If you wish to put your Change 2 via its paces, there’s no scarcity of choices in its beneficiant launch lineup. Whether or not it’s the candy-colored allure of Mario Kart World or the neon-drenched cityscape of Cyberpunk 2077, you’re spoiled for selection relating to visible powerhouses.
With such main titles on provide, it could be straightforward to miss Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Launched on different platforms in July 2024, it’s a sport that, at first look, would possibly appear to be simply one other Japanese motion sport, full with unwieldy title and acquainted feudal-era setting. Leaping into the journey of the goddess Yoshiro and her devoted protector Soh, I used to be stunned to seek out that Capcom’s Shinto-inspired epic is a really compelling mix of motion and tower defence.
The land has been overrun by a demonic pressure referred to as the Seethe. Villages surrounding the sacred Mount Kafuku have fallen to corruption. Yoshiro, a divine being, should carry out a ritual dance to cleanse every space. Cleaning leaves her susceptible to assault, which is the place her bodyguard Soh is available in. He’s tasked with defending the goddess as they transfer via every settlement, dancing away the evil. Fortunately, Soh will not be alone on this activity.
In every space, you cleanse corrupted villagers and assign them fight roles, permitting them to hitch your struggle. You’ll place these villagers in strategic positions round Yoshiro. As night time falls, your group should maintain their floor towards waves of Seethe. The day-night cycle creates a pure ebb and move of motion. In the course of the day, you free villagers, accumulate crystals, and purge corrupted fauna whereas a timer counts right down to dusk. Roles are assigned to your fighters utilizing crystals, however this foreign money is primarily used to carve a path for the ritual. As Soh waves his harai gushi to information Yoshiro, her progress will decide what number of cycles it can take to clear the world. Some will take a single day, most take a number of.
Half ARPG, half tower defence, Kunitsu-Gami is an interesting and addictive mashup. You management Soh straight, and there’s an exquisite fluidity to his fight. His “blade dance” has a slight delay between enter and influence, giving the feeling of gliding via swathes of enemies and slicing them to ribbons. He can connect a number of talismans and tsuba to his gear, which add devastating new skills or boosts to villagers.
After a settlement is cleared, it turns into a base that you would be able to revisit between rituals. Upgrading these bases offers rewards for each Soh and his rising band of fighters.
Between villages, highly effective bosses await, and defeating them earns you a masks that unlocks a brand new position kind to assign to villagers. Boss fights themselves play like a gritty, horror-tinged model of Pikmin, as you command fighters to swarm an enemy or defend Yoshiro from provides.
Every villager position has distinctive utility, from the standard woodcutter to the formidable sorcerer. Deciding on the appropriate roles for the appropriate kind of enemy or setting is essential to Yoshiro’s survival.
The settlements of Mount Kafuku are visually gorgeous, vibrant dioramas that shift from fleshy hellscape to lush paradise as Yoshiro does their factor. The sport runs extremely effectively too; Soh slices shafts of vibrant color via massive teams of enemies with none noticeable body drops. Efficiency stays spectacular undocked, with the Change 2’s bigger show complementing the top-down environments completely. There’s additionally a wholesome collection of visible choices (having the ability to disable movement blur and depth of subject is appreciated, Capcom) and accessibility tweaks.
Finishing the audio-visual feast is an intoxicating soundscape, which is just barely marred by a woeful English voice monitor. Fortunately the choice to swap to Japanese is obtainable.
Mouse management might be a bit divisive for some. Arguably, this sort of title is effectively suited to the mouse, as a big chunk of gameplay has you assigning items within the command menu. It took some getting used to, however as soon as I discovered a snug hand place, I loved taking part in this fashion. Finally, although, I discovered myself retreating to conventional controls throughout tough sections like boss fights. Manoeuvring Soh round enemies whereas shifting the digital camera with mouse motion simply did not fairly work for me.
Nonetheless, even with out the additional methods to play that Change 2 provides, this can be a nice illustration of a number of genres in its personal proper. It’s a beneficiant title, with loads of causes to return to ranges, revealing secrets and techniques and unlocking extra skills for Soh and his military.
Whereas every villager position introduces a brand new technique and every corrupted settlement provides recent mechanics, the formulation does begin to really feel barely repetitive after the midpoint. That mentioned, the core loop of upgrade-plan-defend is addictive and makes Kunitsu-Gami one of the crucial distinctive launch titles on Change 2.
Conclusion
Kunitsu-Gami was an actual shock. A strong mix of technique and motion that includes features of Shinto and Japanese folklore to create a visually gorgeous expertise. It is an awesome showcase for Change 2, even when mouse controls may not fairly work for everybody.
