lab.
Following Kena’s launch in September this year, critics noted its gameplay w♍as somewhat derivative and safe. Titles such as God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Tomb Raider, and Breath of the Wi♑ld have all been cited as potential influences on Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
While remarking on this action-adventure trail of borrowings, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:TheGamer gave it 4/5, with our editor-in-chief calling it “so damn lovable”. Its impressive visuals, meanwhile, have been described variously as “a beautiful aesthet🐬ic and perhaps the best animation I’ve ever seen in a game” and as a “168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hollow pastiche of Pixar aಞnd Studio Ghibli”.
But all this attention may have been brought about by an unusual set of circumstance🌞s. In an interview with , the tiny team behind Kena revealed the serendipitous and strange r🍌oad to releasing Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
At the start of 2020, with Sony preparing to for🎃mally announce the PlayStation 5, the console maker’s marketing team worked with Ember Lab to polish their trailer for Kena. Founded by two brothers, Mike and Josh Grier, they had previously never made a videogame but understood a trailer launched under Sony’s stewardship would guarantee millions of eyes for their title.
But things went a little awry when💙 the pandemic came.
The Los Angeles-based Ember Lab had to prepare a virtual showcase instead, hiring a cameraman who had to wear a full hazmat suit to film a video. Partly due to pandemic conditions, Sony’s 🍌stable of blockbusters were delayed and the Japanese games giant boosted Kena’s visibility with outsized marketing, treating it as a big launch.
But it was the June 2020 showcase which really helped the brothers out, as the trailer for Kena proved to be a hit, drawing glowing write-ups from✤ fans and critics.
“I think that helped push u🐟s to the front of the line in terms of games they were going 💎to highlight and showcase when they could,” said Mike Grier, in the interview with Bloomberg.
Ember Lab started life as an animation service house in 2009. A short fan film based on ♛The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask went viral in 2016 and this pushed the brothers to try their hand at full-time game development. They worked on an early version of Kena, which they pitched at game conferences. Several publishers expressed interest but developers struck a deal with Sony. This came with lovely perks su✅ch as being briefed on the PS5 a year before the console was announced and getting their hands on early development kits.
Overall, Ember Lab seem pretty pleased with how things have turned out. The G♍riers told Bloomberg Kena has “recouped the game’s initial costs” and that the team are “ple🍰asantly surprised with sales so far”.
“Sony’s happy,” Josh Grier said, in the interview, mentioning that although they are not certain what their next title will look like, they're fairly sure it’ll be a narrative-driven game similar to Kena.
Perhaps we will get that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:ma♉sterful sequel our editors a♓re hoping for.
