Polygon ran a piece this month titled “the KPop Demon Hunters video game you deserve is finally gearing up for release,” and it landed because the writer named what a lot of action-game fans have been feeling since the Sony state of play: yokai-hunting in stylish hand-drawn animation is a genre on the verge. Kemuri, from Ikumi Nakamura’s studio Unseen, is the most exciting embodiment of it. The catch is that Kemuri is a PS5 timed exclusive until 2027 with no PC release confirmed at all. If you play on desktop and you don’t have a PS5 sitting next to it, the Kemuri alternatives below are how you scratch the itch right now.
We tested seven Kemuri alternatives across a 7800X3D Windows desktop. The brief: which existing games already deliver Nakamura’s three pillars (stylish supernatural combat, Japanese folklore framing, and co-op or character-class variety), and which to pick depending on whether you want a Sekiro-shaped duel or a Devil May Cry-shaped combo encyclopedia.
Why Kemuri fans need a PC option right now
The Kemuri pitch has a few specific hooks that send people looking for an alternative:
- PS5 timed exclusive. Nakamura’s studio is independent. Engadget and VGC both reported the 2027 release window as PlayStation-only, with PC and Xbox as open questions.
- Co-op yokai hunting. Up to three players, three classes (katana hunter, bow hunter, shaman). Most existing action games in the space are single-player.
- Hand-drawn animation in 3D action combat. The Fox Window mechanic and the Possession Apparel system give Kemuri a visual identity that lifts it above standard Soulslike templates.
- Modern Japan setting in Kemuri City. Most yokai-action games are set in Sengoku or Edo periods. Kemuri’s contemporary frame is rare.
- Stylish fashion as a system. Possession Apparel doubles as a costume system, which sits closer to Devil May Cry’s stylishness than to a survival-horror loadout screen.
The seven Kemuri alternatives below each hit one or two of those notes, and a couple combine three.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Setting | Price | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sifu | Kung-fu combat with hand-crafted death system | Modern day | $39.99 | One-shot run with aging mechanic |
| Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | Precision parry duels | Sengoku Japan | $59.99 | Deflect timing as the central mechanic |
| Ghost of Tsushima | Open-world katana action | Feudal Japan | $59.99 | Sucker Punch’s polish, full open world |
| Nioh 2 | Yokai shapeshifting combat | Sengoku-era yokai-infested Japan | $49.99 | Yokai Shift and Burst Counter combo loop |
| Devil May Cry 5 | Combo-focused stylish action | Urban demon hunt | $29.99 | Three playable characters, deep combo systems |
| Hi-Fi Rush | Rhythm-action with cel-shaded visuals | Cyberpunk corporate dystopia | $29.99 | Combat locks to a musical beat |
| Black Myth: Wukong | Mythological Soulslike action | Chinese Journey to the West | $59.99 | Spectacular boss fights, transformation forms |
The 7 best Kemuri alternatives for desktop
Sifu — best for hand-crafted modern action
Sifu is the Sloclap title that builds an entire game around a kung-fu protagonist, a small number of hand-crafted levels, and an aging mechanic that turns each death into a narrative beat. The combat is the closest analogue to Kemuri’s promised hand-built feel: every encounter has a clear logic, every enemy has a tell, and skill expression is real. The modern-day urban setting is exactly the kind of contemporary frame Kemuri inherits.
Where it falls short: The aging mechanic frustrates players who want a more traditional health-bar action game. Boss difficulty spikes are real. Online co-op is not the focus; Sifu is solo by design.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $39.99 base, around $20 on sale
- vs Kemuri: solo focus, hand-crafted brawler combat, modern setting
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Lean into the structural unlocks (Avoid, Focus Strike) early. Treat each run as a level rehearsal.
Download: Sifu on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Sifu when you want a hand-built modern brawler with a death system that means something.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice — best for precision duels
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the FromSoftware Sengoku-era action game built around posture breaks and perfectly timed deflects. The katana duels are the closest thing on PC to what Kemuri’s combat trailer hinted at. Sengoku Japan is a different historical frame from Kemuri’s modern Kemuri City, but the rhythm of “watch the tell, parry, posture break, execute” overlaps cleanly.
Where it falls short: No co-op. Difficulty is unmoderated; FromSoftware does not ship a difficulty slider. Some bosses are walls until they aren’t.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $59.99 base, often $20 on sale
- vs Kemuri: solo, Sengoku setting, deflect-driven combat depth
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Internalise the deflect timing on Genichiro before chasing Owl or Isshin. Hesitation is the failure state.
Download: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Sekiro when you want the purest deflect-and-execute combat on PC.
Ghost of Tsushima — best open-world katana experience
Ghost of Tsushima finally arrived on PC in 2024 with the Director’s Cut content included. Sucker Punch’s open-world feudal-Japan action loop covers the Kurosawa-tinted side that Kemuri’s stylish frame nods to, plus the optional Legends multiplayer mode with story missions for groups of two and four. It is the closest PC has to “Kemuri with a katana and a year of polish.”
Where it falls short: Open-world structure means a lot of padding outside the main story beats. Legends mode is good but separate from the campaign. Soulslike fans sometimes find Tsushima’s combat too forgiving.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $59.99 base, around $35 on sale
- vs Kemuri: feudal setting, broader open-world scope, lighter on yokai supernatural elements
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Pursue the Mythic Tales for the most cinematic encounters. Try Legends with friends for the co-op piece.
Download: Ghost of Tsushima on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Ghost of Tsushima when you want the most polished katana action on PC with optional co-op.
