In an time when revolutionary video games are popping out always, it’s thrilling that I’ve really by no means performed something fairly like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. It’s an otherworldly combine of action-strategy and tower protection set in a mystical feudal Japan. However whereas that distinctive setup could also be what grabs your consideration, Kunitsu-Gami’s execution on these concepts can be participating, enjoyable, and downright fascinating.
Kunitsu-Gami’s story is advised quietly but successfully, utilizing basically no dialogue. Mt. Kafuku has been corrupted by defilement and the “Seethe,” a illustration of demons, spirits, and yokai. Your objective as Soh, the guardian of the maiden Yoshiro, is to guide her safely down a path on the mountain so she could carry out her obligation, rescuing villages and their inhabitants alongside the approach. Secondarily, it’s essential to additionally defeat particularly highly effective Seethe to safe the stolen masks that include the energy of the Goddess, which then permits you to assign villagers to totally different roles to help you.
It’s not an advanced story, however the handful of cinematics impressed me to care about Yoshiro, in addition to the small, seemingly insignificant but intimate act of watching her take pleasure in conventional sweets collected by repairing villages. The truth is, whereas Soh is who you’re straight controlling, it feels odd to deem them the foremost character – they very a lot really feel like a personality-less extension of Yoshiro, the true protagonist of this story.
Both approach, the story isn’t meant to be the star of Kunitsu-Gami. That honor goes to its intricate enemy design, stunning settings, and the intelligent action-strategy twist it places on tower protection gameplay. Every stage is break up into two phases: Day and night time. Throughout the day section, your objective is to gather crystals by purifying defilement, rescue corrupted villagers, after which use your crystals to carve the Spirit Path by the stage for Yoshiro so she could attain the torii gate at the finish to purify it. In the meantime, at night time, the Seethe emerge from these corrupted torii gates to wreak havoc and destroy the villages on the mountain.
Yoshiro can by no means attain the finish of a stage in a single day, so that you have to be ready to guard the maiden from Seethe assaults with Soh’s sword and different talents. Fortunately, you’re not alone towards the hordes of Seethe, as you may place the villagers you’ve saved throughout the day alongside your path so as to optimally defend Yoshiro. You’ll be able to even change the place they’re stationed in real-time throughout battles, and as you progress by the levels and defeat bosses, you’ll additionally acquire masks which let you change a villager’s function – be that to the attention-drawing Sumo, the long-ranged Archer, or one of my favorites, the Ascetic, which slows down Seethe with limitations. You’ll be able to even acquire a useful resource referred to as Musubi to improve a job’s talents, which may mercifully be undone as typically as you’d like, which turns what may have been an anxiety-inducing selection into tons of enjoyable experimentation.
At first, this day-night loop was really easy I frightened it would turn out to be too repetitive, however I shortly modified my tune after the third boss proved to be a ability examine. After this level, new mechanics had been launched recurrently sufficient to maintain issues fascinating, together with contraptions to assist defend Yoshiro, new targets past simply getting her from level A to level B, and better enemy selection. It appeared each stage additionally introduced a brand new Seethe with broadly various assault patterns and functions, which not solely shook issues up properly, however successfully elevated the problem. It inspired a broader practice of strategic thought, starting from which villager roles to improve to which contraptions to restore.
The whole thing of Kunitsu-Gami is a follow in useful resource administration, encouraging lots of cautious consideration with out being over taxing mentally. The crystals you acquire are used each to create Yoshiro’s Spirit Path and to provide villagers roles, so I needed to weigh the execs and cons of having extra highly effective villagers or doubtlessly ending a stage sooner. There’s additionally a restricted quantity of time in every day, and because it takes time to restore defensive contraptions, there’s solely so many you may select to save lots of. Select unsuitable, or be too indecisive, and you might find yourself with no additional defenses in any respect. Even simply deciding the place to cease Yoshiro on a path may vastly change the problem of the coming night time.
Banal Base Constructing
Finishing a stage unlocks a base in that stage’s setting, the place you may then go to handle upgrades, manually save, acquire choices, and restore the buildings of the village to earn further rewards. At first I discovered these to be a pleasant, quiet reprieve between what may very well be the hectic motion levels and executives. There are all kinds of cute animals to work together with, a fragile piano taking part in, and blissful villagers meandering about. Nonetheless, it quickly grew to become obvious I principally had to return to every base a number of occasions to finish repairs between levels so as to acquire the Musubi that allowed me to improve villager roles.
Every base has a number of buildings to restore which every require a sure quantity of villagers, however there are solely so many villagers accessible to assign, and time should go for the repairs to be accomplished. There have been occasions between levels after I backtracked to 3 or 4 totally different bases to maintain up on gathering rewards and instructing repairs, and I ultimately discovered myself drained of repeating that course of, regardless of how charming the presentation. Nonetheless, this frustration was in the end only a mildly irritating hiccup that didn’t stop me from largely having fun with the move of Kunitsu-Gami.
There’s a lot of replayability right here, too. Every stage has hidden chests and three facet aims that may reward you with Tsuba Guards that grant particular talents, Mazo Talismans that grant passive buffs, and the extremely crucial Musubi improve materials. As a result of you may skip cutscenes, quick ahead the day section, and don’t should re-rescue villagers to have them in your arsenal, replaying levels is way much less of a slog than it may very well be. My solely qualm is that the earlier levels generally is a bit boring throughout the night time section, contemplating how straightforward they turn out to be along with your newfound energy. Nonetheless, you may all the time depend on the villagers to defend Yoshiro for you when you do some laundry or one thing – she’ll communicate up if she wants assist. After ending the roughly 20-hour story, there may be New Recreation+ possibility that permits you to retain every part you’ve obtained thus far (together with the base repairs, thank the Goddess) and introduces attractive new rewards to chase.
Fantastical But Genuine
Capcom calls Kunitsu-Gami a “kagura action-strategy” sport – a style label of its personal creation, however one that really fits it an amazing deal. Kagura can actually translate into “god leisure” or “god music,” and is a identified kind of Shinto ritual dance with origins tied to the folktale that impressed one other Capcom sport, Okami.
The Shinto-influenced concepts touched upon in Kunitsu-Gami aren’t fully international to me, however the depth of its presentation is. The eye to element right here is fascinating – for instance, the collectible sweets had been made in actual life by the well-known Tsuruya Yoshinobu, a 220-year-old confectioner in Kyoto, Japan, earlier than being scanned and become in-game fashions. It’s obvious that an amazing deal of care was put into making every part genuine regardless of the mythological twist placed on this feudal-Japanese setting, from the materials to the objects to even the choreography.
Even the most fantastical elements, the Seethe monsters, are so extremely detailed I may spend an ungodly quantity of time simply taking a look at their fascinatingly grotesque designs. Unlockable plaques let you look at their in-game fashions up shut, and every features a little story that often reads like a brief from Scary Tales to Inform in the Darkish. The plaques for the animals and villagers are a lot much less fascinating however welcome nonetheless, lovable on their very own as they typically depict Yoshiro or the villagers interacting with the topic animal. Why there may be a lot element right here I can’t actually let you know, however the thoughtfulness is tangible.
Lastly, I’ve to say the numerous colour palette getting used – broad, colourful, and but in some way cohesive in every part from the setting to the enemies themselves. Improbable, however not so unrealistically vibrant to push it fully into the spirit realm. Kunitsu-Gami isn’t the most graphically spectacular motion sport I’ve seen, however its artwork path is a factor of magnificence.