Worth Considering on Switch 2? Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – Feature
Does Capcom’s mix-up of sword-dance action and tower/village defense strategy deserve the Okami vibes its putting out? Switch 2 owners will have a chance to answer the questions for themselves come the June 5 launch.
The Nintendo Switch 2’s launch may be defined by a brand new Mario Kart, but a lot of ports and re-releases of games that have been available on other platforms will make their way to the Nintendo Switch 2 in the coming months. In this series, we’ll tell you why it is worth considering to pick up some games you may not have had a chance to play yet if you’ve only played games on the Nintendo Switch. Today we dive into Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
What is Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess?
Stare into the nexus of strategy and action gaming and you will find Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Capcom released this unique title in 2024, creating a fresh mix of strategy/tower-defense ideas and action swordplay. The game also draws comparisons to the 2006 Capcom classic “Okami” due to its strong Japanese mythology themes and accompanying visual style.
What does Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess play like?
Kunitsu-Game takes place on the mythical Mt. Kafuku, once a pristine harmony of villages and nature, now covered in otherworldly portals that engulf the land in a seeping defilement along with monsters known as the Seethe. The way the Seethe are realized is neat, like a mix of heavy Japanese folklore and the monsters from the Upside Down in the Netflix show Stranger Things.
Your task as the warrior Soh is to defend the holy maiden Yoshiro as she travels through the mountain villages purging corruption and ultimately sealing each area’s portal. Your main character’s “dance-like sword action” is only the beginning: the strategy comes from managing the game’s day night cycle, using daytime to clear corruption from the area and rescue villagers, then repairing defenses and assigning roles and positions to the freed townspeople so that you can withstand surging waves of monsters at night.
If you can defend Yoshiro long enough for her to travel through each area, she can perform a final ritual dance at the end to seal the portal from which all the area’s demons and monsters are emerging.
What makes Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess different on Nintendo Switch 2?
Kunitsu-Gami will have mouse controls when it comes to the Switch 2 at the system’s launch, which could be a boon when you have to use the UI to assign your villagers different combat roles and direct them to specific defensive positions.
The game will also receive a new “Otherworldly Venture” game mode on the Switch 2 and other platforms where, once you’ve completed the main story of the game, you can venture through the portals into the alien “otherworld” with a simplified day-and-night cycle and a goal of surviving as long as you can on the enemy’s own home turf.
Is there anything else I need to know?
Kunitsu-Gami received appreciation and high scores from critics and players upon its release last year, but if you haven’t heard of this game it’s not your fault. Capcom themselves admitted to investors that insufficient marketing may have resulted in a lack of buzz for the title. It’s not hard to see why, with the buzz-heavy Switch 2, Capcom is hoping to find a fresh audience of players who are hungry for the unique gameplay and stylings of this new IP.
In short: How would you describe this game to Nintendo-fans?
Not many titles seek to mix influences and genre in the way Kunitsu-Gami does. The “Hyrule Warriors” series might invoke a general sense of strategy beyond the hack-and-slash, but here Capcom has a tighter focus on individual villages and townspeople, managing each freed villager’s fighting role and position as well as repairing the town itself to withstand attack. “Okami” is a go-to comparison given the shared developer, influences, and art style, but that is much more wholly an action game unlike Kunitsu-Gami’s mix. If Nintendo fans are open to deeper cuts, they may remember 5th Cell and their Nintendo DS action-tower-defense “Lock’s Quest”, or Vanpool and Nintendo’s “Dillon’s Rolling Western” series, but both titles were far more focused on literal towers and walls as their strategy elements, instead of Kunitsu-Gami’s more tactical warrior and village defense elements.
Kunitsu-Gami may resist the urge to define it so neatly, but surely Capcom is hoping enough players discover its unique blend of mythology, swordplay, and strategy so that it’s remembered for more than being a “cult classic” like its spiritual predecessor Okami.
