Okayunitsu-Gami is an motion/technique recreation with a easy, but satisfying construction, and it’s made by Capcom’s Division 1 crew no much less. The sport consists of three phases: the preparation section, fight section, after which a relaxed rebuild one after that. These are the three components of Kunitsu-Gami’s gameplay, however the entire expertise actually shines above every of them. The essential premise of Kunitsu-Gami revolves across the maiden, Yoshiro, purifying Mt. Kufaku’s demonized villages with the assistance of her trusty swordsman, Soh. You management Soh as you purify and command villagers to battle off the demonic Seethe. I recognize how clear the define of this recreation is. You’re proven precisely what must be executed proper from the get-go; reclaim the 11 Masks and purify the villages throughout the mountain. It’s a premise that’s simple to get behind, with loads of surprises alongside the way in which.
Certainly one of my favourite issues about Kunitsu-Gami is how balanced an expertise it’s. You all the time really feel such as you’re doing completely different actions, by no means lingering on any considered one of them for too lengthy because of the three-phase construction. Purifying the villages of Mt. Kufaku first requires you to rescue villagers and use assets to assign them roles, which in flip provide help to fight the Seethe at night time. However earlier than going additional, let’s go over probably the most primary a part of the sport everybody needs to learn about: the fight and controls.
Kunitsu-Gami is a mix of hack-and-slash motion and technique. It’s not an both/or hybridization both, each types are seamlessly built-in all through the gameplay. The sword-fighting on this recreation feels respectable sufficient, however the stiff assault inputs and primary combos preserve it from being really wonderful. A lock-on operate might’ve helped mitigate the stiff execution of assaults a bit, however there’s solely a lot you are able to do when inputs and animations can’t be canceled mid-execution, as is the case right here. One factor that would’ve been mitigated, nevertheless, is the fundamental moveset that Koh is proscribed to throughout the early parts of the sport. Perhaps it’s as a result of I tried to clear the optionally available targets of the village ranges a number of occasions, however I simply felt restricted in what I might do as Soh … properly, till I unlocked his talent tree.
“You don’t unlock Soh’s talent tree till an honest method into the sport’s narrative”
You see, Soh truly does have an increasing skillset; you simply don’t unlock it till you purify the sixth village. When you unlock Soh’s talent tree, you’ll be able to entry parry, fast assault, arrows, stun execution, streamlined technique instructions, and extra combos by means of new sword types. Yeah, that’s an entire lot of package totally lacking from the primary half of the sport. Whereas Soh’s talent tree does arrive a bit too late within the recreation, the existence of recent recreation+ and the size of the second half make good use of the talents. Nonetheless, a complete lack of development for the principle character all through all the first half of the sport is strongly felt, particularly since among the skills are primary options that ought to’ve most likely been obtainable from the start. However this recreation doesn’t simply revolve round your personal sword-fighting capacity, there’s a bunch of villagers hankering to affix your quest to purify Mt. Kafuku.
That is the place Kunitsu-Gami‘s technique component is available in. To be able to make use of the villagers, you first need to rescue them and assign them roles. You unlock villager roles (or courses) as you collect the sport’s 11 masks. Every function requires a distinct quantity of crystal foreign money, so it’s a course of that requires some managerial talent. Would you like a smaller group of pricey specialised Ascetics at the price of unit amount? Or, would you fairly simply have a big military of primary Woodcutter models? There’s even a unit specifically made simply to find and dig up treasure buried throughout the village. You accumulate crystal assets by purifying components of the village, getting rewarded with a helpful talent Talisman for efficiently purifying the village to 100%. However in fact, there’s a time restrict. As soon as nighttime arrives, you will need to cease resource-gathering and defend the maiden, Yoshiro.
Commanding models is an easy affair. You simply pull up the models menu and place each the place they may stand they usually’ll routinely assault enemies. However right here’s the place one other of my criticisms is available in. There’s no method to collect each unit collectively in a single area. Effectively, not till you unlock Soh’s talent tree after purifying the sixth village. Sure, primary instructions and comfort options are additionally locked inside Soh’s talent tree, which simply makes it much more baffling why it’s pushed thus far into the sport. I additionally really feel like your command circle is simply too small, requiring you to manually hoof it to places the place you want to place models as a substitute of some sort of expansive top-down grid. Anyway, I do benefit from the technique component on this recreation regardless of these small irritations. It’s enjoyable to strategically place models and select defensive or offensive positions in your military of villagers. The inventive stage design makes strategic planning much more enjoyable and assorted.
