The Scars of Kosmora delay is official: Ember Lab announced Thursday, Oct. 1, that “Kena: Scars of Kosmora” will launch in 2027 instead of this year. The studio said the sequel to “Kena: Bridge of Spirits” needs more time to be polished at its larger scale.
“We need just a bit more time,” Ember Lab COO Josh Grier and game writer Thomas Varga wrote in a joint post on the PlayStation Blog. “Pushing our release into 2027 gives us the ability to really polish the expanded game experience we want to deliver.”
Scars of Kosmora delay: Release window and platforms
- Release window: 2027 (no month or date announced)
- Platforms: PS5 (physical and digital) and PC (digital)
- Wishlists: open now, per the PlayStation Blog
Ember Lab revealed the sequel in February during a PlayStation State of Play, when it was slated for later in 2026 on PS5 and PC, VGC reported.
New story details for Kena’s next adventure
Along with the Scars of Kosmora delay, Ember Lab shared the first real look at the story. In the series, Spirit Guides are part warrior and part healer, battling the Corruption that spreads when the dead cannot move on peacefully. Kena, now an experienced Spirit Guide, has spent her career easing the pain of the dead but has rarely dealt with her own, the studio wrote. Her childhood friend Orfio believes the island of Kosmora holds answers for both of them, so she travels there to meet him and learn more about her future as a Spirit Guide.
Kosmora was once home to four cultures, each built around one of the four elements, until a cataclysm wiped out one of them. The island’s ancient Spirit Guides left behind Alchemystic Temples, dungeons that Ember Lab described as “a big part of the game.”
Kena also gets a new partner: a crystalline canine spirit she can ride across the bigger map. The companion fights alongside her, whether she is mounted or on foot, and helps solve puzzles.
Like the first game, the sequel is “a character-focused linear adventure,” the developers wrote, but with “a broader and deeper scope” and more to find off the main path.
Why the bar is high
“Bridge of Spirits” launched in September 2021 on PS5, PS4 and PC and holds Metacritic scores of 81 on PS5 and 83 on PC, according to VGC. It reached Xbox Series X/S in 2024 and Nintendo Switch 2 in March, VGC reported. The game also won best independent game and best debut indie game at The Game Awards 2021, and it was the most-downloaded PS5 game in Europe in its launch month, according to a Sony Interactive Entertainment studio profile. Total Apex called the Switch 2 version a gorgeous adventure with Zelda and Ghibli feels.
Grier and Varga said the goal is a game that “exceeds the quality we achieved with our 2021 debut, Bridge of Spirits, and at a much bigger scale.” That promise is the studio’s main explanation for the Scars of Kosmora delay, and it did not cite any other reason in its post.
Who is Ember Lab?
Brothers Mike and Josh Grier founded Ember Lab in 2009 as an animation and digital content studio, according to Sony’s profile. Before it made games, the team produced commercials for brands including Coca-Cola, Hisense and MLB, plus animated shorts such as “Terrible Fate,” a fan film based on “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.” “Bridge of Spirits” was the studio’s first game.
Ember Lab has not given a month for the new launch, so the Scars of Kosmora delay could still stretch well into 2027. For more release-date shifts and announcements, follow our gaming news coverage.
