Capcom and real-time strategy aren’t words you’d normally put together, but if my first five hours with Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess are anything to go by, this is a match that’s shaping up to be truly quite divine. This is a strategy game whose core is pure Capcom action, with energetic katana arcs and dazzling button combos laced with some of the most spectacular, kaleidoscopic visual effects this side of Okami (a connection that’s not lost on Capcom either, thanks to their free Ammy and Waka costume crossover items coming at launch).
As Soh’s sword careens through the air with his dance-like moveset, he leaves twisting trails of colour behind him, like he’s constantly slicing through other dimensions that are just full of the brightest, most vibrant origami paper you’ve ever seen. It’s a lovely little treat for repeatedly throwing yourself into the heat of battle, and it gives each level the kind of action-led exuberance you just don’t get from strategy games where your main role is to simply direct your units from your skybox on high.
Don’t get me wrong – there’s still a Pikmin-like organisation layer to Kunitsu-Gami’s midnight scraps, as alongside Soh you’ll also need to free and enlist the help of each town’s trapped villagers to help fend off the nightly waves of Japanese yokai monsters that come pouring through its numerous cursed torii gates. You get to decide what role (or class) they play and where best to place them, and you can also pause the action whenever you like if you need to redraw your plan of attack. But it’s this marriage of cerebral supervision and corporeal button combos that just absolutely sings in Kunitsu-Gami so far, and I’m eager to see what else it has in store for me as I wind my way across this monster-filled mountaintop.
