Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review

The reveal for Kunitsu-Gami at the Xbox Games Showcase was a wonderful surprise. Capcom has been having a stellar couple of years where each game, no matter how big or small, is infused with the magic I associate with their 90s period. By that I mean that everything they’ve released recently, from Streetfighter 6 to Exoprimal, understands what makes a game mechanically interesting, compelling, or just really cool.

Even in lesser projects, or ones that should be an afterthought, the designer team is nailing the core mechanics and building out the rest of the game based on that while also asking ‘how do we keep this fresh; how do we add layers?’

Kunitsu-Gami very much continues this trend. It also brings with it another, less welcome, tradition of modern Capcom which I will talk about later.

The story follows Yoshiro and their loyal samurai companion Soh. When the mountain they occupy is exploited demons are unleashed and subjugate all humans on there while corrupting the mountain itself.

It is down to Yoshiro to cleanse the mountain by dancing through each region and destroying enemy portals, but while dancing they are defenceless to the attacks of the demons spawning from said portals. This is where the player, as Soh, comes in. He must rescue defiled villagers, assign them roles and set about fighting the demons.

This is where most of the game takes place. A combination of 3D actioner, and tower defence, Kunitsu-Gami weaves these two elements well. Each level is broken up into two parts. Soh must use purple crystals to carve a path through each section, which then dictates where Yoshiro will move. This movement is limited by both the number of crystals Soh has and the amount of time before night falls. This is made more pressing because at the same time Soh has to run around rescuing villagers from their cocoons, purging infected points to net more purple crystals, and building defences.

The villagers can be assigned different classes starting with a melee axe-wielder, and an archer (which, again costs purple crystals to do). Later there will be healers, sumo wrestlers, cannoneers, and sorcerers to unlock. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses, and, in each challenge, it is best figure out how to place them to maximise their efficiency.

Once night falls the demons will start spawning and move down set routes to try and kill Yoshiro. Soh must then position the villagers to interject, as well as jump in to help out. Figuring out how to use these tactics are mostly well explained, with new classes unlocked after each boss fight, and then new enemies are introduced that require that class.

In the trailers the Soh combat looks like it is inspired by Devil May Cry. There are parries, combos, special attacks that need meter, and a ranged attack with all the accoutrements of a character action game. It is just that everything less responsive than I expected. Combos are triggered and cannot be cancelled by blocking and must playout in their fullest before another action can be performed. At first, I found it a little annoying but as Kunitsu-Gami progressed the combat ended up making sense. If the combat was too responsive the enemies would no longer have been a threat, and the pace of combat would have to be increased in a way which would have betrayed the tower defence element.

The other part of gameplay happens when not guiding Yoshiro. As areas are purged, they turn into bases in which Soh can assign villagers to rebuild areas, buy permanent upgrades for the villagers and Soh, and pet animals. Repairs take a while to complete and require either completing new areas or retrying old ones to rotate through the day/night cycle.

This is the thing that impresses me, on paper Kunitsu-Gami seems slight and potentially repetitive. Initially it is with the first 3 levels serving more as a tutorial than a challenge. However, Capcom’s team takes every element of the gameplay design and milks it for every enjoyable drop. Each area has a set of challenges that unlock more upgrade points and pursuing them makes the player use different tactics. For example, a challenge might state that Soh must take no damage, which requires either playing super effectively or relying on the villagers to do all of the fighting. No challenge feels arbitrary either, but thoughtfully implemented based on how the level is built.

The same goes for the levels themselves, the dev team have thought of so many good ways to change how they are played – a level shrouded in darkness that requires the maintenance of lamps, a boat level that needs to be protected from incoming hordes etc. There is always a new level, or boss, which makes the player rethink their approach.

It helps that the enemy and level art is all hideous/beautiful. Much care has been put into each villager mask, the enemies are contorted and grotesque but lovingly rendered. The animations also help give them character: from the gun twirl of the rifleman to the lumbering of the towering bell monster. These great touches speak to the wider world of Kunitsu-Gami.

Now let’s talk about what doesn’t work – the general user-experience. Everything outside of the general combat takes a little too long to do and had me asking ‘what are they trying to achieve with this?’. The most obvious example of this is the base upgrading and bonuses. Upgrading requires the player to enter a base, move Soh to a specific point then enter a menu, and then return to the main stage select. This should have been three button presses at most and not multiple inputs and a loading screen. This is worse because Kunitsu-Gami really wants the player to micro-manage the upgrades and stats to take on individual challenges, but the information required is spread over disparate screens.

From my personal experience it meant as Kunitsu-Gami progressed and the tools got more complex, I explored less due to the terrible UX.

That said, the game does give you a villager that is basically a nuke and it rules.

Kunitsu-Gami definitely has the spirit of a company that rebuilt SF6’s fighting system and invested Dragon’s Dogma II’s world building, unfortunately it’s also made by the same company that continues to make the inscrutable menu system of Monster Hunter World.  

Conclusion

Kunitsu-Gami continues the trend of gameplay excellence that has blessed all of Capcom’s recent releases. There are just some parts outside that feel like they should be more streamlined.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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Good
  • An excellent balance of combat and tower defence strategy
  • Game looks great
  • Every level and challenge are considered in tandem with the mechanics
  • I do love fireworks
Bad
  • Base building seems tacked on
  • Combat takes a while to make sense
8
Great
Written by
AJ Small is a games industry veteran, starting in QA back in 2004. He currently walks the earth in search of the tastiest/seediest drinking holes as part of his attempt to tell every single person on the planet that Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine are the greatest games ever made. He can be found on twitter (@badgercommander), where he welcomes screenshots of Dreamcast games and talk about Mindjack, just don’t mention that one time he was in Canada.

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