Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a new video game with a beautiful story centered on African mythology, which is particularly interesting. We’re used to exploring the mythologies of places like Japan, Egypt or the Nordic Countries, but this is something that many people may not be as familiar with. Voice actor Abubakar Salim is the creative mind behind this intriguing project, which he developed to reflect his experience dealing with the passing of his own father.
The end result was Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, a 2.5D “Metroidvania” title with a unique premise that represents the culture of the Bantu people. Electronic Arts decided to collaborate with Surgent Studios to distribute this game through its EA Originals initiative. It is already available for several consoles and we had the opportunity to try it on PlayStation, so we will tell you what we thought of this particular adventure.
What is Tales of Kenzera: ZAU about?
The particular story of this title was one of its biggest surprises, since it takes place within another story: A young man named Zuberi is dealing with the recent death of his father and decides to read the stories he wrote. There we take control of a young shaman named Zau who makes a deal with the God of Death, Kalunga: If he can capture the three Great Spirits of the region, Kalunga will bring his late father back to life. Obviously, death is the main theme of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, but it also touches on other related themes, such as growing up, parenthood, or grief, in clever ways.
To say that we were thrilled with the story of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is an understatement. This is a beautiful narrative, with emotional moments that will stick in your memory, not to mention that it’s an ideal adventure for those who are dealing with a similar situation in their daily lives. The best part is that it also has some unexpected twists and turns that enhanced the whole experience. But don’t be fooled, because ToK: ZAU is far from being a depressing or pessimistic video game. Quite the contrary, it is a beautiful and joyful story that will make you feel better, and all the characters are charismatic, with a good sense of humor.
The Bantu mythology is the star of this game, and it is what helps it stand out from other “Metroidvania” games. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU carries these inspirations with pride and takes advantage of this culture to build a fascinating world. Everything in this adventure is based on elements of Bantu mythology: The characters, the environments, the enemies, the bosses and even the various powers that Zau can gain along his journey. Many players will learn interesting things about the Bantu people through this fun game, and that is something that should not be underestimated.
A huge and colorful map
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a 2.5D video game, which means that everything was created with 3D models, but the camera has a 2D perspective. The end result is something surprisingly beautiful and the environments are without a doubt what stands out the most: Zau must travel through savannas, caves, swamps, jungles, deserts, volcanoes and many more. There is so much variety here and nowhere feels dull or uninspired. The Bantu culture that inspired the creation of this game is used efficiently to bring life and color to all parts of this huge map.
The art direction of this title is exceptional, as, not only do the environments look great, but the characters, enemies and bosses were also brought to life with solid 3D models. Of course, the graphics of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU are not the best and can sometimes look a bit bad, but the colorful art style redeems it because it manages to give it a truly timeless look. What caught our attention the most were the illustrations of the characters that appear during the dialogues, which look great and help to enhance the game’s cinematics.
On the technical side, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU runs perfectly on PlayStation 5, with almost non-existent loading screens, zero glitches and no performance issues. This is where its graphics play to its advantage: they may not be the most impressive on the market, but it’s thanks to them that it can run so well on so many consoles. And its art style helps it still look great, despite the technical quality of its graphics.
However, we must admit that the music in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU left us somewhat disappointed. The excellent composer Nainita Desai created this soundtrack and occasionally, it can be very good. Especially during the cinematics that have beautiful music, which accompanies the scenes of this tragic story. However, when the player is exploring the map or fighting enemies, the background music sounds somewhat generic and has a reduced volume. This title used its inspirations from Bantu culture to create its world and characters, so we would have liked to see a bit more of this reflected in its soundtrack. It’s not bad music, but we feel it could have been a little better.
A fluid and accessible platform adventure
The main mechanic of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is the use of Zau’s two shaman masks: The Mask of the Moon, which allows him to fire projectiles to attack enemies from long distances, and the Mask of the Sun, which allows him to attack enemies from close range with two flaming swords. This is a simple concept that is used in an incredibly efficient way. With the push of a button, the player can change Zau’s masks according to their specific needs, in a gameplay loop that will get deeper and deeper as new abilities are unlocked for both masks.
The gameplay of this adventure is composed of two parts: Platforming and Combat. Zau has a wide variety of practical abilities, such as double jumping, wall jumping, a speedy glide and even powerful special attacks that can eliminate all enemies on screen. All of this works as an excellent set of tools that the player will have to choose from depending on the situation, and luckily, it all feels great to use, thanks to the fluid controls of this game.
Zau will use his colorful powers to explore the vast world, solve intriguing puzzles, defeat powerful enemies and take down imposing bosses. As a 2D platformer with a huge non-linear map, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU technically belongs to the “Metroidvania” genre. But this is a bit of an insincere statement, because ToK: ZAU lacks some of the traditional elements of the genre, mostly because it is quite a bit more linear than expected. This makes it a really accessible and unconfusing game that people looking for a more casual experience will enjoy, but experienced players of the genre may find it too easy.
Obviously, there are plenty of items and powers to discover in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, which will reward anyone who wants to traverse the map multiple times and in a non-linear fashion. And this is something that many players may be eager to do, because this is a surprisingly short video game. We completed the main story in just 8 hours, and if you decide to complete it 100%, it will only take you a couple of hours more.
But the short length is a double-edged sword for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU. On the one hand, this is a very fun, fast-paced experience that not only won’t bore you at any point, but you can also finish it in a few hours. This can be very beneficial for busy people who prefer to play something short and entertaining. But, on the other hand, we couldn’t help but be left wanting more. This is such an interesting and colorful world that we would have liked to experience more locations, powers, enemies and bosses. So we wouldn’t mind if Surgent Studios decides to develop a special version or a sequel with more content.
Another surprising aspect of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is its impeccable difficulty curve: It starts off fairly easy, with weak enemies and simple puzzles, but slowly, as the player explores new parts of the map, all of this increases in a fair and balanced way. Luckily, it’s a title that almost never caused us stress, especially since it has perfect Checkpoints that always position the player right where they need to be to try to overcome each challenge over and over again. The only exception to this rule are the occasional chase levels that don’t have any checkpoints and must be completed at once, as they end up being very frustrating if you’re not prepared.
There are many, many reasons why we can recommend Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, such as its emotional story, clever plot twists, charming art direction or its solid use of Bantu mythology. But there’s one main reason why you should play it: it’s a lot of fun and uses all its mechanics to perfection. The only problem is, it’s a great game that leaves you wanting a lot more, so its short length ends up becoming a negative. We were really pleased with this “Metroidvania”, so we can’t wait to see what Abubakar Salim and the Surgent Studios team will do in the near future.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. We thank Electronic Arts and Surgent Studios for giving us the opportunity to review this game.