Onimusha: Way of the Sword review – a decent comeback with a few minor flaws
31.8.2026
Translation: Natalie McKay
Pictures: Rainer Etzweiler
Capcom is bringing Onimusha out of hibernation after 20 years. This comeback has a fantastic combat system and a hero with personality, but a slight issue with focus.
Is it possible to write about Onimusha without mentioning Resident Evil? Not if you’re interested in the backstory of this revived series. So I’ll start with a brief digression.
This series made its debut in the late 1990s as Sengoku Biohazard. Sengoku refers to a period in Japanese history (approx. 1467–1615) that continues to be a source of inspiration for pop culture to this day. We’re talking samurai, ninjas, geishas – all the classics. Biohazard is the Japanese name for Resident Evil. So Capcom was planning a horror game set in feudal Japan – until the team realised that a samurai wielding a katana plays fundamentally differently than a cop with three bullets in their magazine. The concept was scrapped, but the DNA remained – pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, puzzles and the task of collecting keys.
The game was released in 2001 for the PS2 (and later for the Xbox), received good reviews and spawned three sequels, two spin-offs and two remasters. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the first new instalment in this cult franchise for 20 years.
Have the blades stayed sharp?
Dying before things really get going
Onimusha: Way of the Sword begins where other games end – with the death of the main character. The intro takes just a few minutes to introduce the protagonist – Miyamoto Musashi is confident, brash and dangerous. And an idiot, at least a bit.
Tonal shifts of this kind run the risk of making characters appear ridiculous. If a game falls into this trap, we don’t laugh with the protagonists, but at them. Luckily that’s not the case here. Musashi isn’t Star-Lord. He’s mainly a cool badass, though he can be a bit simple-minded at times and make bad decisions.
That’s exactly what happened that day. After a duel and the ensuing battle against an entire samurai school, he encounters a horde of zombie-like creatures. Musashi underestimates the danger, is speared by his opponents and dies a heroic warrior’s death.
On his way to hell, a mysterious man in white intercepts him. He gives Musashi an equally mysterious, soul-sucking gauntlet, declares him an Onimusha – a demon warrior – and sends him back to the world of the living. Confused? Musashi is too.
Welcome to Kyoto
After a brief linear section, I arrive in Kyoto. This village functions as the game’s hub area, and it has seen better days. Bewildered residents stand in front of destroyed houses, a thick red fog hangs over large parts of the city and strange plants with humanoid faces are growing everywhere. I expect Berserk fans will point at the screen when they see them, just like Leonardo DiCaprio in that famous meme.
This is where I meet Takamura. This giant is also an Onimusha and acts as my mentor. He explains that the gates of hell are wide open and that, from now on, it’s my job to send everything that pours out of there right back in. Loud-mouthed Okuni also hangs around in his temple, and her craft skills make hunting demons a little easier for me. Together with Shizuka, the Oni lady who lives inside Musashi’s gauntlet, she completes the quartet of heroes at the centre of Onimusha’s story. It’s dark and brutal, but never deadly serious.
This is thanks to Musashi, who constantly grumbles about his role as the Chosen One at the beginning, and also to the deliberate use of slapstick humour. It’s rare and comes out of the blue, which is exactly what makes it so effective.
At first, the game takes control out of my hands so often that it starts to annoy me. I watch cutscenes, get bombarded with lore dumps or tag along behind other characters. It takes almost an hour before I regain my autonomy and the game picks up pace.
Fresh off the leash, the dark world of Onimusha unfolds before me. It’s made up of two slightly different settings – on the one hand you have the sprawling urban area, which I’ll come back to later. On the other hand, there are linear levels in which the story unfolds. These sections give me a bit of freedom and are occasionally interspersed with very simple environmental puzzles.
None of them took me more than five minutes, which is totally fine. I’m still traumatised enough by the sliding puzzles from the series debut.
Blade dance – the combat system
I’d rather create my own trauma by bloodthirstily hacking my way through the demon foot soldiers I encounter here. With the exception of a few enemy types, they’re more ugly than dangerous, giving me the perfect opportunity to nail the complex combat system.
Capcom uses a strictly reactive approach here. I can fend off, parry and block attacks. An evasion move rounds out my defensive moves. Each of these defence types has additional precision levels that further deplete enemies’ health and stamina. The ultimate move is the Issen attack. This is a quick strike delivered just before the enemy attacks, which almost always results in a one-shot kill.
Each opponent has multiple attack patterns, and each one requires a different response. The timing is generous, but carelessness is still penalised. The demons are usually outnumbered and have about as much regard for fairness as they do for a skincare routine.
The offensive options are a bit more limited. I can choose to attack with either a weak, one-handed strike or a powerful two-handed blow. The katana remains Musashi’s primary weapon until the very end. But that’s not all – there are magical blades I can only use a limited number of times, as well as a bow that comes in handy for ranged combat and for some switch puzzles.
