Although most big publishers are pretending there’s no way out of the current predicament, of video games costing too much to make and taking too long to develop, there is one very obvious solution: don’t spend so much on them. But nobody even seems to have considered that idea and are convinced that they must make AAA blockbusters or nothing at all.
The logic is that you need massive budgets to reap equally massive profits, with most publishers having long since lost interest in any kind of middle ground. But the bigger the budget the smaller the risks that can be taken, and the less likely anyone is to come up with anything new or unique (cf. Concord). Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess is nothing if not unique.
For whatever reason, Capcom has decided to indulge themselves with this game and we’re very glad they have. The end result is far from perfect but it’s weird and imaginative and not quite like anything else we’ve ever played. As we said at the preview stage, it feels like something from the PlayStation 2 era, not in terms of the gameplay but in that exists purely because the developer had an idea they wanted to try – and not because the because the publisher had a trend it wanted to exploit.
Path Of The Goddess’ plot is both simple and confusing, as there’s almost no dialogue and even the name, Kunitsu-Gami, doesn’t translate easily into English (it means something like ‘gods of the land’ or ‘local deity’). The gist is that evil spirits of defilement have invaded a mountaintop and all the nearby villages have been overrun. Only a shrine maiden named Yoshiro is able to survive the initial assault and so summons an avatar named Soh to fight for her.
Although Soh can cleanse smaller outbreaks of defilement, including rescuing cocooned villagers, Yoshiro is needed to cleanse the torii that the creatures spawn out of. This takes time although and includes her very slowly strolling (dancing, technically) from one finish of a two-stage map to the opposite. Your primarily aim is to guard her till she will get there, utilizing villagers to help you in what’s half motion recreation and half real-time technique.
The recreation has a day and night time cycle, the place the monsters solely seem at night time. This offers you time to cleanse minor defilements (discover all of them and also you get a brand new unlockable buff), rescue villagers, and assign them roles and positions for the night time forward. At first you may solely make them easy fighters or archers, however every boss battle unlocks a brand new position, from healer to sumo wrestler and spearman.
Since precisely the place Yoshiro will likely be when night time falls you may put together by establishing villagers close by, whereas additionally get them to cowl different torii, that additionally spawn monsters, and utilizing the one carpenter beneath you command to restore traps and obstacles.
One apparent tactic is to maintain Yoshiro behind a barrier, so no less than one path to her is blocked, because the monsters barely have any AI and as a substitute transfer alongside predetermined lanes, like League Of Legends and different MOBAs. This means they’ll truly stroll previous her typically, earlier than looping again and attacking from an sudden path.
In idea that is all great things, with dozens of buffs to unlock, together with by finishing achievement-like challenges for every stage, and ability timber for every position and a number of other for Soh himself. The fight isn’t difficult, but it surely’s gratifying, with some easy combos to provoke extra highly effective dance assaults. There’s additionally a number of totally different yōkai fashion monsters, from fundamental cannon fodder that assault in teams to creatures that may possess villagers or act like cell artillery.
The most instantly apparent drawback with the sport is that the choice display for organising and ordering about villagers is the worst UI design we’ve seen in years. The a number of overlays and neon colors make all of it however not possible to see who you could have chosen and the vary could be very restricted, so that you typically have to maneuver them in phases. The display can be separate from the one which assigns them roles or offers them well being, which makes the entire technique factor an absolute faff.
A extra basic drawback is that as a result of the sport’s influenced extra by MOBAs than conventional real-time methods, the maps are very small and normally over fairly shortly. Because Yoshiro is at all times on the transfer you by no means have a everlasting base and since she’s so fragile it’s too dangerous to place many villagers away from her. Instead, you find yourself simply dumping them in a circle round her and hoping for one of the best – which normally works.
Apart from something the sport could be very straightforward, rising the impression that Capcom’s designers didn’t absolutely decide to the technique factor. We guessed lengthy earlier than it occurred that the ending would simply be straight motion, however we have been nonetheless shocked by the way it instantly ditches the technique components as quickly the sport enters its ultimate stretch.
It’s a disgrace, as a result of there’s a variety of selection within the degree ideas, together with one with poisonous swimming pools of water, one other in a darkened cave the place a monster retains placing out the lamps, one with no villagers, and a variant the place Soh is caught in spirit kind for the entire degree (one thing that occurs in the event that they die, however normally solely lasts 30 seconds or so).
There’s a 3rd factor to the sport the place you assist to restore liberated villages, in what comes throughout as a vaguely Animal Crossing fashion cosy recreation. But this requires completely no ability or thought, you simply choose the buildings to restore and are available again later when it’s completed. You don’t even get to be ok with serving to out the villagers as they’re all sporting masks, on a regular basis, for causes that the sport by no means correctly explains. So there’s no characterisation or emotional attachment, as there could be in one thing like XCOM.
The finest ranges are those the place Yoshiro is static and also you even have to consider the place you place the villagers, since you may’t be in all places directly. But there’s solely a handful of those and all the opposite ranges appear too straightforward and apparent by comparability.
Despite the numerous flaws we nonetheless loved the sport, however then we didn’t must pay £40 for it (the truth that Capcom is smart sufficient to not attempt to cost extra is nice to see). It is on Game Pass although, so when you’ve got entry to it there then we undoubtedly suggest attempting it out.
There are a number of good concepts in Path Of The Goddess however none of them appear absolutely fashioned, so in the long run one of the best half finally ends up being the fight, significantly the boss battles. The artwork design is nice too, with bizarre kaleidoscopic imagery for the defilements and backgrounds that appear like what may need occurred if H. R. Giger had determined to color with a pre-schooler’s color palette.
The soundtrack can be improbable, and splendidly diversified too, with all the things from conventional Japanese music to pounding techno beats. The varied jazz tracks are significantly elegant and we ended up enjoying one of many boss battles a second time simply to listen to the music once more.
Path Of The Goddess is a fascinating look at what happens when a big publisher lets its developers go off and do whatever they want, knowing the budget is low enough that they can’t get themselves into too much trouble. We loudly applaud Capcom for encouraging this and pour scorn on all those that do not – which is pretty much every major Western publisher.
But, sadly, the experiment hasn’t really worked. Path Of The Goddess is weird and wonderful but it’s also very slight and feels sorely underdeveloped. We’ve no idea if there’ll ever be another one, to try and address the failings, but we kind of hope not. Not because we didn’t enjoy it but because being unique and different was the central appeal and we need more games like that, whether they work out or not.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess review summary
Pros: Plenty of variety in terms of stages, with lots of unique ideas and unlockables. Fun combat and some great boss battles. The visuals and soundtrack are excellent.
Cons: The strategy elements are too simplistic and undermined by the game’s structure. Bafflingly awful selection screen. Repairing villages amounts to nothing.
Score: 6/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (previewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £39.99*
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Next Level Games
Release Date: 19th July 2024
Age Rating: 16
*Game Pass day one
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