Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is the debut project of Surgent Studios, a multimedia studio created by Abubakar Salim, who voiced protagonist Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins. The titular Zau is a young shaman who journeys through a short but tight Metroidvania world to return his beloved dad (‘baba‘) from the land of death. Inspired by Salim’s own journey of grief stemming from the death of his father from cancer, the game offers a rare portrayal of genuine African mythology, traditions, and culture, as well as a solid Metroidvania experience.

Tales of Kenzera is actually a tale within a tale. In a futuristic African city, a young man called Zuberi reads through a book manuscript written by his recently deceased father to try to find meaning in his grief.  It is within this manuscript that the game is set, about a young shaman (a spiritual healer) who embarks on a quest to help the god of death find three wayward spirits of nature who have refused to pass on to the spirit world. In return, the god of death will return to him his deceased father. It’s a simple but effective story about dealing with grief, with enough emotional beats to make me tear up a few times. It’s nothing we haven’t heard before, but knowing that it’s inspired by something personal lends it that something extra.

In terms of gameplay, Tales of Kenzera is a really solid example of a Metroidvania, and achieves most things that all great Metroidvanias do. Zau controls smoothly in both his movement and combat as you explore a handful of vibrant environments, such as abandoned settlements, blazing deserts, moody swamps, and crystal caves. By switching between his Sun and Moon masks mid-combat, he can fluidly switch between heavy-hitting melee combat and long-range projectiles to suit the situation, which adds an extra challenge to combat scenarios with multiple different kinds of enemies. There’s some nice use of haptic feedback as hits connect, and combat feels fair and balanced the whole way through. It’s not crushingly difficult, but it still strikes a good balance so it doesn’t feel like you can simply breeze through without a challenge.

This issue extends into the critical path, too. Zau and his companion, Kalunga, the god of death, have to take frequent detours to find keys to open locked gates that block their path. It’s not exactly an inventive roadblock to put in the player’s way in the first place, but after the second time it happens, you just know it’s going to happen again. The game doesn’t seem content to let the player find their own path, instead preferring to have Kalunga explain every step of the journey to Zau.

This didn’t totally detract from my experience, but it limited my investment in exploring the world and ultimately meant that while I passively enjoyed the journey as a whole, I didn’t feel that accomplishment that I felt from Metroidvania masterpieces like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight.

Bantu culture in the spotlight

Pre-colonial African cultures, of which there are many, historically haven’t gotten much limelight in video games, beyond appearing in series with multicultural or global settings like Sid Meier’s Civilisation. Their imagery has often been borrowed or emulated for the sake of a cool theme; think the enemies in Donkey Kong Country Returns, or the African drumbeats that accompany virtually any soundtrack set in a jungle. There is only one other time I can remember playing a shaman in a video game, and that’s Mumbo from the Banjo Kazooie series — and he’s not exactly a respectful representation.