“Boss fights are enjoyable and assorted and every features a checklist of challenges and rewards”
The degrees (or unpurified villages) are splendidly assorted, every having a singular gimmick. For instance, one stage prevents you from attacking enemies as Soh, as a substitute forcing you solely into the commander function. Different ranges happen in darkish caverns, requiring you to gentle torches and plan your models round lighted areas in order that they don’t get misplaced. I can go on, however you get the concept. Nearly each single stage has some fascinating twist that retains gameplay recent and interesting.
That very same stage of creativity is current within the boss fights of Kunitsu-Gami. Boss fights require fascinating methods, not often ever devolving into repetitive hack-and-slash gameplay. Every boss has a singular gimmick that compels you to make use of your models and skills in numerous methods. You’ll battle bosses with weak factors that particular models like long-range archers can exploit. Some bosses flop round dealing standing illnesses throughout broad areas, and there’s even one in a while that looks like a 1-on-1 sword duel towards a souls-like boss.
You continue to have command over your villagers throughout boss fights, with extra generic ‘defend’ and ‘battle’ instructions. A few of the bosses that make use of mobs particularly require you to watch Yoshiro’s standing always, and simplifying the instructions to a common ‘defend Yoshiro’ is a sublime answer to that. Stage and boss designs are splendidly assorted, placing each Soh’s particular person fight and command of the villagers to good use equally. Moreover, every stage and boss battle has a set of optionally available challenges that you may deal with, a few of which require particular models or Talismans to realize. Oh yeah, that brings me to gear.
You possibly can type by your gear on the varied villages you’ve purified. These purified villages are additionally the place you’ll ship villagers on development tasks to rebuild mentioned village right into a accomplished state. Soh’s gear and host of collectibles will be sorted inside Yoshiro’s tent, which is the place you equip Talismans and Guards. First, let’s discuss Guards. Guards are Soh’s particular ‘lively’ abilities. You begin with one equippable Guard however get extra slots as you improve Soh’s talent tree (once more, unlocked a lot later).
“Talismans and Guards give you a lot of abilities and buffs to experiment with”
Whereas Guards fulfill a extra lively function, Talismans operate as passive buffs. There’s all kinds of Guards and Talismans obtainable within the recreation, permitting for a number of construct potentialities. Some Talismans don’t even have fight advantages, such because the one which has villagers greet Soh. Nothing will get throughout the sheer variety of Talismans within the recreation fairly so properly as scrolling by them your self. It’s far more irritating than it must be to discover a particular Talisman in your stock. You possibly can bounce by classes, certain, however there’s no quick-scroll or method to scroll by increments. There’s a complete of 72 Talismans in Kunitsu-Gami, which is nice for construct selection, however not so nice while you’re cumbersomely scrolling by them one after the other to seek out what you need.
When you’re completed sorting your gear, you’ll discover there are many enjoyable issues to take a look at within the purified villages. Sending villagers on development jobs rewards you with crystal foreign money, rations used for battles, and neat collectibles within the type of confectionaries. Confectionaries don’t serve a sensible operate within the recreation, serving extra as taste lore for his or her real-world counterparts and one thing for Yoshiro to eat in her tent (sure, actually). You possibly can even zoom in on these sweets and rotate their fashions, which, by the way in which, look completely nice within the RE engine. Talismans and Guards will also be examined and rotated as properly.
“You possibly can pet animals, repair buildings, and acquire a wide range of sweets inside the purified villages”
There’s a easy enjoyment of giving Yoshiro sweets, petting animals, and finishing development jobs. These calm rebuilding sections help you actually reap the rewards of combating the Seethe, making it really feel such as you’re really serving to the villagers. Every villager has their very own distinctive background textual content, so you’ll be able to really feel that sense of group much more sharply. Oh, and the calm Einaudi-esque piano music wafting about as you pet bunnies and deer simply places a bowtie on the entire thing. Only a few video games have a optimistic suggestions loop as sturdy Kunitsu-Gami’s purified village moments.
To tie again into the beginning of this evaluate, Kunitsu-Gami has a really engaging stability to it that retains anybody component from feeling stale. The put together, battle, and rebuild phases of the sport make it a unified expertise fairly not like every other. The sport takes about 20 hours to finish, however you might end up wanting to gather the whole lot and doing the additional challenges simply since you need to see all of the villages rebuilt and Yoshiro with a whole roster of sweets. Kunitsu-Gami is actually a kind of video games the place the entire is bigger than its components, making the small irritants somewhat extra forgivable ultimately.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
