Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review
In an time when innovative games are coming out constantly, it’s exciting that I’ve truly never played anything quite like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. It’s an otherworldly mix of action-strategy and tower defense set in a mystical feudal Japan. But while that unique setup may be what grabs your attention, Kunitsu-Gami’s execution on those ideas is also engaging, fun, and downright fascinating.
Kunitsu-Gami’s story is told quietly yet effectively, using essentially no dialogue. Mt. Kafuku has been corrupted by defilement and the “Seethe,” a representation of demons, spirits, and yokai. Your goal as Soh, the guardian of the maiden Yoshiro, is to lead her safely down a path on the mountain so she may perform her duty, rescuing villages and their inhabitants along the way. Secondarily, you must also defeat especially powerful Seethe to secure the stolen masks that contain the power of the Goddess, which then allows you to assign villagers to different roles to assist you.
It’s not a complicated story, but the handful of cinematics inspired me to care about Yoshiro, as well as the small, seemingly insignificant yet intimate act of watching her enjoy traditional sweets collected by repairing villages. In fact, while Soh is who you are directly controlling, it feels odd to deem them the main character – they very much feel like a personality-less extension of Yoshiro, the true protagonist of this tale.
Either way, the story isn’t meant to be the star of Kunitsu-Gami. That honor goes to its intricate enemy design, beautiful settings, and the clever action-strategy twist it puts on tower defense gameplay. Each stage is split into two phases: Day and night. During the day phase, your goal is to collect crystals by purifying defilement, rescue corrupted villagers, and then use your crystals to carve the Spirit Path through the stage for Yoshiro so she may reach the torii gate at the end to purify it. Meanwhile, at night, the Seethe emerge from those corrupted torii gates
