The second that I booted up Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess I knew that we were in for something special. It’s a game that feels like it has been ripped out of the PlayStation 2-era in all the best ways, whilst bringing more modern sensibilities. Capcom’s latest surprise, a new IP after last year’s criminally underplayed Exoprimal, continues the trend of doing something entirely new and different. A combination of genres that we haven’t seen in a long time, Kunitsu-Gami may very well be the sleeper hit of the year.

Amaterasu returns… kinda… please Capcom I’m begging you for more Okami.

Set on Mt. Kafuku, the mountain has been corrupted and overrun by the defilement known as the Seethe. You play as Yoh, guardian of Yoshiro, the maiden of the mountain. Your job is to protect her as she sets on a quest to purge the defilement and restore the lands to their former glory.

The story is pretty straightforward; a standard enough escort quest. But what really surprised me is the lack of voice acting outside of the opening narration. Instead all it’s story is portrayed through the character’s actions, visual design and sound. This helps elevate the story from generic into something I was looking forward to exploring even further.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is half action game and half strategy game, combining the two in an old-school kind of way. Soh has two basic attacks, a light standard attack and a heavier dance that is great for chipping away at enemies’ resist gague, depleting this will stun the enemy leaving them completely open for attack. By combining and light attacks, Soh can unleash some devastatingly strong combos.

You can visit Yoshiro in her tent at each camp to upgrade your villages or offer her a present.

The action itself is pretty solid. Don’t expect a similar action experience to Capcom’s stellar Devil May Cry 5, but it has just enough depth to feel constantly engaging. Then just as you get into the rhythm of it Soh’s skill tree unlocks giving him a lot more options, unlocking the full scope of Soh’s combat, with some ranged options and ways to enhance your counterattack, rewarding skilful gameplay. I found that the parry timings can be restricted, but make that perfect block feel all the more rewarding.

What truly sets Kunitsu-Gami apart is its combination with the strategy genre. As you free the world of corruption you will rescue villages in each stage which can be assinged one of many roles. Providing melee and ranged attacks, or supporting the damage roles with healing or different support abilities. Once a role is assigned you can open up the command menu and place them in tactically advantageous positions. Make sure flank paths or smaller Torii gates are blocked off, or simply help Soh take out bigger threats. It’s these tower defense mechanics that elevate the game from good to fantastic.

Both of these components work incredibly well to deliver a unique and compelling experience thanks to an almost Dying Light-style approach to the day/night cycle. Stages follow a simple pattern, during the day you will be exploring the stage, assigning roles, and repairing structures scattered around the environment. All whilst carving a path to the corrupted Torii gates for Yoshiro to perform a ceremonial dance that cleanses the defilement. As Yoshiro dances down, if she reaches the Torii gate, the area is cleared. However, reaching the gate in one day is an impossibility, and that’s why you have to prepare for the night.

Kunitsu-Gami is just dripping in style.

Once nightfall the monsters come out and the maiden is locked into place, it’s your job to get everyone to survive the night, adjusting the attacks you might not have seen. Torii gates scattered throughout the map will start to spawn in Seethe, who will try to kill Yoshiro. These can be incredibly tense and I’ve had so many encounters where I was just blindsided by what was happening. It requires quick on-the-fly adjustments to make it through the night. Thankfully, if you do fail a stage multiple nights in, then a generous auto-save will allow you to fall back to a place where you can adjust. 

Then we have the boss fights that follow most major stages. These were a huge surprise and easily one of the best parts of a truly great game. Testing your strategy and combat skills to the limit, being able to plan ahead and adjust to any moment. I don’t think there’s even a bad boss fight here, and that’s an achievement considering just how many of them are. They are beautifully designed, and engaging, have amazing unique battle themes, and possess unique challenges. One of my favourite challenges actually forgoes the tower defense mechanics and gives you a good ol’ 1v1 against a sword-wielding Seethe and really showcases the strength of the combat systems.

What surprised me is that Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess has a surprising amount of varied content. Whilst the gameplay loop very much centres on defending Yoshiro, the curveballs it throws throughout the whole adventure are worthwhile and kept me looking forward to the next encounter. Just as I felt like the game was going to settle with the same level design and enemies, it would introduce something new. Brand new enemies come at a rapid pace; the levels themselves can introduce new mechanics from stage to stage and sometimes even change your entire approach to gameplay. One early level is shrouded in darkness, forcing you to light lanterns along the way, whilst another is surrounded by corruption, requiring more careful movement. Those are the more simple ways it mixes things up.

Can we also have a horror game in this style?!

Between stages, you will have the chance to help rebuild these villages and this is the only part where Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess falls flat. Just about every stage has a village to go alongside it and here you will help the villages rebuild. You can assign them to rebuild certain structures and then come back a few days later to reap the rewards. I do like the idea of helping them rebuild, however, how it’s built into the gameplay loop leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a good idea and being rewarded with upgrade materials makes it worth interacting with but it just feels like busy work to get you to load into an instance for thirty seconds. I would have preferred fewer villages, but at a larger scale to make it feel more impactful and of course less loading. At least you can pet the Shiba.

As you progress through stages and rebuild villages you will start gathering Musabi, which can then be used by talking to Yoshiro. These can be used to upgrade your villager’s attacks and health in a linear fashion. But more interesting is Soh’s own abilities as well. Giving you more commands to give even higher flexibility over your villagers during missions. As well as a whole bunch of new attacks and modifiers on top of that. Best of all, these can be respec’d at any time with no cost, allowing a great level of control over your own progression.

Each stage has a series of challenges that you will want to come back for as the difficulty gets progressively harder. It starts off rather simple, but evolves into truly tough scenarios that will test your strategy on each stage. This rewards you with plenty of upgrade materials that you surely will want to use going forward. However, this does mean replaying older stages to progress through some of the trickier sections of the game. As a whole though I found Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess to be one of the best games of the year so far, combining two distinctive gameplay styles so gracefully together.

Got to be a killer headache.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess does fall flat on its technical execution. There’s a lot of low-quality texture work. It often looks like a game from a couple of generations ago. On a technical front, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess won’t do anything to impress you though that is only a part of the story. However, Kunitsu-Gami is a showcase in how excellent art direction is a lot more important to a game than the game’s graphics. Inspired by traditional ancient Japanese paintings, everything fits together well thematically.

The animations, colour palette, and character designs all come together for one of the most visually distinctive games in years. It all reminds me of the cult classic Okami (and not just because there’s official crossover content here) and I love everything about it. Soh’s dancing attack animations are so graceful and wonderful to watch. Meanwhile, the enemy design is some of my favourite in years and it just oozes style. I particularly love the almost horror aesthetic of the defilement.

As I stated towards the start of the review, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess doesn’t have a lot of voice acting outside of the opening narration. There’s some voice line from Yoshiro and the villages but don’t be expecting. Instead, much of the sound relies on a stellar soundtrack and environments, and it’s all done perfectly.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is the best kind of surprise. A totally original and unique experience, combining two highly distinctive styles of gameplay into one cohesive gameplay experience. Both the action and strategy combine together for something that is a must-play.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

Reviewed on PC. With an RTX 4070, Ryzen 7 7850X3D, and 32GB RAM. Game installed on NVMe drive.

A copy of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was provided by the publisher.