Our friends at PlayStation have shared more about Kemuri, the dizzying new third-person action game from a team led by former Tango Gameworks developer and E3 2019 scene-stealer Ikumi Nakamura. In case you missed the 2023 ad, it casts you as an athletic yokai hunter swooping and flipping around a “sprawling vertical city.” The obvious point of reference is Ghostwire: Tokyo, Nakamura’s previous and heavier yokai-hunting project for Tango. She left the studio before that game was finished, but she seems to have brought the same inspirations to Kemuri. Here is a video.
The town of Kemuri is full of hidden otherworldly beings, ranging from interpretations of real-life folklore to original creations. Some of them are huge – there’s a walking skeleton the size of Godzilla, for example. You can observe these yokai by forming a “fox window” with your thumb and index finger. Once revealed, you can then defeat them and upgrade them to “Possession Apparel”, which is like a class system. The announcement details three main playstyles: fisticuffs, archery and magic. I hope it gets more elaborate than that.
Among the mysteries of Kemuri is how the Internet works. There’s traditional co-op for up to three people – hence the three general playstyles above – but Nakamura also hinted at a nebulous network, perhaps even FromSoftwary, in single-player. “Even in single player mode, you’re never really alone in this city,” she explains in a PlayStation blog post. “Distinctive hunters and contracted yokai are always at your side. Before you know it, you might find yourself delving deeper into the city’s paranormal anomalies while sensing the presence of someone else nearby.”
Explicit co-op also seems a bit mysterious. “Together, players delve into the city as one discovers, the other guides, and delivers the final blow,” Nakamura continues. “And somewhere within that cooperation, you might start to notice something strange: Even when looking at the same world, each player can see it a little differently.” Hmm, I like the idea of scary discrepancies between player sessions. It will be easier to explain why I continue to leave my allies in the lurch. I also like the implication that cooperation is a ritual in which players fulfill different roles, rather than being clones of each other.
Kemuri is currently available for release in 2027 on PS5. Unlike Sony’s God of War Laufey and Wolverine, it has also been confirmed for PC. Dear Unseen Inc, please include some sort of free fall mechanic – in places it reminds me of Gravity Rush.
