Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a side scrolling debut title from Surgent Studios. It is a 2.5D side scrolling metroidvania platformer is bursting with African mythology, and I am counting down the days before its release. So, here’s everything you need to know in order to get started in a few weeks.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau Demo Takeaways
A demo for Tales of Kenzera: Zau was released on PC, and here’s the spoiler-free walkthrough. It took place in the starting area Patakatifu a crossroads of sorts whose looming statues and purple skies were a great visual metaphor for Zau’s grief. The main narrative revolves around Zau the titular character and traditional healer travelling with Kalunga the god of death in an attempt to reclaim his father’s life.
In regard to gameplay, Tales of Kenzera’s platforming is a fluid experience that has a bit of leeway and is focus more on rapid movement that pixel perfect precision and that approach is very empowering since the player can correct themselves mid-jump without much consequence and this also encourages experimentation in combat. Finally, a new ability, Banda’s Stone is unlocked that transformed how the game is traversed by freezing water it allows the players to traverse on it like any other solid surface, and it can also freeze enemies in combat. That was when I realized that Tales of Kenzera: Zau had depth, despite its simplistic design.
Onto the technical side of the game, it is also very well optimized and in my time in the demo, I experienced no technical issues. On my PC with an Nvidia RTX 3060, and Ryzen 5 5600, the game stayed at 120fps at 1080p with max settings.
The combat itself was just as fun, it consists of two styles that can be toggled manually at any time. The first style has ranged attacks, while the other style emphasises these slower, stronger mêlée attacks this novel approach to combat of dynamic swapping between the two approaches is very intuitive. I really like how it encourages player expression with the press of a button. That being said, the combat did feel a bit repetitive, I just hope they’ll suffice in the full game.
Developer Commentary and Closing Thoughts
According to Abubakar Salim the game’s creative director, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is an exploration of grief in its totality. This game stems from the most vulnerable parts of the human experience regarding loss. This desire to understand the layers of grief informs every aspect of the game’s design. Whether it’s the art design, acting as a metaphor for how life moves on even after losing a loved one. Or how the Metroidvania genre is a metaphor for grief since the player is tossed into an unfamiliar environment and they have to learn new skills in order to thrive and progress in the journey. Abubakar also listed Ori and the Blind Forest, Hades, and the book Indaba: My Children as influences on the game.
Having played the demo for Tales of Kenzera: Zau, I can certainly feel the passion this studio has and if the final version of the game carries itself with as much sincerity this could open the door to a new generation of storytellers in the industry. Additionally, this game will launch with both an English and a Swahili cast and the English cast will have a lot of new voices for us. Honestly seeing Letoya Makhene on the English cast got me excited because I am very familiar with her work on Isidingo and Generation: Legacy being the South African that I am.
We're thrilled to announce the talented voice cast for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU! ☀️🌙
In addition to English, our game is FULLY voiced in Swahili, bringing this beautiful language to the gaming world for a truly immersive experience! #ZauTheGame pic.twitter.com/CcBtIq9gGr
— Tales of Kenzera™: ZAU (@ZauTheGame) April 3, 2024
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is releasing on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and on the Nintendo Switch, as well as on PC on April 23rd, 2024, for $19.99 USD. It will also be on the PS+ service day one.
Author Credit: Fumo Chabalala.
