Austin recommends: 'Tales of Kenzera: Zau' (Review)
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- Опубликовано: 21 апр 2024
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Tales of Kenzera: Zau is the debut game from Abubakar Salim's Surgent Studios, and while it cannot keep pace with genre's greats, it's a solid, well-made and heartfelt metroidvania that will likely strike a nerve if you've ever lost someone important in your life.
Video written, voiced and edited by Austin B.
#Review #Talesofkenzera #EAOriginals
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Where the fuck is your brother?! Please? I miss laymen gayman 😂 you two are fucking perfect together! Please at least have like one or two episodes a year! That’s all I ask!
important to note that SteelSeries refuses refund on some of their products, which violates EU law. So they are criminals, when they feel like it.
@@AnnaCurser Razer or Logitech?
@@AnnaCurser”criminals”
Spend less time on Reddit plz.
@@TehPwnographer is there another word for people that dont follow the law?
Loving that a lot of smaller games are getting reviews now that Austin is reviewing as well
No. I’m only here for Ralph
@@IncognitoActivadoWoke? Please explain what that even means.
@@IncognitoActivado How?
@@noahherbert8347 SweetBaby Inc, dude.
@@Bricks56 SweetBaby Inc.
Knowing that it's "Father" that's behind this game already got me interested when he first mentioned he was starting a game studio. But that Game Awards presentation, and let's be fair, the drip on display, with the emotive and genuine speech really piqued my interest. I preordered on PS5 as soon as it was up and have been eagerly anticipating the launch. I hope the public embrace this game and support these smaller developers! My only request now is: please release the soundtrack! From what I've heard so far it's incredible!
@IncognitoActivado who asked you?
@@IncognitoActivado What does "woke" mean to you, and how does it apply to this game?
@@IncognitoActivado If it is so obvious, then it should be quite easy for you to define and explain. Unless perhaps you are afraid to do so? You're not a coward despite being incognito, are you?
@@BasilAbdef W@ke: Male characters de-masculinized in appearance and/or behavior, female empowerment based on the female agenda, mistreatment of male characters based on the female agenda, false and/or forced "diversity", misrepresentation of characters based on bad USA stereotypes/archetips, bestiality, grooming, etc.
@@BasilAbdef W-ke is:
"Male characters de-masculinized in appearance and/or behavior, female empowerment based on the female agenda, mistreatment of male characters based on the female agenda, false and/or forced "diversity", misrepresentation of characters based on bad USA stereotypes/archetips, bestiality, grooming, etc."
So glad this game is only 10 hours, I really want to support Abu and the new studio but don't have a ton of free time
Keep copy/pasta-ing ma man. The echo chamber is real. Haven't seen anything "woke" here though. Just black characters. Just admit that that is your issue with it.
@@IncognitoActivado So a black guy can't make a game about black mythology or else they are woke... Sounds like you just hate black people.
@@Cacapouletpipichocolat For real. They're either an edge lord searching for their next meal, or have diluted the definition of woke to fit their own bizzaro reality.
@@IncognitoActivadoAfrican = woke lmao?
@@IncognitoActivado Please tell me what your definition of "woke" is
It's free on PlayStation plus extra. Imma play it day one! Thank God cuz I'm going through it financially right now😅.
Same that I'll be playing it on psplus but I'll definitely be buying it as well when I'm done just to fully support this brand new company creating an brand new IP
What? I have ps extra and had to pay 17 euros for it.
Pay £100 for subscription to play a less than £20 game,not exactly free
Hahaha. Let's not support the devs but def play it cuz it's free. 😂😂😂
Free is still too much to pay for this garbage.
Playing this now, it's okay. Feels quite mushy and sloppy though gameplay wise, timings are off, combat is messy, checkpoints are odd, wall jumping is inconsistent.
Really? From what I saw it looked like it played well, too easy, but good gameplay, but if the game feel is bad...
Ur not real
I’m surprised no one else has mention the dodgy and sloppy controls. It makes me wonder if Austin actually played the game.
@@rayswarnau3868 just because he didn't criticise the game like you wanted him to, doesn't mean he didn't play the game. the controls aren't sloppy, you just suck at playing video games. You're the Dean Takahashi of youtube commenters.
This is an easy game to root for, glad it came together well!
@@IncognitoActivado ahhhhhh now the random dislikes make sense. touch grass, dork.
@@IncognitoActivadoand? There’s been bad games without their involvement and good games with it. It’s not some automatic qualifier on if a game is worth my time or not.
@@Jmerithew87 W@keness is bad, dude.
