ZAU’ review: Good Grief : NPR

The protagonist Zau, flanked by the masks of the Moon and the Sun, which he will use to fight in the enchanting world of Kenzera.

Surgent Studios

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Surgent Studios

The protagonist Zau, flanked by the masks of the Moon and the Sun, which he will use to fight in the enchanting world of Kenzera.

Surgent Studios

The new video game Tales of Kenzera: ZAU opens with two grieving leads and a cleverly framed narrative.

You begin with Zuberi, a young man in an Afro-futuristic town, reading the story of Zau in a book his father left him before he passed away.

Moments later, you are transported through the story into a mythical past, watching as Zau screams, demanding that Kalunga, the god of death, restore life to his own fallen father. Kalunga appears to him, but not like a reaper would. Rather, he is an elderly, pragmatic man who tasks Zau with putting three great spirits to rest in exchange for his father’s life.

Zau then travels through fantastical biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to volcanoes, while he and Kalunga debate the meaning of the pain and death they encounter along the way. It’s an odyssey through grief and a lesson in the power we wield in the face of indescribable loss.

Kalunga criticizes Zau for his rash behavior.

Surgent Studios

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Kalunga criticizes Zau for his rash behavior.

Surgent Studios

British actor Abubakar Salim, who plays Zau and Zuberi, delivers a poignant performance that carries the story. Known for playing the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Salim founded developer Surgent Studios and based Tales of Kenzera: ZAU on the experience of losing his father. The game captures Salim’s Kenyan roots and highlights the Bantu culture he cherishes.

Learn from the best

Salim cited modern classics like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisps as inspiration for the game’s action gameplay. It is a sleek, smaller-scale “Metroidvania”, so named because Nintendo’s Metroid and Konami’s Castlevania established the genre’s early templates.

ZAU has all the basics. It features typically sprawling levels that force you to backtrack to discover secrets activated by new power-ups. But it also features fluid movement, fast-paced combat, and a lush soundtrack that soars through the game’s dramatic boss fights.

From enemies like Tokoloshe and Kongamato, who represent chaos and brutality, to the Kivulian forests, which are home to one of the three great spirits that Zau must master, the game presents a fierce and haunting ecosystem. Fortunately, Zau’s Sun and Moon Masks give him the firepower and speed he needs to overcome every challenge. You can switch between them with the press of a button: the Moon offers quick ranged attacks, while the Sun allows for heavier melee strikes. Brutal enemies with spirit shields force you to mix and match the Sun or Moon to take them down.

Zau, overwhelmed by one of the great, awesome and temperamental minds in the game.

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Zau, overwhelmed by one of the great, awesome and temperamental minds in the game.

Surgent Studios

There is a skill tree, but it’s pretty simple: the Sun and Moon paths offer seven skills to choose from, requiring shaman points earned by bludgeoning the life out of bad guys. This will also fill up to two energy meters. You can spend one to heal or two to unleash ultimate attacks: the Sun Mask’s Supernova summons a flaming tornado, while the Moon Mask’s Lunar Blast takes a page from Iron Man’s book with a laser that cuts through the screen. Although the game suffers from low enemy variety, this combat system is simple and almost perfect. I wish this gave you a slightly larger window to cancel attacks with a dash.

Navigating the game is almost as smooth as its visuals. Early on, Zau rushes in with a double jump and an aerial sprint. Later, he will find a hook and powers like the Power of Tshukudu, a special ability that allows him to explode to destroy barriers between levels. While the game could have benefited from better navigation features to make backtracking easier, like the snapshot system in this year’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, it’s a joy to explore.

To rest

Across the game’s four acts, Zau helps the characters he encounters, each embodying a response to grief. It could be a young girl hoping to find a lost spirit, an exhausted warrior trying to find his missing son, or a tired fellow shaman searching in vain for the ingredients of a restorative tonic. Throughout it all, Zau fights against Kalunga, the god of death, resisting the wisdom offered to him as he seeks to do things his way. Each time, Zau finds healing, but rarely in the way he expects.

Zau, exploring one of Kenzera’s many beautiful and haunting locations.

Surgent Studios

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Zau, exploring one of Kenzera’s many beautiful and haunting locations.

Surgent Studios

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU isn’t the first game to examine grief, but it stands out among stories featuring Afro-futurism. He is tender with his protagonist and the restless spirits who battle him until they all come to terms with the weight of life, death, and loss. The symbolism infused into the masks, weapons and architecture demonstrates the care taken by Surgent Studios in translating Bantu culture into a fantasy video game.

This journey transforms Zau and, through him, Zuberi. This meta-structure invites players to think about how they would handle loss. Luckily, I still have my dad, but the game reminded me that our time is limited. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is brilliant at combining this memento mori with a familiar and satisfying game genre. While it may not be as innovative as other Metroidvanias, its heartbreaking acting and unrivaled presentation make it a game I’ll be thinking about for years to come.

James Perkins Mastromarino contributed to this review.