After a frustrating drought of native Nintendo Switch 2 ports (with some special exceptions) during the console’s first six months, reportedly due to the lack of development kits going out to developers, more studios have begun to release their darlings on the hybrid console recently. It came as no surprise, then, to hear the charming and well-crafted Kena: Bridge of Spirits was making the jump to Switch 2 on 26th March.
On paper, Kena is a perfect match for the newly released console. It’s a breezy, old-school adventure full of 3D platformer elements and serviceable combat which never feels dense. It represents the exact kind of title that plays well on the go, which is why it’s a popular pick among Steam Deck owners. In fact, I played much of my first run with it on Valve’s portable machine before finishing the journey on my desktop PC.
The good news is that Kena: Bridge of Spirits on Switch 2 works fine and can be easily recommended to newcomers. The visual presentation is consistent with what’s found on beefier hardware and the 30 FPS target is held steadily, at least according to my time in the game’s first few areas. There’s plenty of room for improvement though. Coming from recent stunners like Star Wars Outlaws, Resident Evil Requiem, or Fallout 4 on Switch 2, this is a bare-bones port which doesn’t make the most of the console’s capabilities.
The basic comparison we can make with such ports is to put them side by side with the PC releases running on handheld PCs. We know Nintendo’s latest console can punch above its weight thanks to native DLSS support, but not every game is making use of the miraculous upscaling technology that gives it a GPU advantage over thicker handhelds. Then we have its infamous CPU limitations, which make ports like Outlaws (a game that was nowhere near playable on handheld PCs) even more astonishing. System-specific optimizations remain a crucial part of making Switch 2 ports shine, and that’s where Embar Lab’s translation of this lovely little big adventure falters.
Though Kena on Switch 2 includes all the previously released cosmetics and extra content, such as the decent New Game Plus mode, it packs no new features which try to toy with its unique control possibilities. That’s okay, as most players consider those nice extras but will ultimately choose the traditional control scheme over them. More disappointing is the lack of graphical modes; whether on handheld or docked, Kena is stuck running at 30 FPS with very aggressive dynamic resolution and severe visual settings cutbacks depending on how you’re playing. Check out handheld versus docked screenshots below:
As you can see, the differences are noticeable. Whereas most third-party ports cut down the resolution and lower only a few settings without the extra docked horsepower, Kena looks substantially different on the go. Mind you, the art direction is preserved, but immediately going from one to another will make anyone notice the sacrifices made to maintain a meagre 30 FPS target. The environments are less dense, much of the more subtle atmosphere is gone, and worse, the image quality, especially on character models, becomes a bit too fuzzy. Docked play holds up much better.
Having played many hours of Kena on the Steam Deck, I can safely say the settings when handheld pretty much look identical to what I had to pick to stay in the stable performance zone. The key difference is those cutbacks allowed Kena to comfortably hit 40 FPS on the Deck. Meanwhile, targeting that mark isn’t even an option here despite the console’s own 120 Hz, VRR-capable screen being a perfect fit for it.
The aforementioned image resolution (which seems to be degraded further in busy areas like the main village due to dynamic targets) also suggests Kena on Switch 2 either isn’t using DLSS or isn’t sporting a proper implementation of it. While most players won’t care, anyone who’s been playing more ambitious third-party ports will instantly notice things can be greatly improved on this front. It gets notably bad when moving around:
Most gamers have been favouring consistent performance and striking art styles over raw graphical fidelity for a while now, so I’d say patches that figured out a better way to retain image quality and maybe added a 40 FPS mode would greatly help Ember Lab’s Switch 2 release.
The latter isn’t a must, but Kena can be surprisingly demanding in its late-game combat encounters, and I can tell you going from 30 to 60 FPS makes a big difference if you’re trying to nail parries and quick ranged shots. Anyone trying to tackle the Master difficulty level will have a much worse time here only because of the added delay to the movement and melee hits; bosses can be especially brutal even on the Standard level.
Kena: Bride of Spirits’ Switch 2 version will no doubt find an audience and enchant more players who hadn’t jumped into its lovingly crafted and animated world (even if the story and combat could’ve used more work), but if you’ve already experienced everything it has to offer elsewhere, this isn’t a port worth double-dipping on, at least not yet.
