It’s late September 2021 and the gaming holiday season draws near. Releases begin to ramp up, with two very different but equally appealing titles on our minds right now. One is brand new, from a small team, and all about adorable characters, open world exploration, and a heartfelt story. The other is a remaster of a classic from more than 20 years ago, hails from a huge publisher, and is all about a grim and unrelenting world. No prizes for guessing, the names are in the article title. We’re talking about Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Diablo II Resurrected, which released within days of one another.
But while very different thematically, the two games look amazing on similar displays. You just need a display that’s versatile enough to do justice to the very divergent color schemes and perspectives on show. We have a monitor we think will be excellent for both, and if you prefer to game on massive screens, then we also have a gaming projector to recommend. But first, a word about the games themselves.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Developed by Ember Lab, Kena is a third person action adventure set in a magical realm straight out of a Pixar movie. Kena, the main character, guides spirits to the next realm, and finds herself fighting against a corruption that’s spreading across the land and preventing those spirits from moving on peacefully. Gameplay consists of combat, platforming, and light puzzle solving, and there’s no shortage of interesting NPCs to interact with. Kena also enlists the help of cute little creatures called the rot, who are basically fluffy jelly beans with gigantic eyes. This game proudly wears its numerous influences on its sleeve, and they’re indeed too numerous to list here, although the most obvious of them could be Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
What’s most striking about Kena are the graphics, which look spectacular throughout. Woods, water, snowy mountains, rocky areas, and combat effects all appear in brilliant color and detail, and so you really need a proper gaming monitor or projector to enjoy this one. While not super demanding in terms of hardware, Kena requires a mid-range gaming PC at least, or you can enjoy it on PS5 as of this writing.
On PS5, Kena runs at up to 4K 60Hz, while on PC settings explicitly support 144Hz and 165Hz refresh and go up to 240Hz.
Diablo II Resurrected
Resurrected sounds a lot better than the usual Remastered, but that’s what we’re getting here. And it’s not a bad thing. This is the same top-down, isometric point of view Diablo II that released in mid-2000, only with improved graphics and a better, more intuitive user interface. Do not expect anything revolutionary, this isn’t Diablo 4. We’ll need to wait a while for that. But, this version of Diablo brings the addictive gameplay of the original dungeon crawling combat RPG to 2021 with reasonably updated visuals, better sound, and as we said, an improved inventory system and overall refined user interface.
While you can’t run Diablo II Resurrected on a 20 year old PC, the requirements for the re-release/remaster aren’t very tough, so most people will be able to enjoy it. Also, the game is available on essentially every console, from Nintendo Switch to Xbox Series X and PS5. Unlike Kena, Diablo isn’t a graphics showcase but it’s still important to have a good display so you can benefit from the improvements Blizzard implemented.
Diablo II Resurrected targets 4K 60Hz on PS5, and that’s very doable. On PC this game will run pretty much any way you want it to depending on your hardware, as it’s not too demanding.
No Ultrawide Support
On launch, Kena: Bridge of Spirits doesn’t support ultrawide resolutions. Diablo II Resurrected likewise doesn’t support those, and Blizzard have said they don’t intend to add such support, as in their opinion doing so will “break the game”. This probably has much to do with legacy Diablo II settings and code still running within the remastered version, as ultrawide resolutions were very rare in 2000.
We’re quite sure Ember Lab will add ultrawide support to Kena later on, but for now we should go with 16:9 displays.
Gaming Monitor Pick: MOBIUZ EX3210R
What a lovely monitor this is. Nicely curved at 1000R, with gorgeous IPS to bring out the lushness of Kena and the desolate bleakness of Diablo. Importantly, the EX3210R is one of the rather rare breed of curved monitors that aren’t ultrawide, so you get a native 2560 x 1440, at a whopping 165Hz. There’s also FreeSync and adaptive sync, smart HDR, and powerful audio. Oh, and 1ms MPRT, which is great for both Kena and Diablo with their fast action.
Gaming Projector Pick: BenQ TK700STi
Want to play either or both of these games in glorious 100” 4K 60Hz with just 2m clearance? Done. The TK700STi uses short throw tech to deliver the goods. Behold, 4K 60Hz in giant screen format with just 16ms of total input lag. Hook up your PS5 or PC and get ready to witness every detail and nuance like never before. And that applies to Kena’s forests as well as to Diablo’s hellish landscapes and dungeons. Also, telling rare and epic loot apart is much easier on a 100” screen. The TK700STi is also a smart projector with full Wi-Fi connectivity, and it’s bright so you can play with the lights on or with daylight coming in.
Contrasts Meet
The innocence of Kena and the near-horror of Diablo may seem to be a complete contradiction, but they share one thing, and that’s the need for a good display. So we hope his has helped, and in any case, do let us know what you think via our social media channels.