@@IncognitoActivadoinclusiveness and diversity aren’t inherently bad things. It’s how it’s handled. When it’s shoehorned in and is obviously being done for clout, yeah, that’s lame. However, when a game is purposefully being told from a perspective we don’t usually get, or a unique setting, it can be very refreshing.
That’s why I don’t think SBI involvement should be an automatic red flag, because it’s how those ideas are actually implemented that really matters.
@@IncognitoActivadowhats woke?
I wanted to purchase this Day one after Abu's speech, and playing the demo but then - Denuvo :(. Now I have to wait until Denovo is removed before I can purchase.
I greatly enjoyed the Nextfest demo of this one, with my only complaint about it being some frame drops. Good to see it spotlighted here
What is woke about it? Or is it that it has black characters?
@@Cacapouletpipichocolat Agendas.
@@Cacapouletpipichocolat Tokenism is bad.
Yeah the game suffers from shader compilation stutter. There are fixes for unreal engine though
@@IncognitoActivado this game is watke?
Nice, have had my eye on this game. Abubakar Salim’s speech at the game awards made me want to try it
@@IncognitoActivadoare you some sort of "White African"?
@@IncognitoActivadois it? May elaborate? It looked interesting here but if there is actual wokery, I'm not interested
@@napoleonfeanor there is none, he's just a loser from twitter than wants to complain about something for the sake of being a whiny bitch
@@Vernardo Wait, what?
@@IncognitoActivado Many of the African are white.
Never heard of this but it looks amazing.
Loved his performance in Raised by Wolves, wish him all the success in the world.
You had me at "ten hour Metroidvania." Short, tight games are severely underappreciated.
I see Bayek now and can't unsee it
Abu was excellent in Raised By Wolves. I think it is really cool that he is getting into video game development. Glad the game is solid.
When I heard the title, i honestly thought it was one of the JRPG Tales of games (Arise, Beseria, etc) looks interesting though nonetheless
Yeah, I just got this game and I love it.
I bet you did lmao
(x) to doubt
i saw "Tales of" and th immediate thought in my head was "another tales game so soon?"
Super glad this game turned out well! I was really rooting for the guy during his presentation, and the game looks perfect to play on my Switch
200 steam players 😂
@@Luis-rp2lm This game is only on Steam :O?
@@lambasted6886 if it’s flopping in steam, it’s flopping everywhere
This comment feels like a bot wrote it.
@@ImBusenlolXD Nope, just interested in the game.
I'm a big Metroidvania fan It's an easy purchase for me but I also just want to support this dev.
thanks
Looking forward to this just wish it wasn't coming out so close to Prince of persia
Oh, I've had my eyes on this game since it was announced. Thanks for reviewing it Austin, really loving this indie reviews.
So happy it's on ps plus, can't wait to try it out
Abu is playing Alyn Valeryon on this upcoming season of House of the Dragon too
Denuvo? That's a pass from me.
Denuvo developer here. We don’t care; it’s helped shrdios take risks. Sucks to have your work stolen by people like you. The average gamer doesn’t care about denuvo and doesn’t even know what it is so go ahead and keep crying; we won’t stop improving it.
I’ve been following this game ever since it was announced at the game awards and I am so happy it’s getting some attention! This kind of personal story telling and the creativeness needs to be rewarded
nope
I don't think so
Sounds good. The lack of exploration is a bit of a letdown, but hearing the storytelling is competent, makes this one to check out, for sure.
It's probably just because I'm old and not very knowledgeable when it comes to this kind of games but the whole thing reminds me of "Nights into Dreams". Maybe it's the purpleness and the spinning around. I don't know. Gives me good vibes anyway.
Its so nice when you're reading character names and you know what they mean and the folklore behind it. "Baba" is pretty common for father but seeing "impundulu" as the boss name makes me wanna play this game way more especially since Austin says the story is solid.
Looking really forward to playing this game!
I’m so glad you made on a video on this, this game looks right up my alley and I’m not sure I would’ve known about it otherwise!
I have a steelseries mouse and it's the best. I need to upgrade the rest.
Lovely review I'll try to get the game on the switch eventually. The soundtrack though I might listen to sooner ^^.
Really hope this sells well, I want nothing but good things for this team
Absolutely love the artstyle. I'd much prefer this over the recent PoP. If only it had the same gameplay depth. At least this seems like a story that could resonate with me as someone who struggled with grief and acceptance a few years ago.
