Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review

Introduction:

There’s been a bit of consensus with hardcore gamers that big companies and developers don’t take risks anymore. Most big budget games are remakes, sequels, spiritual successors or spinoffs. As for myself, lately I’ve been in a gaming funk. A feeling when every time I pick up a game, it just doesn’t hit right. I’ve been in one for the last few weeks and it can be a frustrating feeling. I’d get home from a long day of work, plop myself onto the couch, and every game I tried felt annoying or boring. Luckily, Kinitsu Gami: Path of the Goddess addresses both of those problems for me.

I say this with absolutely no hyperbole:

Within 30 minutes, I knew Kunitsu-Gami was competing for my game of the year. After claiming my first base within the game (roughly 40 minutes in), I put my controller down and listened to the piano in the background. I let it take me over. It made me emotional; a challenge for any piece of art at this point in my life. There’s a certain beauty only feudal Japan can capture, shown in media like the Vagabond manga or Samurai Champloo. Kinitsu-Gami fully embraces that beauty with incredible character designs and landscapes.

Gameplay:

The first screen of Kunitsu-Gami might throw you for a loop. It presents itself from a 2.5D point of view. But you can immediately start moving the camera and have it in a much more familiar third person position. You play as Soh, a warrior spirit summoned by Shrine Maiden Yoshiro. Enemies (known as Seethe) start coming at Soh and Yoshiro, and it quickly becomes clear what the goal of the game is. Protect Yoshiro as she purifies a land taken over by the Seethe.

Combat feels cozily simple at first. You have a light attack which can be chained for a quick flurry. You also have a “Dance Attack” which can be placed at the end of light attacks for different combinations. The simplicity of the hack ‘n slash nature of the combat rings of a PS2/early PS3 title. And I say that extremely happily. There’s no complex combos or rating system. One little flaw I can see people having with the game is waiting for Soh to become upgradeable. It took me roughly five hours to unlock Soh’s skill tree. This is when you can unlock new combos and abilities for Soh, like using a bow and arrow. Or even an entirely different style of dance moves. The skill tree unlock should’ve been moved up a tad in the game. Maybe let players hit it after the second or third boss. Because if you’re not hooked in enough by the simple moves for Soh in the beginning, you might drop the game.

Thankfully there’s a whole other system at play here: strategy. Kinitsu-Gami is a hybrid style game. It’s half an action game, with the other half having elements of an RTS. While you’re protecting Yoshiro, you save villagers who you can assign different roles such as Archer, Shaman or Marksman. You can place these villagers in different places and prepare for the upcoming enemy attacks at nightfall. It’s smart to place your Archers and Marksmen somewhere distant or on high ground to allow them to strike flying enemies. While your Woodcutters or Ninjas are on the battlefield, with a Shaman next to them for healing. Usually I would play chaotically; I’d place my villagers by Yoshiro and I would do most of the fighting as Soh with only one or two partners. If there’s a sequel possible, I’d actually like to see Capcom up the strategic elements a bit; and to allow for easier sorting of my villagers. In Pikmin you can seperate all your different type of Pikmin with a click of a button. But in Kinitsu-Gami I found it messy to navigate between everyone.

Presentation:

This is where the game immediately hooked me in. If you’re a sucker for lush green forests, snowy plains and rushing rivers- you’re in luck. There’s plenty here. Soh and Yoshiro are some of my favorite character designs in recent memory, with Yoshiro herself looking super special and gorgeous. Her little animations always made me smile, whether it be her dancing or even just when eats in her tent. I love the little clap she does after I upgrade my villagers. The menus are super clean, especially the strategic one when you’re sorting through villagers. I like how the two camera options in the game allow for a more standard third-person action look, or a more zoomed out look you’d see in other RTS’.

The music is absolutely fantastic too. The piano songs you hear in base after completing a battle always made me pause. I’ve sucker for the piano ever since I went through a Jazz phase a few years back. The piano tracks felt like a reward after the tense battles which took multiple in-game days.

And let’s be honest, the Japanese take on demons are always sick. This game went full on body horror with weird fingers, tongues and noses on many of the Seethe designs here. I love it when monster designs are genuinely a bit creepy, it makes them feel like twice the threat. It reminded me of a toned down Berserk, which has top tier monster designs; they’re just so disturbing just looking at them feel like a challenge.

Story:

After completing the first battle, the game gives us a bit of exposition. The Seethe were formed by human greed. The people who live on Mt. Kafuku (the setting of the game) were provided with lots of natural resources. But their greed caused them to take too much from the mountain, causing it to form the Seethe as a form of defense. It’s a cool idea and a great way to set up the game. But if you’re looking for anything more than that prepare to be disappointed. Kinitsu-Gami is primarily a gameplay driven game. There’s no dialogue in cutscenes and no more exposition given. At first I really enjoyed this approach, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see a conversation between Soh and Yoshiro. It only took me 20 hours to roll credits on the game, so for that length I was totally okay with little to no story. Again, something reminiscent of a PS2-era game. If I was reaching 30-40 hours I would’ve most likely felt the need for some sort of narrative push to keep going. Tactics and strategy games are no stranger to having good stories, and I can easily see Kinitsu-Gami having one. Especially with the Soh/Yoshiro dynamic. I love having the non-violent character protected by another. It reminds me of Maiden Astraea from Demon’s Souls.

Overall:

I’m not sure why, but I was planning on skipping Kinitsu-Gami. But I needed something to play and decided to give the game a chance. And I’m really glad I did. Capcom didn’t just throw this game together for the hell of it. It’s clear to me that they put the necessary time, money and love into making Kinitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess a great video game. And they succeeded in that. I can easily see that game as a template first entry in a series. Right now I’m imagining a sequel with more depth to both the action and strategy aspects, and perhaps a bit more story.

This is a great title which you shouldn’t sleep on. If you have Game Pass you can play it right now. If you’re still on the fence and you don’t have Game Pass, maybe wait until it’s on sale for $20-30. Even at full price I feel like it was well worth it.

I can’t stop thinking about Kinitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess.

(In an effort to move away from traditional numerical scores, I will use the following metric: Hated, Felt Neutral, Liked, Loved, Can’t Stop Thinking About)