Hello and welcome back to What To Play! We've returned from a little hiatus, which you definitely noticed and have been very sad about, of course. It's finally edging towards spring here in the UK, but don't let that tempt you into going outside, there's video games to be a-playin'!

As ever, this is where we'll round up the best games from the month gone by, and the things we're most excited to play from the month ahead - plus, any other suggestions for what might complement it. Here's What To Play This May 2024.

Availability: Out now on PC, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

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Of all the Metroidvania elements in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, my favourite are the trees. Simply enough, meditating inside a tree provides a health boost. It's here the camera pans out to reveal these great, almost magical, natural structures which provide safety, sanctuary and a moment of reflection. Protagonist Zau is a hot-headed and petulant young man desperate to revive his father, but sat quietly in the trunk of a tree, he's just a boy.

The trees are a key example of how Tales of Kenzera transposes the genre to its African setting, but also where its heart lies: with the relationship between a father and son. The game's creator, voice actor Abubakar Salim (best known for his portrayal of Bayek in Assassin's Creed: Origins), has been particularly open about the personal inspiration behind the game: his own experience of grief following the death of his father. There's even a moving short film released ahead of the game. Yet even without knowing this, Tales of Kenzera itself exudes passion and love.

It's a story-within-a-story set in the fictional Afro-futurist land of Kenzera, and it tells the tale of desperate shaman Zau who bargains with Kalunga, god of death, following the passing of his father. Zau must deliver three spirits to win back his father and, along the way of his adventure, he learns to cope with his feelings of grief. Kalunga becomes his father-figure guide who speaks in proverbs and commands Zau with stern yet comforting lessons; Zau in return listens, rebels, argues, and accepts.

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The origins of Tales of Kenzera: Zau are unusual. It’s developed by a new studio called Surgent Studios, which was founded specifically to make this game not by a game designer, but by a voice actor.

Abubakar Salim is perhaps best known as the voice of Bayek, the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Following the death of his father, Salim sought out a way to deal with his grief through fiction. Thanks to childhood memories of playing Genesis games with his father, video games became the medium in which he chose to tell his story. Surgent was born, and with it came Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

This backstory is important to understanding what Tales of Kenzera: Zau is all about. Much like the real-life inspiration, the game focuses on someone dealing with the loss of his father. Zau, a shaman within the fictional land of Kenzera, is devastated by the recent passing of his Baba. Out of desperation, he calls upon Kalunga, the god of death, to bring his father back. Kalunga issues a challenge to Zau: seek the three spirits of the land and solve the associated trials, and he will grant his request.

Each of the game’s acts focuses on the quest to find one of these spirits, and along the way the spirit’s story echoes Zau’s own struggles. They each exist to impart a little wisdom on how to deal with the tough emotions that come with losing a loved one. It feels a lot like a series of fables, each designed to pass on a lesson. The setting adds to this feeling, inspired by folk tales from Salim’s Kenyan heritage, told to him as a child by his father.

From the description of the story, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a pure visual novel or adventure game, focused mostly on story. Instead, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a Metroidvania, inspired heavily by Ori and the Blind Forest. This influence is heavily present, with fast movement and abilities that gradually culminate in Zau being able to traverse the world as if the floor was made of lava. Which, to be fair, in some parts of the game, it is. There are even large-scale chase sequences, clearly inspired by similar sequences in Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Moving around Kenzera is a joy. You get a double jump and a dash right out the gate, along with two modes of combat, based on which shaman mask Zau is wearing. Wearing the Mask of the Moon gives Zau a projectile attack and a quick melee move that can be enhanced to bounce projectiles back to enemies. The Mask of the Sun is a pure melee build, where Zau has a short combo of light attacks or a juggling heavy attack. You can switch masks with the press of a single button, and every part of combat feels fluid and responsive. It’s so fun that it did disappoint me there was no style meter like in Devil May Cry, because it absolutely feels like it could use one.

Platforming is also a blast, with each area built as a series of parkour obstacle courses. You’ll hop off walls, air dash over dangers and slide under low-hanging door frames. Each new ability you get adds to this, with a grappling hook, a directional dash, a glide and a way to turn waterfalls into new walls to jump off. Most of the game involves you dashing through platforming challenges that feature a natural flow that’s incredibly satisfying to pull off.

There are issues with how all this comes together, however. Some combat challenges, particularly late in the game, rely too heavily on bombarding you with enemies that require specific strategies to defeat. Trying to concentrate on one tactic for one enemy often leaves you open to attacks from another, which does occasionally get tiresome.

Progression is also a little too linear. Metroidvanias typically have a sweet spot between linearity and open-endedness. While I’ve recently criticised Biomorph for being too open, Tales of Kenzera swings too much in the opposite direction. You are often on a fixed path for most of the game, with many of the typical genre concessions focused on one or two extra collectibles within a given area. While it was not generally an issue because of how much fun the game is to play, it did remove a lot of the fun of exploration. Mostly because it barely existed.

