The Prince of Kenzera
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a deeply personal story about processing grief and loss wrapped in a competent Metroidvania. Developer Surgent Studios has crafted an emotional and sometimes gut-wrenching story one that studio head; Abubakar Salim has been very open about using the loss of his father as a basis. In Tales of Kenzera: Zau the narrative is presented as a story within a story. Players are introduced into a young boy named Zuberi who has lost his father. At the behest of his mother, he picks up a book that his father wrote about, you guessed it, a shaman named Zau from the Afrofuturistic city of Kenzera.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
Zau goes on to appeal to Kalunga, the god of Death, by offering a bargain. The legends tell of three Great Spirits who have alluded the great God of death, Zau informs him that he will bring these spirits to heel but Kalunga must return Zau’s father from the dead. Sure, just a simple task but as Kalunga thinks, he agrees. Making this type of bargain for his father’s soul is nothing short of an act of sheer desperation. Of course, Zau doesn’t see it as such, all he can see is his tremendous loss. The genius part of the narrative in Tales of Kenzara is the gradual uncovering that Zau might not not actually be up to this task. Death is something that we as the living have to find a way to come to terms with, and this game does an excellent job of showcasing just how hard that acceptance can be. This is a very human game, one that each of us, sooner or later in our lives will be able to relate to and it’s told in such a beautiful way.
As a shaman, Zau uses his fathers’ masks to take his enemies to task. The mask of the sun allows Zau to utilize burning melee combat, where as the mask of the moon uses ranged magic that allows attack from afar. Players are able to switch back and forth between these abilities at will, which makes for some pretty dope combos. In fact, combos are encouraged in Tales of Kenzera, but before you think you may need to memorize pages of inputs, know that there are few attacks but endless loops to be created here. Being a metroidvania game means that players will find various abilities along the way to help progress their journey. One of my biggest issues with the game is the way the map is handled, as any fan of metroidvanias knows being able to keep track of where one has been versus what hasn’t been explored is a big deal.
In Tales of Kenzara when players enter a new area the map is fully visible for the entire area so it’s impossible to tell where you haven’t been which leads to a lot of backtracking and mistakes if players aren’t paying attention. For all you completionist there are some hidden things scattered throughout the map but just know because of the way the map is handled its going to be tough going to find everything. Players will find trinkets around the map as well which will help to add some passive combat boosts, nothing groundbreaking in the genre and all of which feels pretty standard. Aside from a few platforming issues Tales of Kenzera doesn’t do anything adherently wrong, its gameplay and combat feel very safe and run of the mill; which doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, it just isn’t groundbreaking for genre.
By far and away the best thing about Tales of Kenzera: Zau is its narrative, Surgent Studios have proven themselves to be quite the masterful storytellers. A story tackling grief, acceptance and loss is rare in this day and age and the team have done extremely well of making it relatable. Not only that but the world and imagery in Kenzera is some of the best I’ve seen and I hope that this is just the beginning for these tales of Kenzera, as I am certainly ready for more.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
