They say a change is as good as a rest, and Tales Of Kenzera: Zau is a case in point. Metroidvania games are so abundant these days that you may indeed feel like a break before you dive into yet another, especially one that borrows liberally from Moon Studios’ Ori games and bears more than a passing resemblance to Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown. But by planting its feet in a cultural idiom rarely seen in games of any kind, Tales Of Kenzera underlines the value of transporting the familiar to new horizons, and excavating the mythologies within.
A sad reality is brought to the surface here – that we don’t see much of Africa in videogames, and when we do it’s often depicted as a modern war zone, the occasional relic hunt or foray to ancient Egypt aside. Thus, in taking the Bantu cultures of central and southern Africa as a starting point, Surgent Studios enters a kind of uncharted territory. And through a plot device that frames the bulk of the game as a fiction within the fiction, it feasts on a folklore that translates as easily into action adventure as its intensively farmed Greek or Norse equivalents.
More than many other digital treatments of mythology, in fact, your quest has the character of a legend with an ageless lesson at its core. Youthful shaman Zau strikes a deal with the god of death for the return of his deceased father on condition that he seeks out three rogue great spirits and gives them the violent nudge they need to pass to the other side. Impulsive and naïve, Zau will of course learn about accepting the inevitability of death along with the responsibility that older generations leave behind, but only by battling monsters, surmounting obstacles and discovering artefacts in the depths of the land’s grandest locations.
Naturally, the game’s regions are constructs of carefully arranged platforms and compact battle arenas, and each great spirit rules over a very different land – the skies, the forests, a volcano – situated at the farthest flung corners of the world. A little less expected, though, is that Zau’s journey takes largely direct routes, as he focuses on his next target and forges forth until he arrives, detours to seek out keys and new gear notwithstanding. As in Ori or Guacamelee, in other words, exploration is a relatively minor concern here, and only occasionally do you pass an area that remains off limits until later. You’re also unlikely to rack up significant air miles on the game’s fast-travel network.
One reason there’s not much need to double back is that Zau begins the game with several genre staples already in his pocket – a double jump, a wall jump, a horizontal dash – so few ledges are beyond reach. The skills you gain from finding new equipment, meanwhile, are tailored to fit prescribed scenarios – tools you need to advance rather than opening up the world. Yet if this structure is a little restrictive, it certa
