Capcom’s turned again the clock with Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess, bringing to us an motion RPG tower defence hybrid that is very 2000s and very welcome on this age of open world, reside service-ness. And for some, it’s going to ship what’s wanted: a reasonably good time. A time marked by a loop that does hack ‘n slash, administration, and a splash of base repairs to a mean diploma. For me, although, and probably many others, I merely do not suppose this combine ever actually captures what makes even the best of tower defence video games so fascinating.
Kunitsu’s set on Mt. Kafuku, a giant mountain that is been ravaged by dribbly demons. They emerged at evening over the course of nonetheless many days or perhaps weeks or months and toppled the stunning Kafuku neighborhood, who clearly hadn’t put up sufficient sandbags. All these beautiful lakes and quiet villages? Lined in gloop mate, sorry. However! There’s hope, although, because the maiden of the mountain Yoshiro has the paranormal powers and the dance strikes to dispel the darkness and rid the mountain of gloop as soon as and for all. And that is the place you, a lad referred to as Soh, should information Yoshiro safely by means of the cleaning course of with the powers of swordsmanship and folks administration.
![Cleansing defilement to free a captive in Kunitsu-Gami.](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/kunitsu-cleanse.jpg?width=690&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
The cleaning course of naturally leads you thru a set of progressively tough areas of the mountain, every break up into two missions: the primary is a tower defence hybrid I will get into in only a jiffy, whereas the second is a self-contained boss struggle. There is not any straying from the trail you are given, so should you get caught on a stage you may must discover a option to beat it through the use of your tactical nous. Though I by no means had a problem with this, as the sport’s comparatively simple and provides you adequate assets to stage up Soh and his minions to maintain up with the dribblies.
Tower defence fashion missions have an equally easy setup, typically plopping Yoshiro on one finish of the map, earlier than tasking you with main her safely to the Torii gate on the different finish so she will dispel it. There are, after all, a few catches. The gates spill demons at evening and Yoshiro strikes at tumbleweed tempo, so you’ll be able to’t simply maintain her hand and stroll her over to every gate whereas it is mild out. As a substitute, you may deplete particular orbs to carve out a path for her to comply with in her personal time, and that just about at all times means you may be ready a number of day/evening cycles for her to finish her pissing pilgrimage.
As Yoshiro shimmies over to the gate, you may spend your day parts – timed by a setting solar icon within the backside left – gathering assets and establishing defences prepared for nighttime onslaughts. This entails: working about looking for groaning, demonic stalks to cleanse as a foremost supply of orbs; incomes rations to heal you and your allies by bashing wild animals affected by the evil gunk; repairing buildings like barricades to sluggish demon marches; and most significantly, releasing folks from the gloop and utilizing your orbs to rework them into minions.
Then it is a case of seeing the place the enemies would possibly come from (marked by the purple gates in your minimap) and inserting your minions within the spots the place you suppose they will defend Yoshiro finest. And as you’d anticipate, every of those minions suits a sure archetype. Archers cope with flying enemies finest however are weak up shut, whereas giant Sumo lads are nice at absorbing consideration however are reliant on others to dish out the harm. There’s undoubtedly satisfaction find good combos or positioning them on environmental buffers (perches for archers to get elevated vary, for instance) in order that they do their jobs a bit higher than regular, though their “regular” is fairly underwhelming.
![Positioning soldiers in Kunitsu-Gami.](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/kunitsu-areas.jpg?width=690&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
And that is due to your function as Soh. In 90% of conditions you are required to get amongst it together with your friends and harvest the orbs dropped by felled baddies. You may hack, slash, and with later upgrades, hearth arrows and carry out ending strikes to largely obliterate even the nastiest dribblers. Some would possibly discover it satisfying to contribute to the defence, and I definitely discover my elevated energy compared to my friends fulfilled an influence fantasy. However obligatory participation robs the sport of the true pleasure of tower defence video games, I reckon.
What’s that pleasure? The enjoyment of being a supervisor sat in a drone floating above the map, plopping some of us down and watching idly as they rinse the hordes. The enjoyment, in the end, of probably not doing something in any respect. With Kunitsu, you play a micromanager who continuously cleans up after a workforce who’s designed to do their job suboptimally. Relatively than discover it thrilling to again up my friends, I truthfully discover it a bit exhausting.
