Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Completed: August 15, 2024
Playtime: 40h 35m
I've never done a New Game + run of a game. Ever. Not Dark Souls, not Elden Ring, not Fire Emblem, Resident Evil or Armored Core. Hell, I basically ruined my playthrough of Nier: Automata because of my instinct to drop a game when credits roll, mind clear and ready for the next pebble on the mountain of the eternal backlog.
It's a testament to how fucking good Kunitsu-Gami is that putting the game down before I had done absolutely everything was out of the question. Every challenge, every Mitsubi, every villager upgraded - all of it. My wife and I ogled at the miniatures and fed snacks to Yoshiro and pet the animals. We read all the villager bios and beat the secret boss and spent entire evenings just admiring the animations. I've never turned over every inch of a game before. I used the photo mode. Kunitsu-Gami was worth all the time we spent with it.
It was a blissful experience. The push and pull of tower-defense based strategy alongside smooth, pulse quickening action works brilliantly. The game is so confident in its mechanics that, like a pair of elegant dancers, they're just as entrancing together as when they're apart. The mission variety and boss designs had a level of playfulness and freshness that I haven't seen since the PS2 era.
This game is the complete package. Devoid of microtransactions and DLC and custom upcharged skins. It's a whole meal that left us feeling fat and happy by the time the credits rolled (both times). The level of detail and craft on display is mind boggling for something that's a so-called "AA" experience.
And Soh is the sexiest video game character to ever exist.
