Tales of Kenzera™: ZAU

Tales of Kenzera™: ZAU

Steam Deck Verified

Surgent Studios · Metroidvania · Apr 23, 2024

Likely worth it. Reviews lean strongly positive.

At $19.99. It has been as low as $6.99.

83%
Very Positive
978 player reviews
Medium confidence
Buy it if you like
  • Story and characters: 213 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Gameplay: 87 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Graphics: 83 reviews raised it, mostly praise
Think twice if you dislike
  • Bugs: 14 reviews raised it, mostly criticism

Based on 978 player reviews · updated 6 days ago

What players think

The recurring themes across 300 analysed reviews: what players praise, what divides them, and what to know.

Why players love itThings to know
46% of themes are praise45% are divided9% are caveats
Story and characters
Players who bring up Story and characters mostly praise it.
The story is about coping with loss and while good, it could have been fleshed out a lot more.
213 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Gameplay
Players who bring up Gameplay mostly praise it.
The game features the insta-killing spikes early as well, continuing with the insta-killing lava and the insta-killing chasms, but dying to them results in returning to the last safe platform, which is usually very close, so the progression is steady.
87 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Graphics
Players who bring up Graphics mostly praise it.
Bonus points for the african setting which is still woefully underrepresented in gaming, the visuals also immediately caught my eye so this was a recipe for succes.
83 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Audio
Players who bring up Audio mostly praise it.
The presentation is amazing from the art, to the music, to the voice acting.
82 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Steam Deck
Players who bring up Steam Deck mostly praise it.
There is definitely an optimization issue at play here because this game tears through the Steam Deck battery, whereas I'm able to play games like God Of War (2018) for much longer at more stable frame rates.
23 of 300 sampled reviews raised it

Theme by theme

Every theme is scored by what reviewers actually said about it, not just whether they recommended the game.

LovedMixedComplained about
Players love5 themes
Story and characters213 reviews
Gameplay87 reviews
Graphics83 reviews
Audio82 reviews
Steam Deck23 reviews
Divided opinion% still recommend
Combat134 reviews
81%
Difficulty54 reviews
72%
Controls13 reviews
62%
Performance13 reviews
77%
Crashes7 reviews
57%
Players complain% still recommend
Bugs14 reviews
79%

Ranked by how many sampled reviews mention each topic. A topic sits in a column by what reviewers said about that topic; the percentage beside it is how many of them recommended the game anyway. One more theme was raised by fewer than 6 sampled reviews and is not shown.

Should you buy it now?

Crit’s read on the price, from Steam price history.

Prices have been lower

Currently $19.99. The lowest we've tracked is $6.99.

3 points recordedtoday · $19.99

The data behind the verdict

For the players who want the receipts.

Player review score
83%
Very Positive
Playing right now
Achievements
19
total to unlock
Rarest-achievement stats coming soon
Average playtime
Not tracked yet

We’ll surface hours-played once playtime ingestion ships.