Serenity in motion

Kenshō is a Japanese term from the Zen tradition – ken means "seeing" and shō means "nature, essence". Nobody would question why FIFTYTWO, a small independent studio from Russia, chose this title for their new game, a beautiful puzzle adventure through surreal nature, time and space.

Whilst playing you match blocks and overcome challenges to open doors into the next beautiful landscape. With its stunning graphics and meditative soundtrack from Swedish producer Oscar Rydelius, Kenshō is truly a Zen experience. It’s more than just a game – it’s a piece of visual art.

To play, you manipulate a five-by-five grid to match at least three colours to clear tiles away. But this familiar game concept has a twist: swipe in any direction, including up or down, to move the entire board. As you advance, more complicated aspects are introduced, such as tiles that can only be cleared from one side.

It’s easy to lose yourself in Kenshō’s immersive atmosphere, but the puzzles themselves are the real draw.

“We wanted to make an iOS game that could be played with just one hand,” says developer Fiftytwo’s co-founder Mikhail Shagin. “Easy to learn, but fresh and fascinating. A combination of colour matching with some new, graceful puzzle mechanics.”

Beautiful hardly describes the experience. It’s stunning. For more than two years, the three-man team behind the game obsessed over every detail in order to create a visual showpiece that looks as exceptional as it plays. Lighting, shadows and hundreds of glowing particles illuminate backdrops that come to life with swaying trees and scrolling parallax effects. Everything moves with silky-smooth animation. “It takes a long time, but this is our way to look special among other games,” Shagin adds.

It’s a peaceful experience complemented by its ambient soundtrack, and while it can be challenging at times, you’ll always find it fun, rewarding and beautiful to behold.

Kenshō

Open the door to a new world

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