It also makes my opponents’ heads explode, which it still funny even when I’m doing it for the 120th time.
That sounds like a lot, and it is. Onimusha offers a sword-fighting simulation with tremendous depth. Over the next few months, there’s sure to be a ton of impressive videos on YouTube showing people doing things I can only dream of. The system is challenging, but it introduces new tools in stages, allowing enough time in between for practice.
At some point, it clicks for me, too. Then, with zen-like precision, I plough my way through entire groups of demons without letting a single one get its blade anywhere near me.
Defeated enemies leave behind souls of various colours. Red is the main currency for the skill tree, blue fills the magic bar for the secondary weapons and yellow restores health points. In the final third of the game, violet appears for a transformation that, for copyright reasons, I’m not allowed to call Super Saiyan mode.
«To live is to suffer»
In Onimusha, I never have to spend much time dealing with the mob. The game consistently throws boss enemies at me that push me to my limits. Within seconds, I have to anticipate their attacks and counter them in the right way. When I’m tackling standard demons, I can choose whether or not to drain my stamina bar, but I’m forced to use it on these bosses.
Most big shots have their own little quirk. The massive Daidara smashes through the level’s architecture with his club, while the battle against Dokyo is reminiscent of the bullet hell bosses from Returnal. The challenge level swings between «Just right» and «What the actual fuck?». Domagoj mentioned the difficulty spikes in his preview. Unfortunately, I can confirm that they continue right through to the end of the campaign.
Part of the reason for this is the chaos on the screen. Sparks flash, blades glint, hair flies and near the edges of the arena, the camera tends to act up a bit. For a game that demands my full attention at all times, it’s a huge issue.
Despite the moments of frustration, the fun outweighs it all. The checkpoints are fair, and every death brings me a step closer to achieving my mission. Afterwards, I understand my opponents’ attack patterns a little better.
«To live is to suffer,» my mentor Takamura likes to say. And I know what he means by that.
Part-time job recycling
Three boss enemies and 48 «fucks» later, I’m back in Kyoto. There, I take on small side missions that reward me with materials for new gear. That sounds like a fair deal. It is, albeit a boring one.
Most of the time, my clients send me to places I’m already familiar with so I can go back there and face down yet another group of the same old enemies. On top of that, there are treasure hunts – none of which I’ve completed – and a collection quest where I have to catch a supporting character’s runaway lion dogs. Nice, but not exactly challenging and, in a way, it doesn’t really matter. I know it’s a cliché, but the Ubisoft vibe is too overpowering to ignore.
The training missions that Takamura has prepared for me in a separate arena are a bit more entertaining. There, I fine-tune the nuances of the combat system or take on old foes I’ve already vanquished for a second time. For the former, there are items; for the latter, there are costumes for me and my teammates.
Beautiful, quiet, British
The screenshots speak for themselves, and with a Capcom game, it’s almost become standard practice to mention the technical aspects only in passing. Just for the sake of completeness, though – Onimusha looks spectacular. That’s whether we’re talking about the moments when swords clash and sparks fly, or about the quiet passages where I stroll through Kyoto’s autumnal forests or marvel at the flawless facial animations.
The soundtrack is the antithesis of the flashy graphics – understated shamisen plucking that weaves a soundscape rather than individual songs, perfectly complementing the often hopeless mood of the samurai adventure.
The English dubbing isn’t quite as good. All the main characters are voiced by British actors, which takes me out of the immersive experience slightly. I don’t know what a better solution would be. But somehow it feels wrong when the deadly samurai sounds like a guy named Liam who’s trying to bum a cigarette off me outside a pub. Especially when this samurai has the face of legendary actor Toshirō Mifune.
But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Purists opt for the original Japanese audio track anyway.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC from 4 September. Capcom provided me with the game for review purposes. I tested the PS5 version.
In a nutshell
An accomplished comeback that turns into a bit of a slog
After Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata, I was expecting Capcom to score a hat trick. But it hasn’t quite pulled this off. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a very good game, but it lacks the very quality that the developer has recently become known for – focus.
Sure, I can pretty much ignore the filler. But only if my skills are good enough for me to do without the extra gear. And even then, I’m left with the impression that a game that should’ve been ten to twelve hours long has been stretched out to twice that length. It’s no big deal. But it makes Onimusha the low point in a year when Capcom has otherwise had nothing but hits.
«Always leave them wanting more» is an old adage in show business. It’s the same story for games. Capcom would do well to remember it.
Pro
- Spectacular combat system
- Well-crafted story with plenty of personality
- Technically flawless
- Challenging boss enemies…
Contra
- Lacks balance
- Gets off to a slow start
- Side missions lean heavily on recycling
- An unnecessary amount of filler
Rainer Etzweiler
Freelance Editor
rainer@rockstar.chIn the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.
Gaming
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
Review
Which films, shows, books, games or board games are genuinely great? Recommendations from our personal experience.
Show all
