Early feedback for Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess spoke highly of the game’s uniqueness in terms of its gameplay system, 18th century Japan-inspired character art, and a lot more in between. Even its ratings on Steam proved to be impressively high in the first month or so.

Indeed, Capcom’s 3D action-strategy-fighting hybrid piqued my interest. Many noted its “tower defense” element. I’ve had my fair share of tower defense games on tablets to kill boredom during my college days. They typically involved fending off hordes of zombies or placing missile-firing towers to destroy heavy artillery.

I always saw tower defense titles as a means to challenge my thinking while also providing an entertainment factor. That’s what really pushed me to try Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. This, along with the game’s straightforward story of purging Mt. Kafuku’s defilements from evil spirits through 17 stages of sword-dance combat, made up for an absolute adrenaline rush.

Reviving a stained land

For the unacquainted, the game is set in the once lush Mt. Kafuku that serves as the home of the Goddess. However, an ominous black substance has since engulfed the mountain and turned it into a shadow of its former self.

This evil has defiled the Torii gates spread across the mountainside. Worse, it has also stolen the 12 masks containing the Goddess’ power. This event has likewise thrown villagers in turmoil — a sad, pestilent state called Amatsutsumi.

To stop the havoc, players must step in to command villagers, assign them roles, purge the defilement, and bring everything back to normal.

This is the game’s simple premise. For game completion, there are 17 stages and 10 boss fights, with Mt. Kafuku being the last stage.

Simple mechanics

Players play Soh, a bad-ass, samurai-wielding protagonist who does the heavy lifting while protecting the Maiden (who purifies the paths) each step of the way. In defeating the Seethe, they restore the mountain back to its lush and lively form.

The in-battle mechanics are quite simple. On a Legion Go, the combinations are just X-Y, X-X-Y, and X-X-X-Y. These combos allow Soh to hack and slash incoming Seethe, all while twisting and turning in the air (hence, the flying sword dance).

It takes anywhere from three to five rounds of Seethe to finish the stage, before moving on to the stage’s boss. Players get rewards for completing each stage, in the form of musubis which can strengthen villagers through upping their overall HP, durability, and attacking capabilities.

In a way, that straightforwardness is why some who’ve tried this game say it has tower defense elements. That kind of no BS progression where you just finish the round, earn rewards, and move on to the next one does remind me of the usual tower defense or zombie survival titles I’ve tried on a tablet before.

Night and day

Furthermore, gameplay is divided into night and day. The actual battles happen at night. During daytime, Soh explores the surroundings where he purifies defilements and collect more credits to assign roles to villagers. Roles include Woodcutter (melee), Archer (ranged), and Ascetic, to name a few.

After completing each stage, players also enter a screen wherein the areas in Mt. Kafuku covered by that stage gets repaired. Again, Soh will assign villagers to finish the repairs to gain points. There is also a tent there which serves as the hub where Soh can view the game progress or equip Mazo Talismans which gives him a power-up in battle.

Awesome art

What else can we say? The 18th century Japan-inspired character art was absolutely stunning. The Seethe came out really disgusting and filthy-looking. The outfits of the villagers were simple yet all the details were appropriate for the theme, like their hats, tops, and bottoms. The overall color palette of the game’s surroundings also proved to be art gallery-worthy to the eyes.

I’m no hiking enthusiast either but Mt. Kafuku reminds me of my college days where I stayed at a dorm located well into a forestry area on the foot of a real-world mountain. The surroundings have a vibrant and lively vibes, and the colors make up for an appealing and picturesque look.

Challenging bosses, maldistributed difficulty?

I found the progression during the first couple of stages quite doable. You’d spend a few “days” in the game per level to advance the path.

Where I got stuck was in Stage 3, where the boss, Gakinyudo, is an annoying giant caterpillar who simply refused to die. I tried beating this level for about 50 times (no exaggeration). I tried to follow all tips and tricks I found online and also tried my own approach.

Fittingly, I did read that some players pointed out how the difficulty level of each boss in Kunitsu-Gami sort of felt randomly distributed, instead of the usual progression you’d expect where it would get a lot harder in the latter stages.

Curiously, on Steam, this level was only accomplished by 60% of players, meaning as early as Stage 3, it proved to be challenging for almost half of those who tried — myself included.

Final thoughts

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a challenging puzzle that involves a lot of action and fighting, minus the exploration from action-adventure genres. It’s a unique action-strategy blend of its own with a linear story progression that will serve you your dose of adrenaline-pumping, brain-puzzling gaming sessions.

If you have what it takes to star in the tale of the Kami, this is a title worth trying. As for me, I’ll stick to actual strategy games that involves more thinking rather than action. That’s on me.