Our chums at PlayStation have shared more about Kemuri, the giddy new third-person action game from a team lead by former Tango Gameworks developer and E3 2019 scene-stealer Ikumi Nakamura. In case you missed the 2023 announcement, it casts you as an athletic yokai hunter swooping and flipping around a “sprawling vertical city”. The obvious reference point is Ghostwire: Tokyo, Nakamura’s previous and more ponderous yokai-hunting project for Tango. She left the studio before that game’s completion, but she appears to have brought a lot of the same inspirations to Kemuri. Here’s a video.
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Kemuri’s city is full of hidden otherworldly beings, ranging from interpretations of real-life folklore to original creations. Some of them are huge – there’s a Godzilla-sized walking skeleton, for example. You can scry these yokai by forming a “foxwindow” with your thumb and index finger. Once revealed, you can then beat them up and transform them into “Possession Apparel”, which sounds like a class system. The announcement details three broad playstyles – fisticuffs, archery and magic. I hope it gets more elaborate than that.
Among the mysteries of Kemuri is how the online works. There’s traditional co-op for up to three – hence, the three broad playstyles above – but Nakamura has also hinted at some nebulous, perhaps even FromSoftwary networking during singleplayer. “Even in single-player, you are never truly alone in this city,” she explains in a PlayStation blog post. “Distinctive hunters and contracted yokai are always by your side. Before you realize it, you may find yourself stepping deeper into the city’s paranormal anomalies while sensing someone else’s presence nearby.”
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The explicit co-op also seems a bit arcane. “Together, players dive into the city as one discovers, one guides, and one strikes the final blow,” Nakamura goes on. “And somewhere within that cooperation, you may begin to notice something strange: Even when looking at the same world, each player may see it just a little differently.” Hmm, I like the idea of spooky discrepancies between player sessions. It will make it easier to explain why I keep leaving allies in the lurch. I also like the implication that co-op is a ritual with players fulfilling different roles, rather than being clones of each other.
Kemuri is currently down for a 2027 release on PS5. Unlike Sony’s God of War Laufey and Wolverine, it’s also been confirmed for PC. Dear Unseen Inc, please include some kind of freefall mechanic – in places this reminds me of Gravity Rush.