This game is basically Batora: Lost Haven but African themed
Looks so much like the new PoP
I remember seeing him almost cry in stage and I REALLY wanted this game to be good! I’m excited
I'm so happy the game delivered, I will wait for Denuvo to be removed but I'll definitely buy.
With a 10 hour run time it sounds like a great palate cleanser between larger games. Also day 1 on PS plus extra.
this is on may wishlist. been waiting for it. i need more paltformers
So happy this game was able to deliver! It's so hard for new studios to get off the ground especially with ambitious personal ideas.
Think I’m gonna wait a bit for this one, still playing through The lost Crown and just finished Blasphemous 2 (which absolutely slaps, play it).
Plus Balatro has its hooks in me now. I have surrendered to the cards.
I love the African art style, the color palette, gorgeous looking game. Definitely gonna play this one just a little burned out on metroidvania. I wish we got more games like this with art styles and cultural influences from other parts of the world besides western Europe/japan/U.S.
This gameplay is really good, the platforming is good too, movement and fights feel good with the switching of the masks, voices are well done and so far the whole shaman aspect is interesting and enjoyable. The fact that it got 21% of 1 star ratings on ps is ridiculous, bunch of hating twats, this game is so fun, even if it's not your cup of tea it would at least hit a 3 star for everything else it does right
Wasn’t this supposed to be free on PS Plus?
I think it comes to the Extra tier, not the basic one
Since the publisher is EA I'm guessing this has Denuvo too right? I'll check back whenever they removed it. by then it should cheaper too.
This looks pretty cool, how is the performance like though? I think i saw a couple of stutters a long the gameplay.
Game is nice!!
Bayek and AC origins should have had a continuation with his story. But I'm very glad he was able to develop this beautiful looking game I definitely will be checking it out!
I've played through Act 1 as it was free on PS Plus - it's a fairly solid if a bit easy Metroidvania with nice platforming so far
The only major flaw i've noticed is the serious lack of enemy variety, maybe that branches out in the later areas but i've only faced about 4 or 5 enemy types so far and only one boss fight. There also seems to be a bug on the PS5 version where when you open and close the map sometimes Zau will hit an invisible wall and you have to walk back in the opposite direction to resolve it.
From what I've seen I thought the same, good moveset for the player but boring enemies to fight.
Bunny garden also released where that review
I always like to support devs on indie games especially if they are metroidvanias but honestly the Switch port is piss poor to put it kindly. I agree that the story is very engaging and the combat mechanic is pretty cool. It's the reason why I kept playing the game but I just can't excuse the bad port for Switch when there are great games like Dread, Ori games and even Prince of Persia that run pretty smooth on it.
Was probably going to buy this one regardless of how good it is to support the devs because it’s nice to see someone work on something they’re passionate about
Even if he is a racist? Nice
I swear lack of enemy variety is the biggest issue of action games of this generation 😔 Game sounds great overall but sad to hear it’s another victim of that trend.
I can be a bit more forgiving of it in a game with a 20$ price tag and a smaller budget, but it’s much more egregious in larger scale games.
Why devs continue to ignore enemy variety in games where what you’ll be doing most of the time is fighting enemies is beyond me. This is why Elden Ring is so peak.
@@Jmerithew87 True, definitely agree with that as well.
@@MohgensteinThis game and Elden ring are two very different games. But yes I think more enemy variety would be nice
Wonderful stuff!
denuvo on a 20 dollar game lmao
Guess we can wait for the GOG release than.
Boo hoo, you can't pirate it.
@@rrohbot People who pirate it have a better copy of the game, denuvo punishes paying customers
@@dynamicpenguin55 How so? Unproven CPU usage?
Sweet Baby involvement is already the best piracy protection they could wish for.
Finally the REAL gamer reviewer is back, mighty thanks Austin and ur little sidekick guy from the beginning
I loved the new Prince of Persia. Ill probably love this.
Sweetener child
you think we could maybe get a review of something older and well played from austin? i dont have any sort of gauge to compare his preferences against mine and new, small games ive never heard of dont provide that
I’m glad developers are FINALLY delving into African lore. I mean I love medieval fantasy and I know it’s popular but devs really need branch out.
Dunno. Im wakanda'd out in 2024.
I’m getting this on Switch and will be rushing through it in a couple days. I’m excited. Hope it unlocks tonight and not in the morning.
@@IncognitoActivado it’s woke cause it features black people. I can just feel the racism through the screen
@@IncognitoActivado get a life
@@IncognitoActivadohow do you know it’s woke? Just because it’s an African folklore story?
@@amyford2971 These anti woke people really need help
@@hazelcrispGuy's fishing for bites. Just report as spam and move on.
