Sony’s latest State of Play finally gave us another look at Ikumi Nakamura’s upcoming action game Kemuri, which is coming to PlayStation 5 in 2027.
Kemuri is a supernatural action game set in Kemuri City, where the normal world and the afterlife overlap. Players take the role of yokai hunters who track hidden spirits, fight them, form contracts with them, and use their powers in combat. The game uses a system called Possession Apparel, where defeated or contracted yokai change the player’s appearance and combat style.
In Nakamura’s PlayStation Blog entry, she describes Kemuri City as a vertical urban space filled with rooftops, alleys, underground ruins, and hidden paranormal zones. The main exploration tool is the Foxwindow, a hand gesture that lets players see fractures between worlds. In gameplay terms, that seems to be the bridge between normal city traversal and the supernatural spaces where yokai appear.
Kemuri can be played solo, but it also supports online co-op for up to three players. Right now, we don’t know if it’s a full co-op experience from start to finish, or if the game will only allow you to team up under specific conditions or against specific enemies.
The game is being developed by Unseen, the Tokyo-based studio founded by Ikumi Nakamura. She has worked on games including Okami, Bayonetta, The Evil Within, and others, but mostly, she’s known for her role in Bethesda’s E3 2019 GhostWire: Tokyo showcase, where she appeared nervous but eager, and gave us lots of memetic gestures and phrases.
The trailer for Kemuri looked as fast and colorful as it was ambitious. The big question is how all of this holds together as a full game, because action games like these live and die by how good the gameplay feels, and that’s not something easily judged by a stitched-together PR showcase.
Right now, we don’t even have a release date, as Nakamura only revealed the 2027 release window and PlayStation 5 release. It’s also unclear if the game will be a Sony console exclusive.
