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Kena: Bridge of Spirits delayed to 2021 citing need for polish

Kena: Bridge of Spirits' development looked to be going well, but Ember Lab has suddenly pushed the game's release date back, noting that it will now release in 2021.

Ozzie Mejia

September 11, 2020 4:05 PM

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One of the most exciting game reveals for the upcoming PlayStation 5 earlier this summer was Kena: Bridge of Spirits. The team at Ember Lab had revealed a colorful new adventure centered around a young woman seeking to confront the forces of the Rot. But the journey to the Spirit Realm looks like it's going to take some time, because Ember Lab announced on Friday that Kena: Bridge of Spirits will not be releasing in 2020.

Here's the message issued on the Ember Lab Twitter account:

The Ember Lab Team is overwhelmed and humbled by the positive response and outpouring of support for Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Your kind words and excitement for the game have been an inspiration to the team.

This year has brought many challenges and our transition to working from home has caused development to move slower than we hoped. For this reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of Kena: Bridge of Spirits to Q1, 2021. We have not made this decision lightly, but feel it is best for the game and well-being of the team. We will use this time to give the game the polish it deserves and deliver an experience that meets our vision and your expectations.

We look forward to sharing more about Kena in the coming months and delivering an amazing experience early next year.

Since the game's announcement back at the PS5 reveal livestream, it looked liked development was moving along. The team at Game Informer recently published a full week's worth of coverage, which seemed to indicate that development was on track. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has set back a number of game developers and it looks like Ember Lab was no exception.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits follows the title character as she seeks to liberate and guide spirits towards a peaceful end. Players will get a chance to experience her journey when Kena: Bridge of Spirits releases on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via the Epic Games Store in 2021.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?