You are probably familiar with the game genre called “. Tower defense “. The principle is relatively simple: successive waves of enemies invade you and you must defend your territory. Each level is an opportunity to discover new units, new enemies, new powers and new, increasingly complex maps.
if there are games Tower defense » Since the 90s, the genre has also become popular on PC, and on smartphones in the 2000s, like Dungeon Keeper. The most well-known games include: Element Tank Hunter, Crystal Defender, Plants vs zombies or Dungeon Defenders. And the genre continues to be regularly nourished by adding gameplay elements that bring variety and depth.
Kunitsu-Gami: The Way of the Goddess One of them. Officialized in June 2023, the game will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and on PC on July 19. You may have discovered it thanks to the trailer that the Japanese publisher released during Summer Game Fest (which we have placed at the end of this article). If you did not grasp all the nuances of the game with this video, know that you are not alone. On the contrary, to fully understand the intricacies of Kunitsu-Gami, much more than a few minutes of trailer is needed.
To fully understand this, we had the opportunity to play an advanced version of the game in a few hours, to absorb the core mechanics of the game, some of the story and, in particular, the nuances of the game’s very particular aesthetic, Kunitsu-Gami. Keep in mind that we played this preview on Xbox Series X and that some details may change between now and launch.
An unexpected artistic direction
And that starts with the artistic direction Capcom has chosen. It’s visually very specific; it’s heavily inspired by Japanese folklore, especially yokai, as well as the dark fantasy of HP Lovecraft, all set in the heart of the medieval period of the Land of the Rising Sun. The result is dark and oppressive. Add to that the stylish, very shiny character design, where all the protagonists except the main female character wear masks. Kunitsu-Gami therefore resembles traditional Noh theater with a touch of unpleasant esotericism, quite the opposite.
Some would say that the visual aesthetics of Kunitsu-Gami are similar to Ôkami, the famous action-adventure game released by Capcom on PS2 (later on Wii in HD version), where the main character is Amaterasu, the Shinto Sun goddess, who rides a white wolf. If some themes are similar, the aesthetics of Ôkami rely heavily on cell shading and brush drawing, as evil spirits and Japanese demons are very present in both titles. Developed on the RE Engine, Kunitsu-Gami does not use this graphic technique. The production also focuses on aesthetics, not pure technique. It is not the 3D engine that is beautiful. It is a very original atmosphere carried by a mysterious and “ancestral” music.
A Shinto priestess and her guardian knight
The story of Kunitsu-Gami is typical of Japanese medieval fantasy novels. Yoshiro is a Shinto priestess named Yoshiro. The sacred mountain where she lives is invaded by the monsters Ikoku. They corrupt the entire region and trap the villagers in gloomy cocoons. In order to purify the mountain, Yoshiro summons a guardian named Soh (controlled by the player). Soh’s goal is to watch over Yoshiro while he purifies each area of the mountain. To do this, he must use fighting techniques inspired by traditional dances called Kagura. This is the plot of the scenario.
The entire game takes place on the sacred mountain. And on this mountain are all the areas to purify. You have several stages for each area. First purification. Then restoration. During the purification phase, the game takes place in “real time” with a day phase and a night phase (one cycle lasts about a quarter of an hour).
In the first stage, you collect purification crystals by freeing villagers in each region and removing the stigmata of the Ikoku infection. The crystals are used to assign a profession (or class) to each villager, as well as to track the “purification path” that Yoshiro must follow from the level’s starting point to the “Tori”, which are red wooden gates (you can see them at the entrance of every shrine in Japan). Ikoku Mountain is invading through these gates. Yoshiro must therefore walk this path that Soh has followed. But only during the day. Once at the gate, Soh and Yoshiro purify the gate. But he will never make it on the first day. And so the day falls.
We will be your shield, sister!
The problems start in the night phase. Because Tori opens up and waves of Ikoku come one after another to kill Yoshiro. Therefore, Soh’s duty is to protect the priestess. For this, the warrior has fighting techniques. But he also relies on the villagers he has saved. He can fight by assigning a profession to each of them. Some professions specialize in hand-to-hand combat. Others in ranged combat. Some will make things easier for others: Some classes will punish enemies, others will act as walls, and some will collect purification crystals to maximize gains. You can freely place each villager according to your strategy.
If the strategic aspect of the game is not very important at the beginning, protecting Yoshiro without their help quickly becomes complicated. For two reasons. First, there are a lot of enemies, and some are harder to kill. It is a good idea to use all the available villager classes. Later levels offer Yoshiro multiple ways to attack. And you can’t be everywhere at once. When dawn breaks, all the monsters disappear. And a new stage begins. And we start again with the harvesting of crystals, the liberation of villagers (if this has not already been done), and the advancement of the path of purification.
Once the Tori is purified, you move on to the next gate, as there are several Tori to purify in all levels except the first. And each level has a few features that will improve your tactical sense: a cave with no light, a place with four entrances, a level with boats that can sink, etc. Once the level is completely cleared, you move on to the restoration phase, where Yoshiro sets up a base camp and unlocks a boss you must face to retrieve the mask that symbolizes a profession for the villagers.
Everything you need to grow well
The base camp is very important because it allows you to unlock upgrades for both the Soh and villager classes. Yoshiro offers active abilities for Soh, passive traits for Soh and villagers, and passive abilities for professions. With these, leaving Yoshiro behind while Soh goes to kill some Ikoku will no longer be a problem. Various monuments can be rebuilt by villagers around the camp. Maintaining your monuments is very important because the bonuses they bring will allow you to activate villager and Soh upgrades.
There are enough interesting mechanics in the game (strategy, management, defeat them all, dodging and parrying, and boss fights) and the levels are all very different. Thanks to these advantages, Kunitsu-Gami seems to be able to relieve the player of the feeling of fatigue that can usually occur in Tower Defense games. If its gameplay is based on the foundations specific to Dungeon Defenders, Kunitsu-Gami brings the genre up to date and it stands out from other games in the genre thanks to its very specific aesthetic. A great discovery that comes at the right time for summer.
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