Austin!! Been missing your reviews!
Looks awesome! Getting major Ori vibes.
Watched Salim being on the Playstation Access Podcast earlier today he seems like a totally great dude that to whoom this is an absolute passion project. Definitely sold me on the title that prior to this I didn't care much about.
Great coverage ❤
The art direction is amazing, albeit the combat looks tedious. The easy access to freezing enemies to negate the shield mechanic is a poor solution to an annoying game design decision.
232 player peak on Steam. Looks like all those people that wrote "love it", "will buy it" etc. were lying.
It’s free on ps+ extra and has around 10 times the amount of reviews - as of writing this - that steam has. Why do you, or the grifters that told you that, intentionally leave that out?
@@mobcrusher99 Keyword "free". Reading compression is crucial. Also, there aren't any sites showing PS metrics. If we're following your line of thought that means another 1500 to 2000 people, who are playing the game for FREE. 2200 players isn't the win you think it is.
@@alek3974yeah 2200 players is what like old games like battlefield 4 STILL reach today...having those numbers at the launch of your game is abysmal.
@@alek3974 Considering how little EA did to advertise this, it’s not surprising. But that’s not what’s important here. What is important is that you or the grifters lied. If you have to lie to make something seem bad, is it actually bad? And also, as videos sponsored by EA come out, like a GTlive video about this game, we will likely see more people playing
@@alek3974Why do people think subscription services make things free? Do you watch shows for free on Netflix?
This looks really cool, I'll wishlist it
I had to pause this episode on Spotify to come here and comment that this is hands down my favorite dev interview on this channel. Jake came with great questions and Abu came with amazing conversational skills and insight (he is an actor, so that probably checks out). Love, love, loved this episode guys!
Music just sounds like what Americans think African music would sound like.
Looks like a great little game and the Africa-inspired setting is something different and refreshing. Definitely going to play this.
As an African I am proud ❤️❤️ finally a game with an African main character, I can't wait for assassin creed game too.
Euhm have you heard of Assassin's Creed Origins?
Proud of what? if you need to see yourself buy a mirror
Sweet baby inc is involved. Stay away.
To clarify: it's great you're enthusiastic, so am I for this game.
Representation does mean something! Happy for you and proud for you!!!
Great review, thanks
Mmm this game is a watered down hollow knight tbh, very stylish and not bad story. Its just mid tho
I was sold on this game after watching the preview at the Games Awards. I am so glad it is good and recommended. Looking forward to playing it! Thanks Austin for the review.
Wait, he doesn't rock Killmonger's hairstyle?
Why do Ralph and Austin both sound like the same person?
Is this game on switch? Seems like a fun game to play at work
it is :)
Glad this game did well. The interview with Salim was good
The game is w@ke; pass. lol
Really glad you covered this one.
It looks A LOT like lost crown.
Did the PC performance improve?
Really happy to see African-inspired games and dope story aswell :))
It's so odd seeing my own African mythologies as well as ancient and modern cultural references and aesthetics come to life in a video game! I really hope this isn't a once-off deal. I'm also glad there's no political junk attached to this, definitely a must-buy for me.
Calorie neonate
I really hope this game is successful. There’s no way someone working on the game second thought a consulting company would be controversial. Especially since this game is for the creators late Father. And out of all the games that they could have be involved with they chose this game with a bunch of African inspiration.
Really happy for the devs that this turned out well. Will definitely give it a go soon.
no you won't
You may also know Abubakar Salim from playing Father in Raised By Wolves. He led an attempt with the fans to make some noise to save the show, and after that didn't work out he started working on this. Really cool guy
Austin has been nailing it so hard lately. I'm so happy to see him succeeding. Seeing two brothers crushing it is such a great thing to see. Love ya both, lads!
This looks like a great game for the Steam Deck
150 players playing. Another incredible flop by ea.
Jews
Looks great, its pretty cheap price too
cheap.........yes
This game looks fantastic. I’m excited to jump into it!
A Every Beautiful Game ❤ Thanks For The Showcase 🎉
Game looks good, skipped Prince of Persia because I will not support UBISOFT. Will need to look into EA Originals first but if all is good will give this a shot.
Boring 😴
I'm not the biggest fan of these types of games, but the real life story of this game makes me wanna play it
Nice to see a game set in Africa (outside of Egypt) for once. Glad it turned out well and definitely gotta support them.
Thank you for reviewing this game. It's rather special.
short bus special
Can you guys also review some older indie titles? The Talos Principle 2 is another of the best games released past year and barely anyone talked about it.