There are also occasional moments when controls aren’t quite as fluid as they could be. While most games will allow you to hold a direction as a cutscene is coming to an end, allowing you to get moving immediately, Tales of Kenzera does not, leaving multiple moments where Zau simply didn't move. The automatic ledge grab can also sometimes get in the way while navigating tight spaces, particularly when breaking through walls in later parts of the game. Whether this was a quirk of the review copy that will be fixed for the final release remains to be seen.

However, these flaws end up being forgivable for how deeply personal this game feels. There’s a moment at one of the game’s various meditation spots where Zau reflects on the last night of his father’s life. Unsurprisingly, Abubakar Salim voices Zau himself, and in this moment, it feels like he is recounting his own father’s final moments. The performance is powerfully raw and intimate, like he’s confiding in us during a quiet moment. Salim built an entire studio to make this game, all to deal with the grief of losing his father. While the game may have some flaws, moments like this show the passion behind the whole project. This game is not only a success for its creator to deal with his own emotions, but to hopefully help anyone else dealing with similar circumstances see themselves in Zau’s struggles.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a beautiful little game. Fun platforming and a setting we rarely see in games both support a genuinely moving story of grief. While it is a game about the acceptance of death, it’s also about the joys of life. And just like life, it’s a little rough around the edges and can be frustrating, but ultimately worth it.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau will release on the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch on April 23, 2024.

The post Review: Tales of Kenzera: Zau Is a Deeply Personal Metroidvania appeared first on Siliconera.

Until I played Tales Of Kenzera: Zau I figured people had run out of ways to make original platformers, but an Afrofuturist story-in-a-story framing for a mythological platformer about healthy ways to deal with grief sure did teach me to not underestimate human creativity. I really liked a lot about Tales Of Kenzera, and got annoyed by a bunch of stuff too - and the division seems to be that a lot of the former falls on the story and design side, and the latter on the mechanical side, which I guess isn't ideal for a platformer. But still, I think it's worth persevering.

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The Xbox Partner Preview showcase offered us a look at a number of the third-party games heading to Xbox Series X/S this year. We were shown a variety of trailers during the 30-minute presentation, including a taste of the Japanese mythology inspried Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and the announcement of The Sinking City 2.

Whether you missed the presentation or want to revisit one of the spotlighted titles, there's a roundup of everything shown during the Xbox Partner Preview showcase below.

The showcase began with a look at Unknown 9: Awakening from Reflector and Bandai Namco. This body-hopping adventure will be arriving in the summer of 2024. Unknown 9: Awakening has a very strong Assassin's Creed vibe, so, if you're an Assassin's fan, this might be one for you.

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Join us to watch Xbox's latest Partner Preview broacast, which is set to air will air today - Wednesday 6th March - at 6pm UK time. That's 1pm Eastern, or 10am Pacific if you're over the pond.

The video presentation will last 30 minutes and showcase a selection of upcoming third-party games coming to Xbox, with a mix of trailers, gameplay videos, and additional behind-the-scenes information.

So, what do we expect? Well, Xbox has teased a closer look at combat and traversal in the EA-published Metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau from Assassin's Creed Origin star Abubakar Salim, new gameplay of Capcom's Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, as well as another look at The First Berserker: Khazan, a Nexon-published action-RPG which was announced at The Game Awards 2023.

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"Baba…help me Baba…I need you Baba…." So says protagonist Zau at the start of Tales of Kenzera, his voice shaking. That's the voice of Abubakar Salim (Assassin's Creed: Origins), who founded Surgent Studios to create this game as he deals with the loss of his own father.

When he says those words, it doesn't feel like he's acting.

It's this raw, personal edge that lifts Tales of Kenzera above the usual influx of indie metroidvanias. The game's reveal at last year's The Game Awards was one of the more memorable moments of the show as Salim shared the poignant story of playing games with his father. It's this personal history with gaming that's inspired Tales of Kenzera and its paralleling father-son relationship. Playing the demo as part of Steam Next Fest is a striking experience.

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"Baba…help me Baba…I need you Baba…." So says protagonist Zau at the start of Tales of Kenzera, his voice shaking. That's the voice of Abubakar Salim (Assassin's Creed: Origins), who founded Surgent Studios to create this game as he deals with the loss of his own father.

When he says those words, it doesn't feel like he's acting.

It's this raw, personal edge that lifts Tales of Kenzera above the usual influx of indie metroidvanias. The game's reveal at last year's The Game Awards was one of the more memorable moments of the show as Salim shared the poignant story of playing games with his father. It's this personal history with gaming that's inspired Tales of Kenzera and its paralleling father-son relationship. Playing the demo as part of Steam Next Fest is a striking experience.

