If you wish to put your Swap 2 by means of its paces, there’s no scarcity of choices in its beneficiant launch lineup. Whether or not it’s the candy-colored appeal of Mario Kart World or the neon-drenched cityscape of Cyberpunk 2077, you’re spoiled for alternative in the case of visible powerhouses.
With such main titles on provide, it might be simple to miss Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Launched on different platforms in July 2024, it’s a sport that, at first look, would possibly appear to be simply one other Japanese motion sport, full with unwieldy title and acquainted feudal-era setting. Leaping into the journey of the goddess Yoshiro and her devoted protector Soh, I used to be shocked to seek out that Capcom’s Shinto-inspired epic is a very compelling mix of motion and tower defence.
The land has been overrun by a demonic drive often called the Seethe. Villages surrounding the sacred Mount Kafuku have fallen to corruption. Yoshiro, a divine being, should carry out a ritual dance to cleanse every space. Cleaning leaves her weak to assault, which is the place her bodyguard Soh is available in. He’s tasked with defending the goddess as they transfer by means of every settlement, dancing away the evil. Fortunately, Soh will not be alone on this activity.
In every space, you cleanse corrupted villagers and assign them fight roles, permitting them to hitch your combat. You’ll place these villagers in strategic positions round Yoshiro. As night time falls, your group should maintain their floor towards waves of Seethe. The day-night cycle creates a pure ebb and move of motion. Through the day, you free villagers, acquire crystals, and purge corrupted fauna whereas a timer counts all the way down to dusk. Roles are assigned to your fighters utilizing crystals, however this foreign money is primarily used to carve a path for the ritual. As Soh waves his harai gushi to information Yoshiro, her progress will decide what number of cycles it can take to clear the world. Some will take a single day, most take a number of.
Half ARPG, half tower defence, Kunitsu-Gami is an enchanting and addictive mashup. You management Soh straight, and there’s a stupendous fluidity to his fight. His “blade dance” has a slight delay between enter and influence, giving the feeling of gliding by means of swathes of enemies and reducing them to ribbons. He can connect a number of talismans and tsuba to his gear, which add devastating new talents or boosts to villagers.
After a settlement is cleared, it turns into a base you can revisit between rituals. Upgrading these bases offers rewards for each Soh and his rising band of fighters.
Between villages, highly effective bosses await, and defeating them earns you a masks that unlocks a brand new function kind to assign to villagers. Boss fights themselves play like a gritty, horror-tinged model of Pikmin, as you command fighters to swarm an enemy or defend Yoshiro from provides.
Every villager function has distinctive utility, from the common-or-garden woodcutter to the formidable sorcerer. Choosing the best roles for the best kind of enemy or surroundings is vital to Yoshiro’s survival.
The settlements of Mount Kafuku are visually gorgeous, vibrant dioramas that shift from fleshy hellscape to lush paradise as Yoshiro does their factor. The sport runs extremely effectively too; Soh slices shafts of vibrant color by means of massive teams of enemies with none noticeable body drops. Efficiency stays spectacular undocked, with the Swap 2’s bigger show complementing the top-down environments completely. There’s additionally a wholesome number of visible choices (with the ability to disable movement blur and depth of subject is appreciated, Capcom) and accessibility tweaks.
Finishing the audio-visual feast is an intoxicating soundscape, which is simply barely marred by a woeful English voice monitor. Fortunately the choice to swap to Japanese is out there.
Mouse management can be a bit divisive for some. Arguably, this type of title is effectively suited to the mouse, as a big chunk of gameplay has you assigning items within the command menu. It took some getting used to, however as soon as I discovered a snug hand place, I loved enjoying this fashion. In the end, although, I discovered myself retreating to conventional controls throughout troublesome sections like boss fights. Manoeuvring Soh round enemies whereas shifting the digicam with mouse motion simply did not fairly work for me.
Nonetheless, even with out the additional methods to play that Swap 2 provides, it is a nice illustration of a number of genres in its personal proper. It’s a beneficiant title, with loads of causes to return to ranges, revealing secrets and techniques and unlocking extra talents for Soh and his military.
Whereas every villager function introduces a brand new technique and every corrupted settlement provides recent mechanics, the method does begin to really feel barely repetitive after the midpoint. That mentioned, the core loop of upgrade-plan-defend is addictive and makes Kunitsu-Gami one of the crucial distinctive launch titles on Swap 2.
Conclusion
Kunitsu-Gami was an actual shock. A strong mix of technique and motion that comes with elements of Shinto and Japanese folklore to create a visually gorgeous expertise. It is a terrific showcase for Swap 2, even when mouse controls won’t fairly work for everybody.
