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It’s been a long two-and-a-half years of silence since a cinematic teaser for Kemuri hinted at what it would be about: hunting mythical demons in dense urban environments. Much of the interest in the game came from studio founder Ikumi Nakamura, who cut her teeth at Capcom and made herself known during a presentation for Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyo. At Sony’s State of Play today we finally got a chance to see what Kemuri really looks like, and dare I say it’s kinda Suicide Squad, but… cool?
As that teaser hinted at in 2023, Kemuri is a co-op action game about hunting yokai, and there’s some really slick animation on display in the new gameplay trailer; I’d say it lives up to the vision the studio had going into development. If it feels as good to play as it looks in motion, I’ve gotta get my hands on this thing stat.
… is what I’d be saying if Kemuri wasn’t still a long ways off, with a release planned for next year.
Nakamura did, at least, pop into the State of Play to talk about the game in more depth.
“The setting is Kemuri City, a chaotic place where the world of the living and the yokai realm are mixed,” she said. “Inspired by Asia, it blends many different cultures. There’s a saying: where there’s smoke, there are yokai. And yokai hunters find them using an ability only they possess: the Fox Window. With this window, they detect paranormal phenomena and yokai. Reveal and then hunt the yokai. But you don’t just collect yokai: in our game, you must first form a contract. Hunt the unknown, and embody them yourself as unique apparel.”
(That’s right: Pummel a yokai into submission, then don its skin as fashionable streetwear.)
“Using the power of yokai possession, gain unique advantages in battle and traversal,” Nakamura continued. “With those superpowers, challegen stronger yokai and get closer to the mysteries of the world… We’re making Kemuri to deliver chaos—and laughter.”
The three classes (convenient for a three-player co-op game) are the Katana Hunter, Bow Hunter and Shaman. We don’t get more details on them, but they seemingly slot into some pretty classic archetypes.
According to the PlayStation Blog, it sounds like Kemuri’s going for a bit of a Dark Souls-style multiplayer experience: “Even in singleplayer, you are never truly alone in this city. 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.”
Structurally, though, I’m not sure what to expect. Is Kemuri a free-roaming open world, or carved up into missions? Will it be mostly focused on playing through a campaign, or more of a Monster Hunter loot game where you hunt yokai again and again? Lots to learn, still.
Kemuri will be launching into what strikes me as an ideal media environment for a stylish game about hunting yokai, though: KPop Demon Hunters and manga/anime series Jujutsu Kaisen have become international phenomenons in the years since it started development. You can’t count on that sort of good timing for a five-plus year development cycle, but hopefully Kemuri’s able to capitalize on it.
Kemuri is currently only announced for PlayStation 5 in 2027, but given Nakamura’s Unseen is an independent studio, fingers crossed it will be right there on PC at the same time.
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