Tales of Kenzera: Zau review: The circle of life

Personal stories and grander lessons of life can be told in many different ways, regardless of the medium. That almost goes without saying for books, movies, and music, but it's sometimes worth being reminded that this can also apply to video games. If anything, gaming knows how to accomplish this across a myriad of genres. This, surprisingly, includes Metroidvanias, as evidenced by Tales of Kenzera: Zau, the latest effort from Electronic Arts and Surgent Studios. It's an emotional, sometimes gut-wrenching, story wrapped in what's otherwise a perfectly competent Metroidvania.

Comfort in storytelling

Narratively, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a story within a story. A young boy named Zuberi has lost his father. As part of the grieving process, he picks up a book that his father once authored. Fitting the current situation, the boy's father once wrote a story about a shaman named Zau in the African land of Kenzera. The shaman appeals to Kalunga, the god of death, by offering a deal. If Zau can deliver the three Great Spirits to the god of death, Kalunga must return the spirit of Zau's deceased father.

On the surface, the premise sounds ludicrous and is even initially dismissed by Kalunga himself. The idea of bargaining for a departed soul is an act of pure desperation. It's the rough equivalent of shouting into the void. Nothing should come from it. However, Zau doesn't see that through his grief. His loss is so tremendous that he loses all sense of rationality and is willing to do anything to make things the way they were.

Tales of Kenzera's narrative brilliance comes in gradually conveying over the course of the story that Zau's plea may not be possible. It's a message that's expressed through the characters that Zau encounters over the course of his journey, through the situations he finds himself in, and in his brief moments of triumph. Zau's adventure starts as a long-shot attempt at the impossible, but the true destination comes in learning about and ultimately accepting the natural order of things. The game's story takes players through a gamut of emotions, but the one that it wants them to ultimately walk away with is comfort.

The duality of man

Getting into the mechanical meat of this game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau takes players across a breathtaking African landscape. The sheer beauty of the continental jungles, waterfalls, and cliffsides is something to behold, especially when the realization hits that there aren't a lot of games that use this particular setting. It does fall into a trap that's typical of some 2D Metroidvanias in that the backgrounds are so crisply detailed that it's sometimes hard to tell what players can and cannot interact with, leading to some errant jumps and a few cheap deaths. However, it's worth it, partly because checkpoints are so forgiving, but also because of just how picturesque the game's various locales can be.

Zau will meet with resistance from a somewhat small assortment of enemies, which leads into the game's primary mechanic, which involves the use of his father's masks. Zau's two masks tap into the burning melee power of the sun and the ranged magic of the moon. Most enemies can be damaged by either mask's power, with players able to switch back and forth seamlessly without disrupting the flow of combat. The only time things get tricky is when enemies are armored, as they'll sometimes be armored by a specific mask's power. In fact, players will sometimes get more of a challenge out of overcoming the combat's shortcomings than any actual foes, since a melee combo's momentum can often carry Zau right off a platform and into a bed of spikes for an instant death.

Combat is mostly straightforward. Players won't have to memorize complicated melee combos or do any kind of lengthy mixing and matching of mask abilities. Zau can upgrade his abilities over time, but the upgrades are mostly simplistic. He'll find some field abilities as he moves to the next objective, which helps feed into the backtracking nature of the typical Metroidvania. Examples include a freezing shot that can temporarily create solid waterfalls and creeks and a standard grappling hook-style upgrade that can launch players across large gaps. All of this is serviceable, as are the trinkets that offer a passive combat boost and the occasional fast travel spots, but none of it is particularly groundbreaking.

More engaging are Tales of Kenzera's platforming challenges, especially as players unlock more of Zau's abilities. These sequences will change slightly as the game's story progresses, but completing them felt no less satisfying. Players are tasked with mastering Zau's double jump, air dash, and the other mechanics that he picks up throughout the game in order to progress forward while avoiding any potential death traps. One-hit traps are plentiful in this game and, again, some players may find themselves at odds with the game itself than anything else, thanks to some weird hitboxes that can result in some silly deaths.

Bless the rains down in Africa

Tales of Kenzera: Zau doesn't do much to reinvent the Metroidvania wheel. It doesn't do anything egregious, but it doesn't excel at many aspects of the genre's formula either. It's meant to be comfort food and given the game's narrative, that almost makes it brilliant.

That's because it's the storytelling where Surgent Studios shines. The best example of this is in the game's boss battles with the Great Spirits. Mechanically, there's nothing particularly innovative at work, but the narrative beats that lead up to them are what will prove most memorable. One example involves the game's second boss, which I won't spoil here, but the moments leading up to it are some of the best moments in the game. The imagery put forward and the performances delivered were stellar, even if the eventual boss fight itself couldn't reach those same heights.

As a story of loss, grief, and acceptance, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a game like few out there. It's short and, in some ways, it can be basic. Given the story that it's telling, that's just fine.

This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. Tales of Kenzera: Zau will be available on Tuesday, April 23 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch for $19.99 USD. The game is rated the E10+.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?