Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a personal story for Abubakar Salim, one of the creative leads of Surgent Studios (and someone who you might recognize as the voice actor for Bayek in the Assassin’s Creed series). As I played through the short demo of the game at the Nintendo Switch Partners event at GDC 2024, he shared that the story mirrors his own experience with grief after his father passed. That’s just one aspect that makes this game special.

A matter of life and death

At its heart, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a coming-of-age adventure about overcoming grief. Zau, a young shaman who suddenly loses his father, attempts to broker a deal with Kalunga, the God of Death. If he is able to vanquish three mighty spirits that have so far eluded the god’s grasp, then Kalunga will return his Baba from the land of the dead.

The linear story and art style for Tales of Kenzera: Zau, particularly the monsters and gods, is influenced by a variety of Bantu cultures. Salim identified mythologies from the Zulu, Maasai, Tswana, Ndebele, and more as the creative foundation for the plot with these traditions stitched together into the world seamlessly. It’s rare to see the folktales from this region of the world represented in games, so there will be a section in the menu that provides descriptions of characters and entities that players may not be familiar with.

Two masks are better than one

That said, besting the three boss spirits in the land of Kenzera is no easy task, but Zau is a powerful shaman warrior in his own right. The demo started off in the second act after Zau had already become more comfortable with his powers, notably the ability to switch seamlessly between the Sun Mask and Moon Mask. Similar to the dynamic platformer Outland, combat in this 2.5D Metroidvania requires the main character to defeat enemies while using the right-colored attack. Some monsters are coded in either red or blue, and they will only be vulnerable to strikes powered by a particular mask.

In fact, part of the fun is figuring out how to string lengthy combos together by swapping masks midway through a string of attacks. Wielding the Sun Mask makes Zau more melee-focused by launching monsters in the air and using fiery spears, while the Moon Mask lets him manipulate time and freeze enemies in their place. Successfully hitting enemies and gathering spirit pips will build a meter for healing and special moves, which is useful against more difficult bosses. Thanks to a double jump and an air dash, Zao’s movement is fast-paced and fluid. Salim said Surgent Studios was inspired by other platformers like Ori and the Blind Forest, and that influence can be seen throughout the game.

The father of wisdom

For character progression, new skills can be purchased with Ulogi, soul energy left behind by killed foes. The skill trees for the Sun Mask and Moon Mask are fairly simple but effective, giving players different choices for building Zau. Additionally, spread throughout the environment are optional challenges, such as combat trials and traversal puzzles. Completing these additional areas sometimes rewards the player with trinkets, accessories that give Zau further power and stronger abilities. 

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is slated to release on April 23, 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.

This preview is based on a demo at the Nintendo Switch Partners event during GDC 2024.