Review of Kunisu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – Creative Strategy Action

We often talk about how big publishers have been cautious in recent years, focusing on established brands instead of experimenting. However, there are companies that aren’t afraid to try something new every now and then, and Capcom is one of them. Last year, they gave us the dinosaur shooter Exoprimal, they’re still working on the mysterious Pragmat, and last week they released a completely unique mix of strategy and action called Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. That’s what we’ll be looking at in today’s review.

• Platform: PC (review version), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
• Publication date: 19.07.2024
• Developer: Capcom
• Publisher: Capcom
• Genre: Action, strategy
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data for download: 19 GB
• Play time: ~15 hours
• Price: 49.99 EUR (Steam)

Played in the lineup:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
• FRAME: 32GB DDR5 6000MT/s
• Graphic card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB VRAM)
• Storage: Solidigm P44 Pro (2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD)

Additional history

The premise is not complicated at all, we find ourselves on Mount Kafuku, at the foot of which there are a number of villages. However, the locals and the entire landscape are infected with a disease, so Yoshiro and his loyal warrior and protector named So set out on a pilgrimage to cleanse the mountain and save the locals.

From the very first announcement, and even from the title itself, it was clear that Kunitsu-Gami would be heavily inspired by Japanese culture. It can be seen in almost all aspects, including the plot, but it is the least developed. From this genre, you probably shouldn’t expect anything really complex, but there was room to tell a more interesting story, so you’ll have to settle for a trivial plot and a solid amount of lore about individual characters.

A unique audiovisual film

The visuals are much better, especially the style. It is absolutely beautiful, whether it is the picturesque environment, the characters and their masks or the unique monsters, whose appearance is quite varied and can look quite menacing. But you can also find inspiration in Japanese culture in the design of the user interface and in almost every visible aspect of the entire game. The developers took care of this, and it really shows.

Also worth mentioning is the sound design and especially the excellent musical accompaniment, also inspired by traditional Japanese music. But the melodies themselves are very diverse: from downright calm and relaxing to fast and intense. The same applies to the musical instruments, but also to the genres. More traditional music in the game is sometimes complemented by a transition to rock, electronic or jazz.

Action with a dose of strategy

After all, the main thing in Kunitsu-Gami is the gameplay, so we will finally get to it. The journey around Mount Kafuku is divided into separate levels that you need to successfully complete and clear the Torii Gate of infection. While during the day you free the villagers and repair towers and other defenses, at night you will be attacked by hordes of monsters and you, as the warrior So, must protect Yoshiro from them.

But it won’t be up to you alone, a big help in battle are the villagers, who you can assign different roles to, be it an archer, a shaman or even an axe fighter. As you progress, the masks and therefore the roles of the villagers increase, and the strategic possibilities expand. Of course, it’s important not only to assign roles, but also to correctly position the villagers to effectively defeat the monsters, so this is where the strategic element comes into play most clearly.

In any case, So himself is stronger than any villager, he has fast attacks or more complex combinations that literally form a battle dance. It may not seem so at first glance, but the combat system is quite complex, but easy to understand and control and fun from a gameplay point of view.

There is no danger of monotony

If the entire fifteen-hour game consisted of identically constructed levels, it would probably quickly become repetitive. However, gradually you become familiar with other, albeit temporary, mechanics specific to certain levels. From the classic ones, you can go, for example, to a dark cave where you have to light lamps, to a stormy lake, or literally “tower defense” levels where only villagers can fight.

The variety of level design is rounded out by boss fights, of which there are quite a few, but each one is very unique both visually and mechanically. Also, the difficulty is not exactly low, the same goes for some classic levels, so you will have to make the most of your combat skills and tactical thinking. Both are important for success in Kunitsu-Gami.

But so that it’s not just about fighting, after successfully completing a level, this location becomes your base, where you can repair buildings and extract important resources. I must praise the upgrade system, because the possibilities are great (both for the villagers and for the warrior So himself), and most importantly, at any time you can go back and improve something completely different. Thus, the game helps you experiment and adapt to a different style of play depending on the need, and you can constantly change special attacks and passive bonuses.

Unpleasant relaxation

On the other hand, it must be said that the basic system is not done very well. I don’t mind that building takes a certain number of levels and requires several villagers that you have to assign to it, because here too you will use strategic thinking. The problem is that some locations are quite large and constantly running around them is very annoying, especially if you also have to collect hidden planks to build a special building. Add to this the fact that you have more active bases at the same time and immediately get several minutes without fighting after a short rest, which in turn unnecessarily lengthens the game time.

Technical side

Finally, I’ll mention the technical side. I mentioned the beautiful stylization, but it must be said that the purely technical side of the graphics seems a bit outdated, at least in some respects. This is most noticeable in the textures, which look downright poor quality, to the point that I wondered if there was some kind of bug and the correct ones weren’t loading. The water doesn’t look its best either, and the poor implementation of ray tracing from Resident Evil 4 doesn’t help. On the other hand, as in other RE Engine games, you’ll find very complex cutscenes, both in terms of visual quality and camera work.

Optimization is good, although, considering the technical quality of the graphics, it could be a little better. However, it should be noted that there are no slowdowns, shaders are compiled in advance and there are no slowdowns when traversing at all, unlike, for example, RE4, which is probably due to the closed levels.

At 4K with max settings and DLSS quality, the game ran at a pretty solid 60 FPS, but if you want a truly straight line between frames on the time graph, I recommend using an external lock (like RivaTuner) in the in-game settings instead. Either way, you have a lot of options in the game, I appreciate the inclusion of both DLSS and FSR upscaling (unlike many other Capcom games), including image generation (though only through DLSS). There is also the ability to customize icons for the different controllers, so be sure to like this page.

A successful experiment

Kunitsu-gami was unique in terms of setting and visuals from the start, but we didn’t know if the interesting idea would turn into a good game. Now that I’ve played it, I can definitely say that it’s not just a good game, but a very successful one, successfully combining different genres. The Japanese version’s strategic co-op cocktail may not be for everyone, but if this review has intrigued you, by all means give it a try. But beware, it can be a bit addictive. It’s possible that the basic campaign won’t be enough for you, but in that case you’ll still have the various challenges and the New Game+ mode at your disposal.