I’ve been on a bit of a demo kick since this year’sSteamNext Fest. Every couple of months, Steam holds an event showcasing upcoming games – especially indies – that have demos you can play. And every time a Steam Next Fest comes around, I download way more demos than I can feasibly play in a week, and continue downloading demos for the next month or so with no regard for the concept of time.
So, obviously, I was pretty excited whenCapcomreleased a demo forKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessthis week. Capcom has historically tended to release demos for its games that remain available long after the game has launched, which is smart because it’s good advertising. It gives players the chance to try out games they might be hesitant about, and in Kunitsu-Gami’s case, that’s a huge boon, because the game has a unique, unfamiliar concept.
You might recognise Kunitsu-Gami from its trailer at Summer Game Fest, or the many glowing previews it received from people who played it, likeour own Meg Pelliccio’s. If you’re like me, though, previews don’t always cut it when deciding whether or not you want to buy a game, and you want to play a demo to decide for yourself.
Well, not only can you play a demo for this game, but you should, because it seems to have more content than previewers were given access to. After an hour and a half of playtime – much longer than I intended to play, mind you, and I haven’t even finished the demo yet – I’m fairly sure I’ll be throwing my hard-earned cash at this one when it releases this month.
I’ve Never Seen Gameplay Like This
What hooked me so badly that I forgot to check the time for an hour and a half? The gameplay loop is tight and more refined than I expected it to be. The action strategy game takes part in three phases: day, night, and base. During the day, you explore a location, removing the defilement from various objects, people, and animals to collect a currency of pink-tinged glass orbs.
Rescuing villagers from defilement will allow you to spend orbs to assign them roles like Woodcutter, Archer, Ascetic or Shaman, all of which perform different roles – Woodcutters attack from close range, Archers from further away, Ascetics can slow the approaches of enemies, and Shamans heal. You can also use these orbs to create a path for your shrine maiden Yoshiro to walk down, so she can reach the nearest Tori gate and cleanse it. I learned the hard way that you probably won’t be able to amass enough to get her there during the first day, which means having to get through the night.
The day phase gets more complicated as you progress. There may be obstacles your villagers need to clear for you to be able to access every defiled area, or contraptions to repair so you can slow enemies or strengthen your villagers.
The nighttime is where the strategy part comes in. You’ll face waves and waves of grotesque beasts called Seethe emerging from the defiled Tori gate. In order to keep them away from Yoshiro, you’ll have to position your recruited villagers around the map. As you go further in the demo, different types of enemies will appear, each with different weaknesses.
Archers are great against flying Seethe, while you’ll need Woodcutters to stave off monsters who are woefully beholden to gravity. Ascetics are great for freezing Seethe in place so your other villagers, or you, can dispatch them more effectively. A well-placed Shaman can keep your villagers alive so you don’t have to run over and heal them mid-battle.
Also, the real-time action gameplay is pretty satisfying. Bad at strategic thinking? It’s fine. As Soh, you can stand near the Tori gates and unleash flurries of sword strikes on materialising enemies, brutally killing them before they have the chance to stomp down the path towards Yoshiro. Even in boss challenges, the combat is complex enough that taking down big monsters doesn’t feel like a chore.
The demo has plenty of replay value. Each level has optional challenges you can complete for extra rewards, and because there’s so much flexibility in how you tweak your strategy, you can fine-tune your approach over replays to eke out every possible bit of perfection. You can upgrade your villagers as well, making them more effective, and reassign roles mid-battle to adapt to changing conditions.
Psychedelic Japanese Horror Galore
Excellent gameplay aside, Kunitsu-Gami is even more beautiful than the trailer indicated.I compared it to Okami a while ago, but this game seems morepsychedelicthan I expected. Levels are beautifully detailed, the lighting is absolutely stunning, and the kaleidoscopic, prismatic, colourful effects you see after cleansing a Tori shrine are breathtaking. At the same time, the Seethe you have to brutally beat back are appropriately hideous and grotesque – I certainly didn’t feel bad at all for murdering them en masse.
The world itself feels extraordinarily Japanese in a way only the Japanese could render. TheGamer Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley’sinterview with the developersdetails just how much work and thought went into the environments and design, but you can see that just from playing it. Everything, down to the rations you use to heal yourself and your villagers, is culturally and historically Japanese.
I can’t wait to go back and finish the demo after work. I can’t stop thinking about how badly I was getting beaten in the last level I played before dragging myself away, and I want to redeem myself. I suspect you’ll feel the same if you play the demo, which you should do right now.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
WHERE TO PLAY
A single-player action-adventure from Capcom, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess takes place in a fantastical version of feudal Japan. You must guide the Spirit Stone Goddess on her journey to cleanse a mountain of its ills.
