21 years ago, a French CG film called Kaena: The Prophecy launched to poor reviews and even worse box office results. The film's creative leads were deeply tied to the video game industry, and a PS2 adaptation was released in Japan shortly after the movie. While an English-language version of that game featuring the vocal talents of the film's star-studded cast was essentially completed, it never actually launched, and seemed to have effectively become lost media – until now, that is.
A few days ago, Robin Davies posted on Twitter (thanks, Time Extension) that "I'm very happy to have recently acquired a full debug preview copy of the game with its original voice cast. I'll give it a playthrough and upload some videos when I can find the time." The tweet's accompanied by a few gameplay clips showing Kaena in action, and folks, it is something.
For 20 years, the original English voiced version of #Kaena on #PS2 was thought to be lost.So I'm very happy to have recently acquired a full debug preview copy of the game with its original voice cast. I'll give it a playthrough and upload some videos when I can find the time. pic.twitter.com/qlBYjkOcvgOctober 18, 2024
On PS2, Kaena looks a bit like Resident Evil with pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles, though it's far more action-oriented than that - perhaps akin to a somewhat more static take on Devil May Cry. In any case, it stands out thanks to its surreal visual style and the unmistakable jank that lovers of retro obscurities eat up.
The footage also gives us a taste of some very bad voice acting from some very good actors, which is probably the most notable thing about Kaena today. The unreleased English dub features the same Hollywood talent as the film, including Kirsten Dunst, Anjelica Huston, Keith David, and Richard Harris. Harris's final on-screen film role was as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was released after his death, but his voice role in Kaena: The Prophecy was his final performance of any type to be released. His appearance in the game adaptation would then likely be this true final role.
Some gameplay from the second level of Namco's #Kaena in English (PS2 unreleased). pic.twitter.com/jSfGu6kkzTOctober 18, 2024
The story of Kaena as a franchise is bizarre and fascinating - the project started development in 1995 as a video game before spending years developing into a CG movie partly because of a meeting with Steven Spielberg, as one account tells it. The full story is way too extensive to get into here, but I'm already becoming obsessed.
"Yes, I will be sharing it," Davies says of the newly-discovered build. "Game preservation is good for us all." I can't wait to see more, and I might just endure a watch of Kaena: The Prophecy - apparently it's streaming for free on Tubi - in the meantime.
The best PS2 games? I mean, you can find plenty at that link, but who wants to play good games when stuff like Kaena is out here?