Survive the evening and it will transition to day, auto-burning any demons left on the map. And it is right here the place you may spend all of the orbs you’ve got collected on both pushing Yoshiro additional in the direction of the endpoint, or – if that endpoint transitions right into a second, harder gate chase – increase a completely new set of defences and minions. If it ever launches me right into a second gate chase, I will admit that slightly a part of my soul adopts the foetal place and rocks backwards and forwards. Primarily as a result of the day routine – orb assortment, minion recruitment and so forth. – adopted by the evening portion additional reinforces a repetitive loop that I merely cannot be bothered with.
![Defending Yoshiro from a horde of demons in Kunitsu-Gami.](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/kunitsu-defence.jpg?width=690&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
![A town is cleansed of defilement in Kunitsu-Gami.](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/kunitsu-town-cleanse.jpg?width=690&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
Sometimes the missions swap it up completely, which is nice! One time you’ve got obtained a number of boats to defend as you float throughout a lake, whereas one other time you’ve got obtained some drums to bash, sending out area-of-effect spells together with your beats. Satirically, although, probably the most enjoyable I ever had was when the sport reworked me right into a spirit, who may solely acquire orbs and deposit them at Yoshiro – and who wanted releasing from a demonic headcrab. The sport lastly let me command extra minions and elevated them right into a place of authority, pinning the duty on their efficiency reasonably than mine.
Boss fights allow you to unlock new varieties of pal, with the boss fights themselves in opposition to menacing demons with splendidly horrible designs, like flailing centipedes and tormented buddhas who use prayer beads like knuckle dusters. Early fights are a bit repetitive, however that repetitiveness is shaken off afterward for sensible (if sometimes infuriating) eventualities that power you to separate focus between boss-hitting and Yoshiro-aiding.
Whereas it is grand unlocking new minions, like shamans who heal or spear-wielders who sweep or ascetics who summon zones that sluggish enemies, I can not assist however really feel they’re all a bit… eh. Enemy selection does power you into utilizing totally different archetypes, and map layouts could change too, so you’ll be able to’t go with out experimentation. But their upgrades are a bit uninspiring (extra well being, extra harm, a few higher strikes), which makes your investments really feel extra such as you’ve poured your hard-earned money right into a Souls stat-sheet than I might like.
![Repairing a building in Kunitsu-Gami by delegating workers.](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/kunitsu-repair.jpg?width=690&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
Full an space – by each finishing their related tower defence and boss missions – and you’ll revisit these cleansed areas as bases that you will must restore. These act purely as currency-generators, granting you Musubi (used for upgrading your minions or Soh), orbs, and charms (which grant you special-ish skills and stat boosts), do you have to efficiently restore them to their former glory. Whereas initially satisfying, these restore jobs aren’t a patch on DIY SOS and rapidly change into a senseless train. You assign villagers to restore spots, which take nonetheless many missions days to finish. Generally you ask villagers to select up wooden scattered round these bases earlier than having them restore a costlier, however extra rewarding mission. Then you definately return to those bases after every mission, acquire your doodads, and rinse and repeat.
What do you get once you lastly restore a base? No interactions with the villagers, no little “Cheers mate” from Yoshiro, nothing however slightly extra foreign money. At the least Nick Knowles obtained to speak with the builders and households after doing up their homes.
I do suppose it is nice that Capcom have launched a bizarre, generally great tower defence/ motion RPG hybrid with such robust early-millennium vibes. And I believe some will discover its micromanagement extra compelling than I did, with base repairs and the gradual energy climb forming a simple option to spend a night with an average-to-good online game. And but, I additionally suppose many will discover its tackle tower defence solely half-delivers. It is likely to be stuffed with distinct components that always work collectively, be they base-building or hack ‘n’ slashing, however as an entire, it falls right into a repetitive rhythm that struggles to seize the fun and thrills of a lot easier tower defence video games.
This assessment is predicated on a assessment construct of the sport supplied by the developer.