I've seen lots of weird criticisms about Kena all over the internet. It's baffling to me. I've been excited since it was very first announced, and Ember Lab surpassed my expectations in every way. The controls are tight, the story is sweet, and the gameplay never felt too repetitive to me.
The game is obviously gorgeous, and the Rot are heart-wrenchingly cute. It's perfect as a short action-adventure game, astonishing as a work of animation, and tender as a series of personal stories of loss and responsibility in a Shinto-inspired magical village. The character design is delightful, the music is delightful, the combat is delightful, the message is delightful -- I loved it all.
People who are complaining that it is too similar to Horizon Zero Dawn or too heavily inspired by Ghibli movies misunderstand that Horizon had terrible combat outside of aiming the bow and that *playing* a Ghibli movie is a completely different experience from watching one.
The difficulty levels will accommodate a variety of players. Playing on Master for the Platinum trophy was suitably challenging and doubled my playtime. Boss fights can be tricky and require precision, and many of them are creative and memorable. The game keeps building on its own mechanics, and while there may not be as many as in bigger titles, I always felt satisfied in Kena and never got frustrated or bored.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes action-adventure and isn't afraid to say "Awwww!" every time you finish a puzzle, win a combat encounter, or just see your little friends sitting around the world. I'll come back to this one many times. Thank you to Ember Lab and PlayStation for a beautifully animated, memorable adventure.