Microsoft has announced the first wave of titles coming to Game Pass in May. It’s kicking things off early with Have A Nice Death, a 2D action rogue-like available today on console, PC and the cloud.
23.04.2024 - 09:24 / polygon.com / Abubakar Salim
Loss is inevitable, and yet, knowing that makes it no less difficult. Grief is all but guaranteed to touch your life — to touch my life. And, most certainly, it already has. That assuredness — that we’ll all be touched by death — is part of the reason so much art is dedicated to interrogating those feelings. For so long, video games have been one medium that, for all its death, dying, and multiple lives, had not quite unpacked the emotion of grief. There was little reason to: When you die in a video game, you always come back to life. The danger of death amounts to nothing but a few hearts on a screen, a number. Oftentimes, it’s encouraged. The more kills you get, the better. Death is not something to mourn there, but a celebration. But this isn’t a universal truth across all games. More and more video games are exploring what it means to lose — no longer just a level, but the more tangible, life-altering loss. It’s games like Spiritfarer, a “cozy management game about dying,” which is about life after death; What Remains of Edith Finch, about the stories that are left behind; or A Mortician’s Tale, which has you going hands-on with death. You’ll find grief in games, too, that are not explicitly about loss; like I said, it’s inevitable.
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Surgent Studios’ Tales of Kenzera: Zau is the latest game about processing grief; in fact, that’s at the very core of the game. Led by House of the Dragon actor Abubakar Salim, the development team at Surgent Studios has not shied away from the topic. When he announced the game at The Game Awards in 2023, Salim said Tales of Kenzera: Zau was a way for him to process his grief in a manner that felt familiar to him, as someone who grew up playing and loving video games. The game is a tribute to his father, who died of cancer in 2013.
Set in a colorful, Afrofuturist world, Tales of Kenzera: Zau begins with a boy grieving the recent death of his father. His father had been sick for a long time, his death anticipated but no less devastating. The boy is not ready to say goodbye, so instead he picks up a book that his father was writing. Inside this book is where the majority of Tales of Kenzera: Zau is set, in a world that mirrors the boy’s own. Grieving the death of his father, a young shaman named Zau makes a deal with Kalunga, the god of death, to bring his
Microsoft has announced the first wave of titles coming to Game Pass in May. It’s kicking things off early with Have A Nice Death, a 2D action rogue-like available today on console, PC and the cloud.
While it wasn’t marketed as being a particularly punishing game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is by no means easy. You will have plenty of environmental challenges that can instantly sap your life, and the enemies you face — especially the bosses — are no slouches. When you first begin, it will only take a couple of bad hits to send Zau to the land of the dead himself. Alongside the Trinkets you can unlock through hidden challenges around the map, there are also Baobab Trees where Zau can stop to reflect on his journey thus far, have a short dialogue with Kalunga, and get a small addition to his health bar. Like everything in the game, these trees aren’t prohibitively hidden, but you could easily pass one by and have no idea where it was when trying to backtrack. These are all the Baobab Tree locations so you can max out your health bar.
Your main upgrades in a metroidvania like Tales of Kenzera: Zau will always be your new abilities. These transform the way you move and fight, but there are other ways you can make Zau a more powerful shaman. Trinkets are introduced right away, but aren’t given away as freely as you might think. Each one requires you to overcome a small trial that tests your platforming abilities off the main path. Technically, you can miss every single one aside from the one you begin the game with. Even though there are a few fast travel points, backtracking isn’t a particularly fun experience. Here are all the Trinket locations in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, plus which ones you should equip.
Wētā Workshop and Private Division have officially announced a new title, , coming later this year. This is the first collaboration by developer Wētā Workshop, known for its work on the special effects in film series, and Private Division, the prolific publisher of indie games ranging from and to and.
We are in the midst of a Metroidvania renaissance. Metroid: Dread, Ori, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and more have kept fans of the genre fully satiated in recent years. 2024 has already seen the launch of one of the genre’s best in Price of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Private Division has finally unveiled the first trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game.
A few hours ago, Private Division and Wētā Workshop finally shared the first trailer and gameplay details for Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings game.
is a new game that explores the depths of grief, a topic often avoided in and outside of games. Published by EA Originals, Electronic Arts’ indie-focused label, is a project born out of Surgent Studios’ Abubakar Salim’s own journey through grief. The metroidvania was announced at The Game Awards 2023 by Salim himself, who shared a portion of his story and how the game came into being. is an homage to Salim’s late father, Ali Abubakar, who died over 10 years ago from cancer.
As promised, developer Weta Workshop and publisher Private Division have premiered the debut trailer for Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game, their upcoming life sim title, showcasing glimpses of its cozy setting, art style, core mechanics, and more.
games have always offered plenty of options for fans of fantasy action. However, the newly revealed offers an option for those who just want to live in Tolken’s world. Launching on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch this year, the upcoming game lets players live out a cozy hobbit fantasy.
We finally have the first full trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, an upcoming single-player life simulation set in the Middle-earth universe inspired by the books of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau MSRP $20.00 Score Details Pros