Today Tokyo-based studio Unseen had a new reveal to share about its debut game, titled Kemuri.
If you're unfamiliar with Unseen, it's a studio founded in 2021 by Ikumi Nakamura, former creative director of Ghostwire: Tokyo. The eclectic developer rose to internet fame due to her upbeat presentation at Bethesda's press conference during E3 2019.
Her resume goes far beyond Ghostwire, having worked on The Evil Within and its sequel, Okami, Bayonetta, and even Scalebound. She left Tango Gameworks in 2019 before founding her new studio.
Kemuri was originally revealed in December 2023 at The Game Awards, and we don't yet have a release window or platforms, but the game certainly appears to have a strong identity already.
It's a supernatural-themed online co-op PvE game in which players take on the colorful mantle of Yokai Hunters, and Nakamura-san herself explains that she had this setting in her mind for a long time.
The video, which you can see below, includes unseen (you see what I did there) prototype footage and plenty of new concept art. It also features many of the game's developers as they describe what we can expect.
We get to see the art style, which is definitely inspired by anime, albeit it's quite visible that Unseen's staff is quite international, with several Western developers working side-by-side with their Japanese colleagues. The video also includes an explanation of the title, "Kemuri" which means "Smoke" in Japanese and is almost like a character of its own.
We hear how the Yokai Hunters act as a bridge between the worlds of humans and that of Yokai while using the "Fox Window" to see the supernatural. That being said, using that power will be detected by enemies, so we won't be able to use it willy-nilly.
Of course, there will be battles, negotiations with Yokai, and a feature that lets you collect them and acquire their powers. Players will be able to enjoy character customization and either play both with friends online or on their own.
More elements include the fluid and unique animations and the level design with a lot of verticality, on top of the all-important traversal system.
Interestingly, we hear that the game takes elements from early PS1 and Dreamcast games in terms of style and innovation, and brings them back with a modern twist.
The developers are now "diving head-first" into a phase of development and playtesting, and Nakamura-san says that the game's release is "a bit further down the road." One thing is for sure, we'll have to keep an eye on this game going forward.
