Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is one of the most unique games of 2024, blending various different gameplay genres into a cohesive package.
The real-time action, real-time strategy, and tower-defense mechanics work surprisingly well together. With its gorgeous classic Japanese folklore aesthetic, it’s just as pleasing to look at as it is fun to play.
The game follows two characters: Soh, the warrior, and Yoshiro, the Maiden of Mt. Kafuku. One day, monsters called "The Seethe" take over the top of Mt. Kafuku and overpower both of them, prompting them to have to make their way down the mountain and purify areas along the way.
Path of the Goddess is relatively light on story aspects and feels more like background in order to focus on the gameplay. In fact, there’s absolutely no spoken dialogue whatsoever, and any story bits are told through synopsis. It’s a nice change of pace to not be bogged down with dialogue and just let Soh and Yoshiro’s body language do the talking.
Soh and Yoshiro are really the only characters that have any sort of personality at all, with Soh protecting her as she makes her way down the mountain. Both of them don’t really go through any character development, and the villagers that they rescue are literally faceless minions.
However, the absence of characterization didn’t bother me in the long run due to the game’s unique gameplay loop. The Japanese yokai inspired bosses are a big highlight, too. What they lack in personality, they make up for grand spectacle and artistic design.
In Path of the Goddess, gameplay is split into two day time and nighttime parts. During the day, Soh prepares for battle by rescuing villagers and turning them into their own soldiers. Along the way, you find crystals that help Yoshiro forge a path for her to slowly walk to the end of the map and purify the exit.
Even the preparation has an air of tension because Soh is on a clock, and you have to prioritize whether you want to find all of the villagers first or purify different side areas of the stage first. More villagers means more allies to fight with, but unlocking side areas leads to finding more equipment and items. It’s a great way to keep players on their toes throughout the entire time — not just the battles.
The villagers can be changed into different roles, such as healer or marksman, by spending crystals found throughout the stage. The roles you pick are crucial to your success at night when the monsters come out. The process is fun because you can switch their roles on the fly and experiment.
At night, Soh’s goal is to guard Yoshiro and fight off the monsters until sunrise. What makes Path of the Goddess different from other tower defense games is that Soh isn’t a passive observer. While the villagers auto-attack incoming enemies, Soh is free to run around and join in the fights. He can also give commands to villagers to either gather around Yoshiro to protect her or individually place them throughout the stage. All of these different mechanics kept me engaged in every single stage in a way that similar games haven’t. I was actively playing a role rather than just sitting back and letting the auto-attacks do all the work for me.
After purifying a stage, Soh can visit them in person and rebuild the village in that area to earn rewards such as more Musabi, which are skill points. It’s a great way to slow down and reset the game’s pacing in between battles. I also appreciate how simple the progression is. You can use skill points you’ve earned to upgrade roles, such as giving your Sumo more attack power — or even have Soh learn new moves, including the ability to use a bow and arrow to hit flying enemies. It’s an incredibly straightforward system that keeps Path of the Goddess fun to play without unnecessarily complex mechanics
Path of the Goddess has gorgeous art direction inspired by Japanese folklore. The monster and boss designs are memorable, with plenty of variety to boot. You fight everything from ghosts to giant frogs, and the distinct Japanese folklore style makes Path of the Goddess distinct.
However, some of the game’s environmental graphical textures have low quality and resolution. They aren’t very detailed and it looks like I was playing a Nintendo Switch game rather than a PS5 title.
Since Path of the Goddess features no spoken dialogue, it’s up to the game’s audio and music to do a lot of heavy lifting. Thankfully, the soundtrack sounds great with its emphasis on flutes and drums. This can be heard most prominently during the battle theme, where the drums go into overdrive, making me feel like I’m commanding an army.
The soundtrack also strays away from modern day instruments, like electric guitars, in order to keep the authentic Japanese folklore aesthetic. My personal favorite track is the one that plays while Soh is attending to bases in between missions and rebuilding them. It's incredibly stripped back and bare with simple piano melodies, and it really stands out amongst the rest of the tracks that feature heavy instrumentation.
Path of the Goddess isn’t particularly difficult as long as you prepare for the upcoming night.
Whether you succeed is all dependent on where you position your villagers to fight back against the monsters. If you’re having trouble, sometimes just picking the right class might make the difference between winning and losing.
Some of the optional objectives in stages can be difficult to achieve during your first time playing them, but you can always come back with stronger units later on and complete them.
Path of the Goddess runs well with very little performance issues. The loading screens take a bit more time to load up then I’d like (around 9-10 seconds), but it’s not really worth worrying about too much.
For the main story, you’re looking at around 10 to 15 hours to reach the end. A $50 price tag may sound hefty, but Path of the Goddess has plenty of replay value as you can go back to previous stages to complete optional objectives. There’s also a New Game Plus when you finish the game for the first time, and there are rewards that can only be unlocked when replaying it.
There are a few tech issues here and there, but with its great art direction and strong gameplay loop, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a standout title in 2024.
