Capcom has been on an incredible roll these last five years or so, releasing one critically-acclaimed blockbuster after another. But while Capcom has mainly focused on brand-new entries in its established franchises, it has also taken some big risks, releasing highly experimental projects and new IP. One such game was last year’sExoprimal, a live service PvPvE shooter with dinosaurs, and the latest is the action-strategy meets tower defense gameKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessis one of Capcom’s riskiest games to date, and while it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a fascinating, unique concept that delivers a genuinely new experience.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessis difficult to describe because there’s nothing all that much like it. It’s a bizarre blend of tower defense,action-strategy games, and hack-and-slash. A typical level is split into multiple phases. The first phase has players exploring the area as main protagonist Soh, purging the defilement that has overtaken the land in exchange for crystals. These crystals can be used to convert rescued villagers into specific roles, like woodcutter, archer, thief, etc., with most available roles focused on either melee offense or ranged combat. Crystals are also spent on carving a path for the maiden Yoshiro to follow, with the ultimate goal often being to deliver her to a gate that will either lead to the next area or complete the level. Part of the strategy is ensuring that Yoshiro is in an advantageous spot when night falls, as that’s when the second phase begins.
Once night falls, yokai-inspired demons start flooding the area from gates that are dotted around the map. Yoshiro then becomes the “tower” inKunitsu-Gami’s tower defense gameplay, as her death means game over. Players have to strategically place their rescued villagers around the map to defend Yoshiro from threats, while doing their best to fight off the enemies themselves. While button mashing is certainly a viable option, the game encourages players to link together combos to unleash more effective attacks. When done right, Soh’s attacks look almost like a dance, with players bouncing from one enemy to the next, killing them, and collecting more crystals for daytime. Between the flashy combat, demonic enemies, and villager management, the game is likeDemon SlayermeetsPikmin, which is an odd but surprisingly effective combination. But that’s not all. There’s yet another layer toKunitsu-Gami’s gameplay.
After players complete a level, they set up a base in the area.Kunitsu-Gamibases are peaceful, but they are in desperate need of rebuilding in the aftermath of the game’s battles. Villagers can be assigned to various building projects around the base, which yield helpful rewards once they’re completed. The most helpful of these rewards are Musubi, which can be spent on upgrades that greatly improve the villagers' abilities in battle.Kunitsu-Gamiplayers will definitely want to make revisiting bases a habit as they progress through the game, though it’s difficult to get invested in them, since every level means starting the base over from scratch. Having a singular, central base that players could build up over time would have been more satisfying and would have gone a long way in helping the bases feel more alive. Rebuilding the bases is also not particularly engaging. It simply consists of walking up to a project, assigning villagers to said project, leaving to do a mission, and then returning for the reward. It starts to become tedious after a while, though the rewards are so good that players will definitely not want to skip it.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Has Many Tricks Up Its Sleeve
This is how theKunitsu-Gamigameplay loop works, but there are interesting swerves thrown in from time to time to shake things up. Some levels offer fun twists on the formula that challenge players to approach the game in completely different and unexpected ways. To go into too much detail would be to spoil some of the game’s surprises, so we won’t reveal too much, but rest assured thatKunitsu-Gamifeatures some surprising and engaging gameplay twiststhat helps it stay fresh for most of its runtime.
The game is likeDemon SlayermeetsPikmin.
Beyond the standard stages,Kunitsu-Gamialso features dedicated boss levels where players fight especially horrific monstrosities that are capable of dealing devastating damage, but can also be dealt with in no time at all if players go into the battle with the right group of villagers. There is some trial-and-error to the fights, as players don’t know what they’re getting themselves into until theboss battlesactually start, but each encounter is different, challenging, and a highlight of the experience. A couple ofKunitsu-Gami’s bosses are brutal, but the game does a good job of gradually building its challenge so there aren’t any massive difficulty spikes that throw things off.
What does make the game frustrating at times is the need to micromanage the villagers.Kunitsu-Gami’s villagers aren’t particularly smart and will stand right in the middle of attacks unless they’re told to move. The lackluster villager AI can be annoying, though the game does at least make it easy to issue commands. Players can issue commands to a single villager, but they can also order the entire team at once. All it takes is one button press in the command menu to send everyone to Yoshiro’s side, and players unlock new command options later in the game that make things even easier to control. Still, it would have been nice if the villagers were a little more aware of what’s going on around them.
Kunitsu-Gami Checkpoints Could Use Some Work
Players will also likely take issue with howKunitsu-Gami’s checkpoints work. In a standard level where players have to lead Yoshiro to a gate, the checkpoint triggersafterYoshiro is stopped and the enemies start spawning. This means that if players accidentally put Yoshiro somewhere dangerous, they are stuck with that placement unless they restart the entire level from the beginning. This can be avoided by taking note of all the potential enemy spawn points and planning ahead, but it still doesn’t make sense for the checkpoint to be placed this way.
While being stuck with poor Yoshiro placement is disappointing, at least losing that way is still technically the fault of the player. Unfortunately, there may be times inKunitsu-Gamiwhere players have to restart a stage through no fault of their own, thanks to the occasional technical hiccup. In one instance, the camera got stuck in place after purifying a gate, and the game wouldn’t even give us the option of restarting at the last checkpoint. Pausing only brought up a basic pause screen as opposed to the menu options that usually appear. The later stages inKunitsu-Gamican be particularly long and taxing, so being forced to repeat them because of a glitch is disheartening, to say the least.
My playthrough of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess took about 15 hours. Beating the game unlocks special rewards and New Game+, so there is definitely good reason to continue playing after the credits roll. Individual stages have bonus objectives for players to strive for as well, so Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess offers significant value.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessisn’t perfect, but it’s a fascinating game and one that begs for a more refined sequel that builds on its ideas. What’s here is still mostly great and should greatly appeal to fans oftower defense games, thePikminseries, and even theDemon Slayeranime. It’s great to see Capcom willing to roll the dice on such a unique concept, and hopefully there’s more ofKunitsu-Gamito come.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
WHERE TO PLAY
A new tale of the Kami awaits…Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a unique Japanese-inspired, single player Kagura Action Strategy game.The game takes place on a mountain covered by defilement.During the day, purify the villages and prepare yourself for sundown.During the night, protect the Maiden against the hordes of the Seethe.Repeat the day and night cycle until you cleanse the mountain of defilement and return peace to the land.The setting is Mt. Kafuku—a mountain covered in defilement. The game offers a taste of Japanese culture, including Kagura dance, masks, as well as the music that plays in the background.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddesslaunches July 19 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant was provided with a PC code for this review.
