![Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Screenshot 1 of 5](https://images.pushsquare.com/screenshots/148848/900x.jpg)
Capcom is absolutely dialled in right now; everything it touches seems to turn to gold, from major releases to smaller experiments. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess certainly fits into the latter category, and it's a terrific time for fans of real-time strategy with a twist.
Being able to control a hero character in amongst the frenzy of a battle you're dictating might not be completely new, but it's given a fresh feeling by that battle being very much tower defence-inflected. Over the course of a 10 to 12-hour playtime, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a delight, albeit with a couple of rough edges. In fact, you might end up wishing it were just a little longer.
The game's story is told almost entirely without dialogue. It opens with the player character, Soh, attempting to stave off an invasion of demons called Seethe from the top of his mountain home, protecting the local shrine maiden Yoshiro as she performs rites to banish them. They're overcome, though, and the mountain is overrun; the game is essentially a procession down its slopes, in retreat but cleansing the land as they go.
![Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Screenshot 2 of 5](https://images.pushsquare.com/screenshots/148847/900x.jpg)
This manifests in a mission-based structure — as you wind your way down a campaign map you'll stop at shrines, abandoned villages, and tunnels to stop off and take on each one's challenge. Once you've completed a location, you're tasked with allocating resources to repair it over time, a simple and eventually slightly tedious bit of base-building that yields upgrade resources and unlockables. Diving into those missions, though, is the real meat of the game.
Kunitsu-Gami puts you in Soh's shoes in a series of arenas as he guides Yoshiro down a set track to a gate she must purify. Occasionally you'll choose between two branching paths, but either way, you'll still be facing the same task. You'll have a daytime period in which to run around the stage, finding patches of demonic energy to purify yourself, earning points that can then be spent on the villagers you find and free around the place, converting them into martial units.
At first, these will be limited to simple archers and axemen, but before long you'll unlock more costly options that have the power to, for example, freeze enemies in place briefly, shoot explosive cannonballs from a distance, or even heal their fellow units. You'll place these around Yoshiro's final position as the day falls into night, at which point the combat will start, requiring you to survive until morning.
![Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Screenshot 3 of 5](https://images.pushsquare.com/screenshots/148844/900x.jpg)
This means the arrival of enemies from set locations: festering gates that spill demons out and see them tramp towards the maiden, slowed by your units, any obstacles you've managed to construct, and your own skills. Soh is a swordsman, after all, and you can sweep through fields of foes more devastatingly than the units you order around. This means that each night divides your attention in two — where you should be, fighting fire and cutting demons down, and where your units should be, providing covering fire or blocking off a lane entirely.
It's a really fun balance, with a classic rock-paper-scissors element to your choice of units based on the enemies arriving, and further twists are thrown in fairly regularly (each used at least a couple of times) to make things more challenging. There are stages where you're not able to take part in combat yourself, and can only provide orders; others see you on a floating armada of boats, struggling to stop any of the crafts from being sunk; another type requires you to keep lanterns lit around the stage to be able to target enemies.
Your ability to actually give commands comes through a time-pausing menu that lets you cycle through your units and place them around the map, although you're limited by your field of view and location; there's no simple way to look around the whole map while paused. You also have to be right next to a unit to heal it or change its role (which you'll need to do often in later stages), so prepare for Soh's relatively slow movement speed to become a little annoying.
![Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Screenshot 4 of 5](https://images.pushsquare.com/screenshots/148846/900x.jpg)
Soh's actual combat controls are serviceable but noticeably nowhere near as smooth as a good Dynasty Warriors character, let alone a Dante or Bayonetta. This arguably helps to balance your power on the battlefield, but it makes investing in Soh's skill-tree lack allure compared to upgrading your units' capabilities. That upgrade tree is fully refundable at any time, though, which is great for experimenting with different units and tactics.
Most stages last for more than one night, and often a handful of days as you pace yourself through maps, stopping at the right moment to get a buff for the night and affording yourself more time to build enhancements, like cannons or sharpshooting towers. Managing your units through these repeated engagements is challenging fun, backed up by generous nightly checkpointing which means you'll rarely, if ever, have to restart a whole mission from scratch if you fail.
Still, it's fair to say that, by the time credits rolled, we were still looking for a truly gruelling stage — the opportunity to really score a backs-against-the-wall victory against the odds. Those put off by high challenge can be reassured that Kunitsu-Gami is more approachable than you might think. What do sometimes demand more skill are the boss fights that you unlock between most stages. These act as mandatory barriers to your progress, some introducing new, more powerful foes, while others are a little more unique (and frankly, sometimes tiresome to actually fight).
![Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Screenshot 5 of 5](https://images.pushsquare.com/screenshots/148849/900x.jpg)
From a top-down perspective but with a lot of camera control, the game looks quite lovely at times, although it's a little low on environmental detail. Those demon models are ravishingly weird, to make up for it, and we didn't have any performance issues while playing. Kunitsu-Gami's soundtrack deserves mention, too, a lovely blend of smooth and calm melodies with funky prog-rock in its most heated moments. Also on the sound front, you'll want to turn down your DualSense controller's speaker in the PS5's system settings, as the game sadly makes fairly obnoxiously constant use of it with no toggle to turn it off.
Conclusion
It might not feel quite as new as its billing, but Kunitsu-Gami is still a lovely little game, with a seriously engrossing hook that'll have you wishing it was longer than it actually is. The plates it keeps spinning are impressive, even if it's actually a little slight in the final weighing.
Comments 29
Basically wait for a sale then 👍
I will play it as its on gamepass
Felt very similar in my own review. Huge fan of the enemy designs!
I thought "base building is simplistic" more like a pros than a cons. But 7/10 is still a good score and if it's me i would give this game at least an 8/10 for the visuals, music, and fresh idea alone.
It sounds really good, and if I had more time I'd definitely check it out. Too much in my backlog right now, though.
Game isn't going to sell good, but it probably wasn't expensive to make.
Loved the demo and can’t wait for the full game!
Got mine pre-ordered already. They could have at least gave us some avatars lol. Looks like im going to be playing this all weekend as I don't anticipate my physical College Football 25 shipping out til Friday itself thus getting here Monday or Tuesday next week.
Didn’t love the demo, just not my vibe, but I can see folks who are into RTS really enjoying this game. Shout out to the wacky art style too.
I'm sure this game has plenty of opportunity for Capcom to sell microtransactions. And in the end, isn't that what they really want to do?
tried the demo it was so bizzare the first level i dont think ive ever been so confused in a game but ended up liking it after a few more levels def gonna play it on gamepass
I forgot there was a demo, I should try it out. Or maybe just play it on Game Pass.
@Enuo Can you tell me where did you read about Capcom gonna sell MTX for this game? I just check PSN store if it has MTX and i don't see any MTX or even a single paid DLC and season pass.
@PuppetMaster I think they are just speculating based on Capcom's history
One of the few games I pre-ordered. Because if Okami and Sakuna: Of Rice &Ruin, is that games where a goddess uses her powers to fight demons and restore the purity of nature, is one of my favorite ultra-specific genres.
I tried the demo on steam festivals a couple of weeks ago, the game is kind of weird, gameplay wise it feels like a ps2 games in its weirdness. Seems like a good game but not for me.
I don’t really try or care for demos, but I might download it for this game. I’m vertically intrigued by the premise, and the art aesthetic is gorgeous.
@Frmknst Free on Gamepass? Gamepass is not free.
Loved the demo so preordered. Can’t wait for the release
Loved the art style in the demo, just wasn't really feeling the fighting hordes of enemies and preventing them from reaching something/someone.
I haven’t tried the demo yet, but I grabbed it for Steam Deck. If I like it I might grab it on there, I have Game Pass, but I want to support studios doing weird games like this.
@Logonogo That person isn't speculating since he said he's sure Capcom gonna put mtx in this game. And as far as i aware of Capcom history with mtx, they never put mtx for their small / mid budget games like Ace Attorney, Strider, Mega Man, Ghost Trick, or Okami.
I do appreciate Push Square reviews using the whole review scale more often than it's sister sites. While I usually disagree with the reviews for many games here at least you don't 8/10 every single game
Right now it got 79% in metacritic
https://www.metacritic.com/game/kunitsu-gami-path-of-the-goddess/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-5
I'm quite surprised with the positive reviews. I thought game journalist gonna give it bad reviews. Ha.
@PuppetMaster in English saying “I’m sure” is just a figure of speech indicating you think something is likely. He also said he was sure there was opportunity meaning chances to have MTX so nowhere did he say they were definitely in the game. Anyway hope it’s a good game I will move on now
I loved the small things in the demo, like the priestess eating the dessert you pick for her. Will you this up later.
@Logonogo I know what "likely" means. That's why i asked that person where did he seen an interview or something that strengthen his "speculation", six sense, or whatever about this game will "likely" have mtx. But so far i don't see anything mention about mtx not even on Kunitsu Gami official site or PSN store. You also said "speculation from Capcom history" but like i said, not every Capcom games has mtx.
Also yes, so far it's a good game from the general reviews. I will move on too. Thank you and have a nice day.
I'm really not trying to troll, but those screen shots look horrible.
@tselliot They don´t really do it justice. The game looks amazing on my OLED screen
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