Nioh 2 — best for yokai-shifting combat
Nioh 2 is the Team Ninja Soulslike set in a yokai-infested Sengoku Japan, and it is the closest thematic match for Kemuri in this list. The Yokai Shift mechanic turns you into a demon for short bursts, the Burst Counter punishes red-glow enemy skills with a perfectly timed riposte, and the customisation depth across stances, soul cores, and gear is enormous. Online co-op runs up to three players in the Coalition tier, which mirrors Kemuri’s promised three-player co-op.
Where it falls short: The complexity wall is real. New players bounce off the soul-core system. The grind tail in Way of the Nioh post-game is long.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $49.99 base, often $15 on sale
- vs Kemuri: deeper systems, denser yokai theming, three-player co-op
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Pick a single stance (high) and learn its Ki-Pulse rhythm before adding the others. Activate co-op once you reach the second region.
Download: Nioh 2 The Complete Edition on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Nioh 2 when you want the deepest yokai-action systems with three-player co-op.
Devil May Cry 5 — best for combo-focused stylish action
Devil May Cry 5 is the Capcom action benchmark that brought the franchise back to form, and it is the obvious recommendation for anyone watching Kemuri’s combat trailer and getting Stylish Rank energy. Three playable characters (Nero, V, and Dante) all play radically differently, the Bloody Palace post-game is the deepest combo-trial mode in the genre, and the urban demon-hunt setting maps loosely onto Kemuri’s modern city.
Where it falls short: No co-op. V’s pet-management playstyle divides fans. The story is loud and unapologetic, which is part of the appeal or part of the problem depending on the player.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $29.99 base, often $10 on sale
- vs Kemuri: solo, urban-supernatural setting, combo-system depth
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Start with Nero for the cleanest combo system. Move to Dante for the encyclopedia, V for the puzzle. Skip the easy mode after a few hours.
Download: Devil May Cry 5 on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Devil May Cry 5 when stylish-action combos are the actual draw of Kemuri for you.
Hi-Fi Rush — best cel-shaded action
Hi-Fi Rush matches Kemuri’s visual register more than any other game on this list. Tango Gameworks’s rhythm-action surprise from 2023 wraps cel-shaded animation around a combat system that locks every input to a beat, and the result reads like the closest existing 3D action game to Kemuri’s cartoon-meets-combat trailer. The campaign is shorter than the others here, which suits a one-weekend run.
Where it falls short: Rhythm gating frustrates players who don’t internalise the timing. The studio’s post-launch turbulence in 2024 made the future uncertain; the existing game still plays great.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $29.99 base, often $15 on sale
- vs Kemuri: solo, near-future cyberpunk setting, rhythm-driven combat
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Treat the soundtrack as the controller. Equip the rhythm assist if the timing window feels tight.
Download: Hi-Fi Rush on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Hi-Fi Rush when you want cel-shaded action with a comic-strip personality.
Black Myth: Wukong — best for mythological boss spectacle
Black Myth: Wukong is the 2024 Game Science Soulslike rooted in Journey to the West, and it brings the same boss-fight spectacle Kemuri is leaning toward. Transformation forms let you become a snake demon or a stone giant mid-fight, the staff stance system has surprising depth, and Chinese mythology fills the same supernatural-mythic frame Kemuri pulls from Japanese yokai folklore.
Where it falls short: Some encounters punish exploration. Mid-game pacing dips. Performance on older GPUs needs DLSS or FSR scaling.
Pricing:
- Free: none
- Paid: $59.99 base, occasional sales to $40
- vs Kemuri: Chinese mythology instead of Japanese, single-player only, larger production scale
Migrating from Kemuri’s pitch: Lean into the spell variants (Cloud Step, Rock Solid). Learn transformations early; they trivialise some encounters.
Download: Black Myth: Wukong on Steam
Bottom line: Pick Black Myth: Wukong when you want a mythological action-Soulslike with bosses that make every fight feel like a setpiece.
How to choose
Pick Sifu for hand-crafted brawler combat in a modern setting. Pick Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for the purest parry-and-execute duels. Pick Ghost of Tsushima for an open-world katana RPG with optional co-op. Pick Nioh 2 for the deepest yokai-themed combat and three-player co-op. Pick Devil May Cry 5 for combo-focused stylish action. Pick Hi-Fi Rush if Kemuri’s cel-shaded look is the draw. Pick Black Myth: Wukong for mythological boss spectacle on a current-gen scale.
Wait for Kemuri itself if you specifically need contemporary-Japan yokai hunting with three-player co-op and Unseen’s animation style. None of the games above combine those three exactly. If Unseen announces a PC port after launch, the wait gets easier.
FAQ
Is Kemuri coming to PC? Not confirmed. Engadget and VGC reported the 2027 release window as PS5 only at the State of Play reveal. Unseen is an independent studio, so a PC release is plausible later, but nothing is on the calendar.
What game is most like Kemuri on PC right now? Nioh 2 hits the yokai-action and co-op pillars closest. Hi-Fi Rush matches the cel-shaded visual register. Sifu matches the modern setting and hand-crafted feel.
Does Sifu have co-op? No. Sifu is single-player by design. For co-op alternatives in this list, look at Nioh 2 (three players), Ghost of Tsushima Legends (two or four), or wait for Kemuri.
Is Ghost of Tsushima on Steam Deck? Yes, the PC port runs well on the Deck after the GPU driver updates in late 2024. Legends multiplayer also works on Deck.
Which of these has the deepest combat systems? Nioh 2 and Devil May Cry 5 are the two deepest combat games on the list. Sekiro is narrower but punishes mastery the most.
Is Black Myth: Wukong Soulslike? Yes, broadly. Game Science has resisted the label, but the structure (boss-focused, stamina-managed, hard-but-fair) places it in the Soulslike family.