Read more

I recently had the pleasure to speak with Abubakar Salim, founder of Surgent Studios and creative director of Tales of Kenzera: Zau, about founding his gaming studio and how his childhood, grief, and becoming a father were essential building blocks in the development of Tales of Kenzera: Zau coming to PS5 April 23. Listen to the full interview below.

PlayStation Blog: We’ve been curious about your game ever since you announced it on stage at The Game Awards. How do you feel now that all of it is out there in the open?

Abubakar Salim: Terrified, absolutely terrified. It’s one of those things where we’ve been building it behind the scenes for so long, and you reveal it to people, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, wow, you’ve been building this. It looks so great.’ And you’re like, yes, so much blood, sweat, and tears went into this, but I’m super happy that it’s being received so well.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is your first game. You’re originally more of a gamer, so what was the journey there?

I got into video games from my father. Essentially, he introduced me to them, and he would play a lot. Well, he would watch me play a lot, and he would dive in now and then. It’s always been my medium of taking in stories. I didn’t know you could have a career or work in games. It was this thing that you put a CD in a PlayStation, and gremlins work their magic inside. 

It was one of those where it didn’t cross my mind that you could do it as a career. So I went into acting because I’ve always loved telling stories. Then, I started working in games, and Assassin’s Creed Origins was the first game that I did. I was a massive fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. So then, to be in it was mind-blowing. And that gave me the behind-the-scenes of, oh, wow, there are actual people making this stuff.

You’ve said the game’s gated exploration is well-suited to discussing grief. Can you explain that?

The beauty of these Castlevania or Metroid-like games is you throw the player into a map that they have no idea about, that they’re lost. They’re trying to gauge an idea of what it is, and the longer they spend in it, the more comfortable they feel, but at the same time, it’s still dangerous. And I think that is, to me, the perfect explanation or personification of grief. 

You learn to live with it, and it’s not a bad thing. You then find your boundaries, and you play with them. I’ve accepted that, yeah, I will sometimes feel sad, and sometimes I feel angry. But sometimes, I’ll feel an element of relief and freedom, and that’s okay. At first, it’s a bit alien, but after a while, it’s like, Alright, cool. Let’s play. 

The game is inspired by Bantu mythology. Can you tell us more about that mythology and why you chose it? 

It comes from the stories that my dad would tell me as a kid. My grandfather was a nganga, which is a traditional sort of healer. And my dad would tell me all these wild stories of what he would do and talking to spirits and whatnot. He also told me of the different types of spirits and genies and all this jazz, and I realized that it all comes from Bantu myth.

Bantu is essentially all these different cultures within Africa, like the Zulu, taking a lot from their stories of creation or cosmology, and it’s so rich and vibrant. They have all these incredibly artistic stories that all have a lesson to them, as wild as Greek mythology and Norse mythology to a degree. It felt right paying homage to my father, what he would share with me, and his way of telling stories. It’s just a different perspective that I feel very lucky to have been exposed to.

The game is about getting over grief, but the world is colorful and vibrant. Was it to simply contrast to grief, or was there more to it regarding the art direction?

When I was pitching this to EA, and even to the team, I wanted to tell the story of grief, but I wanted it to be vibrant, colorful, and reactive. I remember feeling, after my father passed away, like the shutters were just open. Everything turned vivid and loud. And I remember it was almost like I was exposed.

Even though there is beauty and a celebration of these different cultures and colors, you’re experiencing them through a kid who is grieving. It doesn’t change the world outside, and that’s part and parcel of it all. Zau still has to do his thing to get to where he needs to, and he needs to react to a world that continues to spin, even though he is in a different mindset.

The theme of fatherhood reminds me of Cory Barlog’s God of War. How has becoming a parent affected the game? 

A lot of the time, what grief can do is make you feel quite insular, makes you think about yourself, and now, being a dad, I joke about this with my friends. I’ve never felt the impulse to jump in front of a train for someone who doesn’t really know me for the first few months of their life. It’s such an animalistic love and care that it helped shape the world of Tales of Kenzera. 

The game originally had these health pickups that you would go to, and it would increase your health, and since having Syrah, my daughter, the inspiration of actually, instead of them being these casual health pickups. What if there were just moments of reflection? What if there were moments of talking about how you feel? 

Can you tell us about the music? 

Nainita Desai and Rob Brown have conjured something magical. We brought Nainita on very early when I was going to explain the game. It’s about this young shaman’s journey, but it’s a story within a story. So you’ve got these two different kinds of cultures clashing and two different perspectives clashing, and she ran with it. 

This whole experience has been surreal. I started this journey with this mentality of I want to make a game, and deliver what I feel is honest and true to me. And the fact that now I’m talking to PlayStation. I’m like, what, this is nuts. This has been really, really magical. Thank you very much.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau will be available on PS5 on April 23.