Tales of Kenzera: Zau – disappointing Metroidvania with a great storyline

Beautiful jungle landscapes alternate with stretches of dry deserts. In between, I’m told the exciting story of a mourner, interwoven with Bantu myths (page in German). Tales of Kenzera: Zau has taken the serious topic of losing a loved one and wrapped it up in a game. The contrast between a heavy topic and a video game primarily made to entertain works, and is visually enhanced by the bright colour palette.

What’s less impressive is the Metroidvania gameplay. The world of Kenzera is linear and doesn’t invite you to explore it. Although the few bosses are simplistic, the fights in the battle arenas are often chaotic. The landscapes are diverse, which is more than I can say for the enemies.

A touching story

In the game, you play the eponymous Zau, who’s grieving over his father he recently lost. In this state of mourning, he makes contact with Kalunga, the God of Death. Zau wants to get his father back. As a shaman, one of Zau’s tasks is to guide spirits into the afterlife. Death being a rite of passage and common practice in Bantu ethnic groups. This makes the setting of Tales of Kenzera: Zau unusual and exciting.

The story’s inspired by the experience of game director Abubakar Salim. Incidentally, he’s also the voice actor of protagonist Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Like Zau, Salim also lost his father. To him, the game is also a way of coping with his own loss. The dialogues, mainly those between Zau and Kalunga, are well written. During their journey together, Zau must accompany ghosts into the afterlife. The reasons why the ghosts need his help hold the mirror up to Zau: just like the ghosts, he can’t let go.

The topic of coming to terms with loss is dealt with beautifully, and the story of Tales of Kenzera: Zau touches me.

Generic Metroidvania stuff

I’m not particularly impressed with the gameplay featured in this eight-hour game. Sure, there’s a large, connected world, but it doesn’t invite you to discover it. What’s more, there’s hardly anything to explore. The map completely fills out as soon as you enter a new area. And you can immediately make out the few forks in the paths. It’s obvious where you have to go and where you can’t. There’s also not much to collect, which means there’s no backtracking to do. That’s probably great news if you’re new to the genre, but I miss it.

The areas feel like a tunnel you have to go through to reach your destination. Although this is ultimately the case with all Metroidvanias, I’m constantly aware of it in Tales of Kenzera: Zau. You unlock exploration skills such as gliding by progressing through the story. The platforming passages are nothing special and also on the easy side.

The combat system is simple, but features some good ideas. Zau’s shaman mask gives him the power of the moon and the sun. With the moon mask, he attacks from a distance; with the sun mask, he turns into a close-combat fighter. Some enemies have colour-coded shields you can destroy more quickly with the corresponding mask. You can switch back and forth between them at the touch of a button. Abilities for both masks are unlocked via a skill tree. The combat system’s fun, but not earth-shattering.

If you’re hoping to encounter lots of bosses like in Hollow Knight, you’ll be let down by Tales of Kenzera: Zau. In fact, you can count them on one hand. The same goes for regular opponents. All of them are pretty obvious about their attacks and not a great challenge as a result. Things generally only become tricky in the battle arenas, where you have to fight hordes of opponents. It’s chaotic and hard to keep track of things because of all the effects.

Beautiful landscapes

Visually, Tales of Kenzera: Zau’s absolutely stunning. The world in its 2.5D graphics is full of variety. At the start, you climb a high mountain, later on, you’re underground, in a dusty desert or a leafy jungle.

I played the game on a Steam Deck, which needs lots of computing power. To get more than 40 frames per second in heated situations, I had to set the details to minimum at a resolution of 1280 × 800. Despite this measure, the Steam Deck still heated up and the fans were roaring.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S in April 23. The game was provided to me by EA for testing purposes on a PC.