Amandla; Awethu!
High The art direction is unmatched.
Low The fast travel points are too far apart for my liking.
WTF I can beat up Tokoloshes!
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a side-scrolling 2.5D metroidvania platformer. Much like other metroidvanias, the game revolves around traversing a large, interconnected map while acquiring abilities that open the world by granting access to previously blocked areas or awarding new tools to either attack enemies or find collectibles nestled in previously-unreachable locations.
Tales of Kenzera’s presentation is likely the first thing anyone will notice about it, even before being aware of its genre. The starting area of Patakatifu is surreal purple skies overlooking three imposing statues, and the next space is inspired by Ndebele iconography, taken from an ethnic group that resides in South Africa and Zimbabwe. They’re in the Nguni family of languages which also includes the Zulu, Xhosa, and Swati tribes, notable for geometric patterns adorning their households.
This setting is refreshing, because it isn’t just a mere change of scenery — it’s also the first time I’ve ever felt represented in a game as a black South African. Abubakar Salim and his team have crafted an experience whose visual and auditory sensation is unique, while conveying the universal themes of loss, grief, and family with ironclad conviction that stems from the creative director’s love for his late father.
The narrative in ToK is one of grief. At the start of the adventure, Zau, our protagonist, summons Kalunga (a death deity) and vows to defeat three spirits for him in exchange for the resurrection of his father.
Throughout the journey, Zau must confront his own grief, juxtaposed with the three spirits he has to conquer. For example, one is a mother who, even after death, isn’t ready to let her daughter grow up. That refusal to move on mirrors Zau’s own sense of denial, as he can’t get past his own father’s passing. Kalunga and Zau have excellent voice acting bolstered by their chemistry, and these performers got me immediately invested in their journey.
While the story elements are strong, I’m ambivalent on TOK’s movement and mechanics.
The jumping and dashing, while reliable and well-executed, don’t evolve with any additional capabilities that transform the experience as the adventure goes on. What Zau does in the first hour is largely what he does in the final hour, and that grows monotonous over time. The same can be said about the combat, which consists of light and heavy attacks with a slim number of combos available for the entirety of its runtime, and there’s not much in the way of experimentation when it comes to combos. While new combat abilities are gained through a skill tree, they’re mainly additive. For example, the ranged attack gets a manual reload that increases damage, or the melee buff allows Zau to extend a combo from three to four light attacks.
Regarding performance, I was able to get up to 140fps at the highest settings and 1080p. It ran beautifully on my PC and loading screens were minimal. Outside of a second-long input delay when closing the map, I never encountered any technical issues.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a great first entry in Surgent Studios’ portfolio, and while its systems and the content are a bit too rudimentary at times, especially compared to other modern metroidvanias, the development team’s passion is clearly on display, and I can’t wait to see what else will come from the brilliant mind of Abubakar Salim.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
— Fumo Chabalala
Disclosures: This game is developed by Surgent Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is currently available on XBO/X/S, Switch, PS5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 11 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Fantasy Violence. The official description reads: This is an adventure platformer in which players assume the role of a shaman dealing with the grief of his father’s death. From a side-scrolling perspective, players navigate mazes of levels, solve puzzles, and battle fantastical enemies (e.g., corrupted spirits, Adze) in melee-style combat. Players use spears and cosmic powers from the Sun and Moon to attack enemies. Battles are highlighted by colorful light effects, impact sounds, and dwindling health bars. Boss battles contain more protracted combat.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game is fully playable without sound, enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed and any important information is always conveyed visually in the game at all times. My feeling is that this game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
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