Capcom and real-time strategy aren’t words you’d normally put together, but if my first five hours with Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess are anything to go by, this is a match that’s shaping up to be truly quite divine. This is a strategy game whose core is pure Capcom action, with energetic katana arcs and dazzling button combos laced with some of the most spectacular, kaleidoscopic visual effects this side of Okami (a connection that’s not lost on Capcom either, thanks to their free Ammy and Waka costume crossover items coming at launch).
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the GoddessDeveloper: CapcomPublisher: CapcomPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out July 19th 2024 on PC (Steam), Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PS5 and PS4
As Soh’s sword careens through the air with his dance-like moveset, he leaves twisting trails of colour behind him, like he’s constantly slicing through other dimensions that are just full of the brightest, most vibrant origami paper you’ve ever seen. It’s a lovely little treat for repeatedly throwing yourself into the heat of battle, and it gives each level the kind of action-led exuberance you just don’t get from strategy games where your main role is to simply direct your units from your skybox on high.
Don’t get me wrong – there’s still a Pikmin-like organisation layer to Kunitsu-Gami’s midnight scraps, as alongside Soh you’ll also need to free and enlist the help of each town’s trapped villagers to help fend off the nightly waves of Japanese yokai monsters that come pouring through its numerous cursed torii gates. You get to decide what role (or class) they play and where best to place them, and you can also pause the action whenever you like if you need to redraw your plan of attack. But it’s this marriage of cerebral supervision and corporeal button combos that just absolutely sings in Kunitsu-Gami so far, and I’m eager to see what else it has in store for me as I wind my way across this monster-filled mountaintop.
There are dozens of settlements to save on your journey of purification, and each one acts as a traditional level you need to complete before you can move on to the next one. They’re often book-ended by separate boss fights with larger, almost Monster Hunter-sized adversaries, too, which really put your tactical nous to the test. Your goals usually come in three flavours – free all the villagers who have been cocooned in cursed, fleshy pods by the ravaging ‘Seethe’ monsters as they swept through the mountain, purge the village of all ‘defilement’ spots, and carve a Spirit Path for your priestess Yoshiro to follow so you can lead her to the village’s main torii gate to cleanse it once and for all.
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The path itself is fixed in each level, marked by an ominous black streak on the ground like it’s been run through with an angry stroke of calligraphy ink. Later levels sometimes branch this path in different directions to add an extra layer of tactical thinking to the mix, but early on it acts as a single, on-rails track you have to manage and defend from the nightly monster waves. You get to control how far or how little Yoshiro moves across it, though, as carving a path with your sword requires spending crystals you’ve earned from each level, either by purifying the village during the day, or by defeating its yokai by night. Likewise, from what I’ve played so far, there aren’t any time restrictions to complete levels in a certain number of day-night cycles either, giving you the freedom to approach each level as you please.