Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: July 19, 2024
Price: $49.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
It feels like quite some time has passed where large developers felt free to take a risk with something different. Sure, there are occasional indie projects that are pushed along with the help of a major publisher, but few of them happen to come from one of the developers themselves. So, with Capcom raking in plenty of praise for their handling of Resident Evil and Street Fighter franchises, nevermind their myriad of remakes bringing classics to new life lately, the appearance of the unusual Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was quite surprising. Combining action and strategy together with a very Japanese based aesthetic focused around harmony, this title is as experimental as they come, but is it a successful one?
Story
During a usual cleansing ceremony atop the peak of Mount Kafuku the darkness trapped within the mountain surges forth like never before, pushing the Maiden and her defenders to the limit to the point that the Maiden is forced to flee with her sole defender left by her side, letting the “Seethe” swarm through the demonic gate on the top of the mountain and swarm over the land. With players taking on the role of Soh, the maiden Yoshiro’s last guardian, it is up to them to defend her and purge the mountain of the Seethe’s miasma and demonic influence once and for all.
Kunitsu-Gami‘s storyline in an incredibly simple manner and is rather sparse when it is told. Players will mostly spend their time traveling down the mountain while freeing villagers and their homes from the Seethe’s miasma and rebuilding their homes at the same time. There is a bit of story to be found, especially in the form of little collectables players can obtain either from repairing certain objects in villages or accomplishing certain “objectives” but other than that it is clear that the story is mostly a set-piece in the background, with even Yoshiro and Soh not having nearly enough interactions as one may hope.
Gameplay
The mission structure throughout Kunitsu-Gami is generally set up in a manner that has players tackle a stage, fight against a boss once that stage has been completed in order to unlock the next stage, and so on. But what makes the gameplay unique is the way players will be blending both strategic tower defense setups with action gameplay as they seek to reclaim the various abandoned villages and shrines along the way. As players arrive at a stage, during the day they will spend their time moving around and using Soh’s ability to purify small pieces of Seethe corruption that has latched onto parts of the town, liberate citizens from being cocooned in miasma, and even gather “gems” and rations from breaking objects around town. In fact, players can even free wildlife from being plagued by miasma who will, in extremely cute fashion, gather around the Maiden during daylight hours.
It is also during these daylight hours that players will use the gems they acquire from purifying things and smacking down corrupted plants to assign roles to the villagers that they save. These roles range from simple woodcutters that deal melee damage, archers that prioritize flying enemies, to more complicated classes like sumo wrestlers, thieves, and even those that buff or construct barriers. All of these jobs require different levels of gems and players will need to plan accordingly and then place these villagers turned warriors in specific locations throughout the map to best defend the Maiden. This is because alongside assigning jobs to villagers or telling them to rebuild fortifications, Soh must also use gems to “carve a path” for the Maiden to dance down in an incredibly slow fashion. This is all done as time passes as indicated by a water bowl in the bottom corner and when night falls, not only will Yoshiro stop her slow dance but she will now need to be defended as Seethe will begin to pour out of any unpurified Torii gates.
Soh can preemptively tell the Maiden to stop her advance, allowing them to take advantage of terrain, barriers, and more to help protect her from incoming attacks but once night falls it’s all up to the player’s strategic placement of villagers to help suppress the enemy in tower defense fashion while taking advantage of Soh’s useful skill set to combine the action gameplay with it. Unlike a standard tower defense title, Kunitsu-Gami allows players to take an active role in fights as Soh is more than capable of cutting through swathes of low level Seethe on his own, leaving the villagers either to pick off stragglers or cut off a separate path and allow them to focus only on one. It is nice to note that players can command all villagers to assault the enemy directly or immediately retreat to defend the Maiden with a single press of a button on the character placement screen, but it is a bit unfortunate that said screen is also incredibly limited in size as players cannot move the camera freely around the map, instead having to have Soh leave his post to move villagers into further positions, heal them, or even change their profession if needed.
Soh’s moveset is a fairly simplistic one that works fluidly but also lacks a lock-on of any kind making some larger scale boss fights quite annoying. Players can mix together light attacks and heavy “dance” attacks to deal extra damage as well as unleash powerful skills that recharge over time and often are focused on weakening a larger Seethe’s “break” gauge that will leave thjem wide open for punishment. He can also be upgraded with a variety of extra moves, skills and other pieces of equipment obtained from completing missions, repairing parts of villages, and accomplishing challenges. Similarly, all villager class types can also be enhanced in similar fashion to have extra health, deal extra damage, or even unleash new skills that will make them more effective fighters.
Unfortunately the way to obtain some extra upgrade materials breaks the flow of the game a bit, which is really a drag at times considering how often the game likes to throw something new at players. One stage might have players fighting to keep boats afloat from the attacking Seethe or keep lanterns alit all while trying to survive but every stage, even boss battles, have hidden objectives that aren’t revealed until players beat them once. This can range from having villagers slay a certain number of enemies, completing a stage within a certain time, and more often reward players with extra upgrade materials that will make their units stronger in the end. Also, repairing destroyed parts of villages often require stages to be played to force time to pass, including replaying levels to grind them out. This is a nice little reward but tacking them on at the end of a mission reeks of forced replayability. Of course, since the game does offer a New Game+ mode with unique unlocks that are only available in this mode, it might not be best to grind more than needed.
Kunitsu-Gami‘s boss battles are a fairly mixed bag. Some are as straightforward as they come and offer a unique challenge compared to the waves of general enemies players battle against while others throw some rather daunting difficulty spikes at the player, making even a seemingly well-prepared fighter struggle against it. There are also a number of gimmick fights as well against bosses, such as using only villagers or having to take one on solo, but these are more refreshing than anything else. If nothing else, the more annoying fact that comes with some bosses is that they are simply walking tanks that take far more damage than they likely should, simply prolonging battles that are otherwise not too difficult outside of a few cases.
Audio & Visuals
Kunitsu-Gami has perhaps one of the most unique art styles that players will see in some time. Part of this is due to the pain-staking level of detail that the RE Engine allows developers to put into creating character and enemy models as well ad the environment and part of it is due to the Japanese aesthetic that runs through every aspect of the game. This Japanese fantasy game features vibrant and bright colors even on the most horrific looking enemies that players will need to face down and there is some solid variety on offer here. It also helps that the game never once stuttered in performance even when facing down hoards of Seethe with Soh and his allies. It is worth noting the camera itself can be rather annoying to deal with and it is made all the worse by the lack of a lock-on.
Since the storyline mostly takes a backseat to the action there is very little in the way of voice acting throughout the game but what is there is handled well-enough. The real special part of the audio comes from how authentic the soundtrack is. All musical pieces use traditional Japanese instruments to create authentic background music during battles and exploration and there are a number of which just fit perfectly, especially during some of the more intense boss battles.
Overall
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess feels like an experimental title that one would have seen a few console generations ago and is all the better for it. It might have some flaws, such as a bare-bones storyline, poor usage of base building, and some balancing issues, but it also happens to put together a splendid fusion of action and tower defense wrapped up in a gorgeous looking package. The presentation is the real star here and when combined with the fluid combat and clever ways the developers like to keep players on their toes, this experiment was quite a success.
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