Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Preview – A Metroidvania tinged with melancholy

thesixthaxis.com:

Video games are all about dying. Be it Pac-Man failing to escape a ghost and bursting into pixelated oblivion, Mario melting himself by accidentally leaping into a pool of lava, or being one of the 99 that fails to win in a battle royale, gamers worldwide have died a thousand deaths. Thankfully, the grim reaper is a mere inconvenience in these digital realms, another obstacle you must traverse in order to do a Cody Rhodes and ‘finish the story’. Far fewer games explore the topic of Death in real life, the one with a capital ‘D’ that we all try really hard not to think about and desperately hope doesn’t apply to us or our loved ones. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, however, well, that takes a long and hard look at death. Indeed, death, sorrow, and loss, is the very reason for this metroidvania’s existence.

“This journey that we want to share with you, it had to be a Metroidvania”, explains Abubakar Salim, the founder of Surgent Studios. “To me, the genre’s rules and structures of the genre, behave like grief. You are thrown into this alien world you can never prepare for. Yet, the longer you stay in it, explore its corners, in time the more comfortable you get with it.” Tales of Kenzera: Zau may, at a glance, appear to be just another Metroidvania – a genre that we are all too familiar with – but this is a game with surprising depths. The team at Surgent Studios are using a Metroidvania in an attempt to tell a heartfelt story about the love between a father and son, and the transformative power of loss.

“It’s a coming of age story”, continues Abubakar, “This young kid to a young man. Zau is learning to cope with the loss of his father, through the characters he meets and the vibrant world he engages in. Zau learns about this new version of himself, this version where he needs to push on”. Tales of Kenzera: Zau has all the features you would expect of a Metroidvania; a vast 2.5D world to explore, a combat system that provides player agency, discoverable cosmic powers to do