Slowly however absolutely, the enigmatic Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is revealing itself to us, solely to pose new questions as we peel again the layers on this distinctive sport. Not too long ago, Capcom shared some new background particulars on the festering Seethe, creatures of lore who pose a menace to the Maiden, Yoshiro, and the villages she’s defending.
This previous weekend at Summer season Recreation Fest Play Days, I used to be among the many first to check out a prolonged demo of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, earlier than sitting down with a number of the sport’s creators to reply the entire “what did I simply see?” sorts of questions which got here tumbling forth.
This particular demo was set early within the sport, in an space known as Myoko Move; the builders defined that we’ll be spending a variety of time within the mountainous area. “The story takes place and likewise concludes on Mount Kafuku” defined Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. “Lots of the Japanese folklore and mythologies have backgrounds the place it takes place on mountains, and that’s the place [we] acquired the inspiration.”
For those who’ve seen a trailer for Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, your response could have been alongside the traces of “this seems cool, however how, precisely, do you play it?” Fortuitously, the sport’s loop units itself up early: taking management of masked guardian Soh, gamers earn crystals by purging defilement all through the village (maintain the B button down everytime you see one thing… disturbing). This typically releases a villager within the course of; crystals may be spent to assign them extra martial roles to tackle at night time – when issues go from bizarre to worse.
You’ll must stability increase your battalion with an much more essential process: utilizing crystals to clear a path by way of the defilement for Yoshiro, the maiden you’ve seen dancing in trailers, to proceed by way of the village in direction of a tainted Torii Gate – the titular Path of the Goddess. Soh’s crystal harvesting and course of Yoshiro and the villagers takes place throughout a number of real-time minutes of daytime. As soon as night time falls, it’s time to make the very best of a dangerous state of affairs.
As quickly because it will get darkish, the defiled Torii gate begins spitting forth pint-sized, virtually cute enemies, based mostly on Yokai of Japanese folklore, all making a beeline for Yoshiro. Whereas they don’t transfer too rapidly, they arrive in giant numbers, and from a number of instructions.
Not an issue – Soh is a succesful warrior who employs a swish “Sword Dance” motion system, impressed by conventional Kagura dance. The outcome evokes a kind of “Capoeira with blades” moveset.
I directed Soh forwards and backwards, elegantly slashing my means by way of dozens of monsters, sometimes pausing to direct my axe-wielding villagers to carry down choke factors. Whereas Yoshiro took successful or two, producing all types of alarm on display, she made it by way of the night time. By dawn, I had earned sufficient crystals to pave a path for Yoshiro all the way in which to the Torii gate, the place she purged that a part of the village of defilement.
This opened up a tent, serving as a base from which to arrange for the following battle. Inside, Yoshiro offered Soh a Tsuba guard, granting a brand new energy to battle the Seethe known as Suzaku’s Flame, with the promise of extra to come back.
Looking for a better problem, I subsequent challenged a boss. Earlier than heading off to battle, Yoshiro provided a bounty of crystals, with which I educated a posse of 4 woodcutters to assist even the chances. Quickly, Gakinyudo, a large model of the mobs I had been going through within the village, got here bursting into the clearing. I assigned three villagers to encompass the abomination, reserving one to protect Yoshiro. We had been dealing out important harm when Gakinyudo summoned extra tiny variations of itself to swarm the battlefield.
That’s when Gakinyudo acquired the very best of me, sending Soh sprawling to the earth. Apparently, that’s not sport over – Soh change into a floating spirit, nonetheless in a position to direct villagers and hold the strain on the beast. After just a few agonizing seconds as a non-corporeal being, Soh respawned again on the battleground, sword in hand! This made it clear that, in an actual means, Soh isn’t the principle character, it’s Yoshiro; if she is slain, the mission has failed.
This time, I made higher use of Soh’s dodge roll, and earlier than lengthy, Gakinyudo was dispatched. Soh was rewarded with boons to his well being, and even new roles to assign villagers, similar to Archer, for the battles forward.
And there might be loads extra fights; this can be a massive mountain, and daylight is already burning. Fortuitously, we gained’t need to endure many extra darkish nights till we get our arms on Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, one thing that the builders eagerly stay up for.
“Having it on Recreation Move on day one permits a chance for many individuals to wish to problem themselves to tackle this new gaming style, to expertise this new gaming expertise,” Director Shuichi Kawata instructed me. Producer Hirabayashi added, “While you first play it and you then progress by way of it originally, it type of takes a bit of little bit of time to get used to it. However as you progress by way of it and past the very first difficulties, you actually get the sensation of the brand new gaming expertise that this sport has to supply. So we’re wanting ahead to that.”
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess might be accessible on July 19 for Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox One and Home windows PC, and Xbox Recreation Move subscribers will have the ability to play the sport from day one. As well as, this title is suitable with Xbox Play Wherever, permitting cross-play and switch of saved information between Xbox and Home windows 10/11.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
CAPCOM CO., LTD.
A brand new story of the Kami awaits…
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a novel Japanese-inspired, single participant Kagura Motion Technique sport.
The sport takes place on a mountain lined by defilement.
Through the day, purify the villages and put together your self for sunset.
Through the night time, defend the Maiden in opposition to the hordes of the Seethe.
Repeat the day and night time cycle till you cleanse the mountain of defilement and return peace to the land.
©CAPCOM
KUNITSU-GAMI: PATH OF THE GODDESS is a trademark and/or registered trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. and/or its subsidiaries within the U.S. and/or different international locations.
