Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a classic-feeling third-person action-adventure game that has you take control of Kena, a spirit guide who helps souls move onto the afterlife. However, amid Kena's duties, her village gets overtaken by devastating corruption, and she must fight back to stop it.
Being the hero of the story, Kena is the only one who stands up against the vile corruption that spread throughout the world in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Kena is equipped with a staff and eventually obtains a bow early in her adventures, giving her a wide range of abilities and attacks. Additionally, like most action-adventure games, she can learn new skills and upgrade them by progressing through the story, and, in her case, she'll need to earn Karma to do so.
Updated October 4, 2022, by Seth Parmer: With the enormous update released for Kena: Bridge of Spirits, we decided to revisit this guide and touch it up a bit to make things clearer than they were before to help out any newcomers to the game. We converted a list of bullet points into a clear and concise table and touched up a few other things as well!
Overview
Karma is one of two currencies you will collect and is essentially the equivalent of Skill Points, allowing Kena to learn new abilities or enhance existing ones she may have learned through natural progression or the Skill Tree. While some abilities may cost lots of Karma to unlock, they are typically all worth getting at some point and cover a wide range of playstyles.
However, many of Kena's skills are bound to her main level, which increases whenever she gathers a set number of Rot. While Kena may not have access to every ability from the jump, you will have many opportunities to collect Rot and build up Karma in the early goings of the game, allowing you to obtain new abilities almost instantaneously or with minimal effort.
Earning Karma
There are many ways for Kena to earn Karma in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, with most of them coming by way of progressing through the game's main story. However, Kena can also partake in side-quests, which also nets her with Karma and other rewards.
Kena will also earn Karma by defeating standard enemies, slaying bosses, and curing cursed chests. There will be lots of moments early on where you can shore up a decent amount of Karma to spend on abilities, so don't get discouraged if you don't have enough to obtain the skill you want at first. Below is a list of everything in the game that rewards Karma to Kena.
Objective |
Description |
---|---|
Slaying Bosses |
Taking down the many bosses in the game will reward you with Karma. |
Defeating Enemies |
Eliminating enemies found throughout the world will also reward you with Karma. |
Curing Corruption |
As you explore, you will come across Corrupted parts of the land, flowers, and even Chests that you can cleanse to earn Karma and other goodies! |
Making Rot Eat Food |
When traversing the world, you will encounter purple food that you can command your little adorable Rot minions to eat, rewarding you with Karma. |
Solving Puzzles |
Solving the game's many puzzles will also reward you with Karma. You can find the vast majority of them by simply exploring each area. |
Clearing Side-Quests |
After proceeding a bit into the game, you will unlock the ability to take on Side-Quests for your village and other areas. Taking these on and completing them will reward you with Karma. |
Fox and Owl Statues |
On your journey, you will also encounter Fox and Owl Statues. Fox Statues need to be stood upright to earn Karma, while you will need to move the Owl Statues to a specific location to obtain them. |
The large majority of your Karma gains will come from defeating enemies, bosses, and by curing the corruption spread across the world of Kena: Bridge of Spirits. However, the side activities in the game are also an excellent way to earn Karma, meaning you should explore the world to its fullest before moving on to the next thing!
Fox And Owl Statues
The side activities are sometimes easy to miss, like the animal statues placed around the world. You will often come across Fox Statues with one tipped over, and commanding your horde of Rot to lift the statue will reward you with Karma.
In contrast, with the Owl Statues, one will be missing from a spot, and you will have to command them to lift the Owl Statue and then mark where you want them to take it and drop it to get your Karma reward. Most Fox and Owl statues are found within villages or after boss fights when you cure the land of its corruption, so be sure to be on the lookout for them in those places!
Upgrades
While upgrades will vary from person to person in terms of importance or playstyle, we still recommend getting some abilities first to help ease you into the game, which can be surprisingly relentless at times, especially on the more challenging difficulties.
However, the general rule of thumb is to focus on abilities that allow Kena to use the tools at her disposal more efficiently or make them much deadlier. So, overall, many skills fit that bill for you to choose from in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, so long as you meet the level requirements and have enough Karma.