In Kena: Bridge of Spirits, you might have some cute companions, The Rot, who assist spirit information Kena by doing every part from lending a hand in fight as soon as they construct up their braveness (aww!) to aiding her previous numerous environmental obstacles. Your purpose is to search out these little critters all through your travels and unite them, slowly bonding together with your cute military who provide power in numbers and comply with you in every single place you go. While the Rot have their very own mysterious background that we received’t dare spoil, we did unearth extra about their creation and position. Here’s what that you must find out about your greatest asset that comes with an enormous dose of cute!
Getting By With A Little Help
The Rot are answerable for decomposing issues, one thing that performs into the game’s themes of regrowth and the cycle of life. In truth, throughout your journey, count on to see purple corrupted areas, which Kena can cleanse by sending out the Rot to interrupt it down and provides new life. “There’s this theme of things both being broken and coming together but not in the same way, explains designer Jessica Kernan. “You can never completely fix something that’s been broken, however it can still take on this new life.” This helped the group determine to focus as a substitute on bringing the Rot collectively to do issues, as a substitute of assigning them out individually as we’ve seen in sequence like Pikimin or Overlord. They did experiment with the latter, nevertheless it simply didn’t really feel proper. “When we tried versions where you split them, it felt like it was counterintuitive to [the message],” Kernan says.
“One big goal for me that I kept saying was I don’t want to micromanage these guys in combat,” provides chief inventive officer Mike Grier. “Pikmin is keeping the guys alive and making sure they’re not getting killed.I think a lot of people also think that the Rot are going to die in combat. Once you collect them, are they going to live forever? I think that was an important pillar for us. I think that speaks to what Jessica is talking about, bringing them together. As you collect them, you have more guys and you’re assembling this family of Rot, but we didn’t want them to be killed and be this currency that you’re managing in combat.” To set the file straight: The Rot are everlasting. You don’t have to fret about dropping any of your buddies in fight.
You can accumulate round 100 totally different Rot all through the game, and so they’ll give you numerous advantages. “[We were] always wanting the player to feel like it’s a collaborative relationship between Kena and the Rot,” explains designer Casey Holtz. “How can you make them feel like an extension of Kena or a partnership where you’re helping them get somewhere to do something that she can’t do by herself? The idea is that half of the power is Kena and half of the power is the Rot, but together they can get through this adventure.”
While the Rot can deal with corrupted areas and discover inventive options to beat obstacles corresponding to blocked paths, they’re additionally a fantastic asset in battle. Well, as soon as they get sufficient braveness. All it takes is inspiring them together with your prowess on the battlefield. “We have a system called Rot courage, where these enemies and these corrupted spirits are scaring the Rot, so whenever you go into battle your Rot go into hiding,” says chief working officer Josh Grier. “But the better Kena performs, the more courage they gain, and the Rot will join back into the battlefield.”
Once these little cuties get courageous, they’ll come collectively to lunge at enemies to distract them, giving Kena the higher hand so she will be able to goal weak factors or sneak up for a lethal combo. The extra Rot you accumulate, the extra skills you’ll unlock and so they’ll assist extra in fight. Mike places it matter-of-factly: “The more you have, the more things you can do.” However, they aren’t there to steal Kena’s thunder and do the heavy lifting; they primarily complement her abilities. This can greatest be seen in her particular skills, which Rot energy could be infused into for cool modifiers, corresponding to supercharging her arrows to penetrate a number of foes or turning her heavy melee assault right into a hammer-like blow. At the very least, the Rot at all times have your again, which actually helps cement your particular bond with them.
Creating Cute Moments
Look, Ember Lab is aware of the Rot are charming, and went by means of nice element to get them good. At one level, Josh joked about making cute characters as a part of the corporate’s calling card. “I know we had a lot more stylized, more youthful, fatter characters in some of our commercial work, but nothing quite like the Rot,” admits animation director Hunter Schmidt. “It was really important to me that they jiggle and they feel really loose. We worked hard to make sure that no matter how you manipulate the rig, there’s always some preservation of their volume. If you squish them down, they automatically widen. Their arms shift around, and it’s all kind of automated so an animator doesn’t have to worry about it. I worked with our rigger on that.”
So far, it appears to be like like all their design work paid off; these creatures draw you in with their huge eyes, harmless appears to be like, and welcoming smiles. From your first encounter, the scene is about; you’re going to fall in love. “This first Rot that you collect is kind of unique and kind of ends up being the leader of the group,” Josh says. “He kind of rests on Kena’s shoulder as she’s running around and they have a special connection. He’s always going to be pointing out things for Kena to do throughout the game, so he’s a really helpful character and is kind of our character embodiment of the whole group of Rot, because all the rest of the Rot look similar except for size differences, so we really wanted to put some personality on him.”
The group has additionally labored to place in quiet little moments the place you may simply bond with them. There’s no affection system or something, nevertheless it’s there to only take of their cute presence from time to time. “My angle on the Rot has mostly been focused on charm and trying to make sure that you have moments where they’re so cute and I want to cry,” says designer Liz Fiacco laughing. “I’ve been trying to seek moments like that, where you can build a little relationship and it’s kind of fluffy, but hopefully memorable. It’s mostly about trying to give the opportunity for the player to express what they feel toward characters in the game. What’s nice about slow moments is that it allows you to have the same space as these characters.” Some of those tender events embrace having the Rot collect round Kena if she sits, or if she directs them to go someplace and watching them do cute hops to their vacation spot.
And if that wasn’t sufficient for, you may unlock hats in your Rot with gems you discover the world. This is only a beauty factor, however who doesn’t need to put a pumpkin-topper or fisherman hat on these furry mates? We’ll be displaying you just a few of those in a function tomorrow, so keep tuned!
