A story of loss and grief told with love and passion.
Losing a parent is never easy, no matter how old you are or what you have been through, nothing can prepare you for it. After experiencing the loss of a parent and navigating the journey of grief, I felt compelled to play this game. Abubakar Salim used his talents to help create this game to honor and pay tribute to his father. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU isn’t just your average metroidvania, the debut game by “Surgent studios”, is an amazing experience about the journey of dealing with death and coping with grief. Most games that deal with death tend to be dark and twisted but Tales of Kenzera: ZAU completely changes that. It’s a game so full of emotions, spirit and love that explores the most unavoidable part of life. Thank you to EA for the code and allowing me to playthrough this amazing game.
I got A Story To Tale
For those of you who are not familiar, co-founder and head of Surgent Studios, Abubakar Salim gave us the first sneak peak at Tales of Kenzera: ZAU at the 2023 Game Awards. He stood on stage full of emotion and expressed how his father inspired him and how Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was a tribute to him. In Tales of Kenzera, you start the game as Zuberi, a young man grieving after the lost of his father. He finds a book written by his father called Kenzera, and that’s where we are introduced to the main protagonist Zau. Zau, whose Baba(father)has also passed, goes to the GOD of death Kalunga; to offer a trade to bring his father back. This kicks off the start of your emotional and heartfelt journey.
Zau and Kalunga are put into unknown and scary situations on their journey. Along the way Kalunga tires to impart his wisdom and guidance to help balance out Zau and his somewhat reckless attitude. The two tend to butt heads but the bantering creates a great dynamic. You explore the spiritual and loving side as you help others deal with grief and loss as well as coming to terms with your own. Your journey isn’t just filled with anger and sadness, there are wonderful moments of joy and love in this story.
A Platform full of feelings
For me, it’s been a while since I have played through a platformer or Metroidvania type of game. So it was a pleasant surprise jumping into Tales of Kenzera and everything felt smooth. Zau was incredible to control, from dashing to jumping to gliding, movement was great and it gets better as you unlock more. The combat was satisfying as you switch between the Sun and Moon mask to defeat enemies. Each mask offers a different way to attack, from long range to up close melee.
The core focus , besides the extravagant story , is the platforming in Tales of Kenzera. It can be fluid, responsive , and challenging . That’s not to say I didn’t have my issues with some parts of it. In numerous scenarios, Zau finds himself fleeing from a ruthless adversary capable of instantly ending him. Coupled with an awkward camera that’s difficult to keep up with and an excess of lethal traps that multiply in later stages, it creates moments of trial and error that can be tiring and frustrating. Adding to the frustration are certain mechanics, which can seem glitchy and fail to activate reliably.
Small in stature but BIG in heart!
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is not a large game but has several different areas you get to explore; which range from a sandy desert, to a swampy forest to a volcanic mountain. The game offers fast travel to help with backtracking to complete spirit trials and hidden elements for unlockables. The map, while it unlocks once you enter an area, it can be a bit confusing at times. It doesn’t do a great job at showing where you have or haven’t been and you aren’t able to leave a mark or waypoint.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is beautiful game with a beautiful story about grief and self-reflection. The heartfelt characters you meet, you not only help them but they help you work through your own grief. Tales is filled with a heart pounding soundtrack that knows when to add to the ambience of the game. Impeccable job by Surgent Studios for the immense love shown to the Bantu culture throughout the game and making Swahili a language option in the game. Everything you do in this game is a way for Zau and Zuberi to get closer to their fathers through their legacies .Tales of Kenzera:Zau might not add anything new to the Metroidvania genre, but its heartfelt story and gameplay truly shines bright.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau was played on Xbox and I was given a code by Electronics Arts. Made by Surgent Studios and published by EA as a game under EA Originals.
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