Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review

A year after first being revealed, Capcom’s Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess launches during a quiet bit of July. Is this Goddess worth protecting, or should you go back to farming in The First Descendant?

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess follows Soh, a guardian of the Goddess Yoshiro. A skilled warrior, Soh sets out to purge the land of demons and monsters known as Seethe.

However, Soh simply isn’t strong enough to protect Yoshiro on his own. As the pair work their way down the mountain, they travel to villages, caverns, and outposts as they find villagers the Seethe trapped in fleshlike cocoons.

Using energy gifted from the Goddess, Soh can open up these cocoons and change the villagers into fighters, thieves, priests, and even Sumo wrestlers. With their combined might, they protect Yoshiro from the enemy and set out to help her get down the mountain.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is broken up into levels, with each level containing a certain amount of villagers you can recruit. At first, this number is small, averaging around four villagers. I was hoping to bring villagers from each level to the next, but that isn’t how it works.

Instead, after clearing a level, you will then be able to fight the boss of the area, and beating them normally unlocks a new class for your villagers. The villagers will then stay behind in that area and rebuild, giving you more healing items, new talismans, and even EXP to make your classes stronger. It’s a simple system, but one that will have you replaying levels to get more loot.

Speaking of replaying levels, each one has hidden objectives that you don’t see until you beat a level. Bosses are typically time battles, giving you a few minutes to clear the stage and move on. Your more typical missions might want you to find all the pots you can break, purify some animals, take no damage, or even beat the mission without lighting any lamps.

If you complete the optional objectives in real-time, you will still get the reward at the end of the level. Some of them are impossible until you get further in the game, though, and this means sometimes you HAVE to replay levels to get 100%.

A typical level will have you escort Yoshiro down a path until she gets to a gate. Once at the gate, you can purify it and move to the next part of the map or complete the level. During the day you purify the Seethe infection, free villagers, and can even dig up treasure with thieves.

At night, however, the Seethe comes out, and your only objective is to protect Yoshiro. Combat is about as basic as it gets, with some light attacks and heavy attacks. You can combo the two, but don’t expect Devil May Cry combos or anything like that.

Players will also get a special move that charges up over time or by killing enemies. The one I liked was the flaming sword, but you can get a few different ones as you progress in the game.

The game’s best strength is the fact that the villagers you recruit can protect Yoshiro on their own if you position them right. The enemies spawn from the gate and are invincible once they step out. That part is annoying, but the more annoying part is that you take damage if you sit at their spawn.

While you can camp the spawn point, you need to do it from a respectful distance, or else you all die quickly. Once you understand this, you can place the units a few feet out from the spawn and let them go wild. It is a very satisfying feeling to watch all the enemies die before they can even set foot near Yoshiro.

Outside the combat and escorting the Goddess, you will also set out to repair villages, which nets EXP to level up your villager classes. The base levels are pretty generic, with more HP and more attack-type upgrades, but get more advanced down the line.

For instance, Archers can get fire arrows, Lumberjacks can do power attacks and gain a wider attack radius, and Thieves learn to pick locks. The hardest part here is deciding which points to put into what class, because you won’t be able to max every class. Thankfully, you can reset the points if you need to and rebuild your army.

When it comes to annoyances, Yoshiro will only follow the path, and during boss fights, she stands still. This can sometimes be a problem because a rampaging centipede boss will just trample her to death because you can’t kill it quickly enough.

If she dies, you have to redo the whole encounter. Other times, I’ve had the AI archers just ignore a flying enemy as it goes right by them and heads to Yoshiro. Maybe it’s there to keep you on your toes, but it is still irritating. I didn’t run into any major bugs or crashes.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is one of those games that will have you going back for one more quick level. If you’re still on the fence, check out the demo and get yourself hooked.

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