Kena: Scars of Kosmora Delayed to 2027 as the Adventure Expands Beyond Bridge of Spirits

If you're looking forward to Kena: Scars of Kosmora, you'll have to wait a little longer before you can set foot on its mysterious island. The game has now been pushed back to 2027, giving the dev team more time to polish the adventure to the level they're aiming for.

The delay probably isn't a huge surprise, given how crowded the release schedule has become. With so many games still scheduled to arrive around October and November, releasing Kena: Scars of Kosmora then would have put it in the middle of an already packed lineup. Pushing the game into 2027 gives the developers breathing room, and they can use that extra time to polish the experience rather than rush it out.

The team hasn't given a specific 2027 release date, but the new information gives you a much better idea of what to expect. Kena: Scars of Kosmora is being described as a character-focused linear adventure, much like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, but with a broader and deeper scope. You'll still follow a focused story, but the world is designed to give you more opportunities to stray from the main path and discover what the island has to offer.

The story also focuses much more on Kena herself. Before the events of Kena: Scars of Kosmora, Kena has spent years studying as a spirit guide, taking on the roles of both warrior and spiritual healer. Spirit guides help deal with dangerous manifestations created when the dead cannot move on peacefully, fight the corruption spreading through the environment, and try to understand the source of that pain.

Kena has already made progress as a spirit guide, but she is beginning to encounter the limits of what she understands.

She has spent much of her life helping spirits of the dead, yet she hasn't really explored what it means to guide the living. At the same time, she's grown accustomed to helping others deal with their pain while leaving much of her own unresolved.

That personal side of Kena's story becomes more important when her childhood friend, Orio, suggests the mysterious island of Kosmora could hold the answers they've been searching for. Kena journeys there hoping to learn more about her past, while also discovering what her future as a Spirit Guide could be.

Kosmora itself has a long history tied to the spirit guides who once lived there. The ancient spirit guides developed their own approach to spirit guiding based around four elements and a collection of alchemical temples. Four interconnected cultures once existed across the island, each built around a guiding element that shaped how its society lived.

That history changed after a mysterious cataclysm destroyed one of those cultures. At one point, the island's history saw the elements hold spiritual meaning. The surviving cultures still rely on their respective guiding elements, but the longer that ancient knowledge remains buried, the greater the danger becomes.

The spirit guide temples are therefore expected to play a major role in your journey.

These dungeons are meant to test your skills, but also reward you with transformative abilities that help Kena progress. The temples aren't just there to explore for the hell of it, as their history and elemental systems seem intimately tied to the greater mystery of Kosmora.

And the island isn't just about digging up what happened in the past either. Kosmora is home to many living beings and civilizations, each with its own history, values, and problems. As Kena moves through different areas, you'll see how the island's lost history continues to affect the people who live there.

That means Kena will have to rely on what she has learned as a spirit guide while adapting to different situations and personalities. Her journey isn't simply about discovering an ancient secret. Helping the people she encounters becomes part of understanding how Kosmora's past connects to its present.

Getting around the island should also be different from the first game. Kosmora is larger, and Kena has a new way to travel across it. Her crystalline K9 companion connects directly to both the gameplay and the island's mysterious origins.

The companion serves as a mount, letting Kena travel through the larger world, but it isn't only for speeding up exploration. The spirit can also help Kena in combat, whether she is fighting mounted or on foot, and it can help solve puzzles. Because it is linked to the island's origins, it is also an important part of the story, not just another gameplay feature.

Along with this new companion, Kena will encounter more spirit allies who join in the adventure. These spirits can possess elemental powers that can be refined and utilized in different situations. You'll rely on them to solve puzzles, fight enemies, and move through Kosmora's various regions.

The PlayStation Store description provides more details about how this works.

Kena, now an accomplished spirit guide, travels to the mysterious island while searching for answers about a childhood affliction. Once there, she discovers a forgotten, dangerous form of spirit guiding that lets her manipulate the elements.

With her new spirit companions, she'll be able to take on major enemies and solve puzzles by using their elemental abilities. To awaken the ancient temples linked to Kosmora's hidden history will require courage and skill, even as Kena and her allies unite to purge a powerful corruption threatening the land. The deeper Kena gets into the island, the more she learns the truth behind it. But helping Kosmora and its people also means confronting the unresolved scars of her own past.

The game is being promoted as a fast-paced combat and spirit companion story-driven action-adventure. You can team up with elemental spirits, evolve their powers, and use their abilities to solve puzzles, fight enemies, and navigate the island.

It will be even more expansive than Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

Kena will learn new elemental powers and powerful spirit-guide techniques to use against different threats. Eventually, the adventure will lead to encounters with major bosses, giving the elemental systems a bigger role in combat.

Exploration is also a big part of the experience. Kosmora is a beautiful island full of secrets and dangers. You can explore many vibrant regions. Each region has its own communities, and as you uncover secrets hidden away for generations, you will learn more and more about the island's forgotten history.

Interestingly, there's much more emphasis on Kena's character, especially when you compare the new info to the first game. Kena: Bridge of Spirits introduced Kena as the main character and her role as a spirit guide, but Kena: Scars of Kosmora seems to take the opportunity to explore her more fully.

Her past has become directly linked to what is happening on the island. The people she meets, the problems she encounters, the spirit guiding she practices, and the mysteries surrounding Kosmora all connect back to Kena's personal journey.

The developers also appear to be clarifying exactly what kind of game Kena: Scars of Kosmora is.

The trailers can give the impression that you're looking at a semi-open-world adventure, especially when you see Kena moving through larger outdoor areas with her companion. However, the developers are being fairly direct in describing the game as a linear adventure.

That doesn't mean you'll simply follow one narrow path from beginning to end. The world is designed to let you move off the beaten path, explore different areas, interact with characters, and take on additional activities while still following a structured main adventure.

Based on what we've seen so far, the structure seems to revolve around different regions where you'll meet characters, complete activities, explore temples, gain new elemental abilities, and eventually face bosses. The abilities you gain in one part of the adventure can then help you progress into other areas, giving the game a sense of progression without turning it into a fully open-world experience.

That structure also fits with the developers' description of the game as a broader and deeper version of the original adventure. You're still getting the focused storytelling that defined Kena: Bridge of Spirits, but there should be more room to explore the world and understand the cultures that make up Kosmora.

The visual direction remains another major part of the game's identity.

The concept art and screenshots revealed alongside the delay show the same colorful approach that made the first game stand out, while introducing new environments, characters, creatures, and elemental imagery. The art style remains vibrant, and the island provides a much larger canvas for that visual identity.

The push to 2027 ultimately gives the developers more time to pull all of these pieces together. Instead of announcing a new release date right away, the team is using the extra development time to polish the game and build on the foundation set by Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

They also confirmed that Kena: Scars of Kosmora will release physically and digitally for PS5. That means the game won't be limited to a digital release when it eventually arrives, giving players the option to pick up a physical copy alongside the digital version.

For now, the exact 2027 release date remains unknown.

What is clear is that Kena: Scars of Kosmora is shaping up to be a larger follow-up that keeps the first game's linear, character-focused structure while expanding its world, combat, exploration, puzzles, and elemental systems. Most importantly, the story appears ready to spend much more time with Kena herself, tying her unresolved past directly into the mysteries waiting for her on Kosmora.

With the game now targeting 2027, you have more time before Kena returns, but the extra development period should give the team room to polish the experience and build on what made Kena: Bridge of Spirits work in the first place.