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Our Verdict
Onimusha: Way of the Sword sees the storied series return to its roots, while adding just enough modern sensibility to entice a fresh audience. Its strong cast, well-realized narrative, and dopamine-inducing combat are all top-notch, though some of the finer details elsewhere are lacking. It’s a laser-focused samurai action thriller that is sure to delight, and hopefully marks the beginning of a new era for Onimusha.
Between the promise of extreme mastery espoused by the likes of Sekiro and Nioh, and the sprawling open-world narratives of the Ghosts series and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, students of the virtual blade have arguably never had it so good. When Capcom announced that Onimusha would finally return after two decades, it was ready to thread the highly-competitive subgenre’s needle. The eyelet, I can confirm, is perfectly fit for Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Its approachable yet fulfilling combat system, horror-filled, wide-linear rendition of Edo period Japan, and frontman, bona fide sword saint Miyamoto Musashi, make for a potent combination.
Way of the Sword takes place during the fledgling years of the Tokugawa shogunate, as Musashi first reaches Kyoto to challenge the head of the famous Yoshioka school, Yoshioka Seijuro. Having historically notched up a flawless dueling record, Musashi is effectively the Mayweather of the samurai world, so, unsurprisingly, his in-game counterpart makes light work of this introductory bout. Less than enthused by their master’s defeat, Seijuro’s seething students pursue the young ronin in an amusingly animated street chase – the exaggerated expressions of the iconic Toshiro Mifune, Musashi’s silver screen facesake, on full display. Onimusha has never failed to impress with its opening segments, and Way of the Sword continues the trend.
Unluckily for Musashi, he runs into rival swordsman Sasaki Ganryu. Even more unfortunately for the pair, they’re run through by the demonic Genma, sending them down to Hell. Upon arrival, Musashi is plucked from the bloody river by a mysterious man in white, forcibly equipped with an oni gauntlet – an artifact that draws power from the souls of the departed – and zipped back up to the world of the living. Upon returning to Kyoto, Musashi is led to master swordsman and fellow gauntlet wielder Takamura, alongside his dancing disciple, Okuni. We quickly learn that Takamura’s been keeping the gate to Hell locked up tight for some 800 years, fighting the Genma day-in, day-out. Way of the Sword maintains some of Demon Siege’s anachronistic energy in this sense, albeit nothing nearly as off-piste as Samanosuke cruising along in the Blanc-mobile.
Busy keeping the hellish legion and their ringleader at bay, Takamura enlists Musashi’s help to deal with Kyoto’s growing Genma problem. The city and its surrounding areas have become swamped in malice, providing the perfect storm for rifts to form and demons to spew forth. Musashi, however, is reluctant. While the fledgling legend now possesses the power of the onimusha, and with it the means to fight the Genma, he immediately rejects it, wishing only to rely on his own strength to win battles. As it transpires, the gauntlet’s the only thing keeping Musashi alive, so he eventually yields and agrees as a means to potentially find a way to get shot of it.
Much of Way of the Sword’s narrative concerns itself with the true meaning of power, and it does well to illustrate its myriad forms, as well as the dark temptations it brings, through some beautifully produced cutscenes. Musashi wrestles with these complexities throughout, learning the hard way at times that his impressive skill and unwavering confidence aren’t always enough to get the job done. Though the essence of Musashi’s character remains consistent, he gradually becomes more co-operative, not only with the gauntlet and its spiritual denizen, Shizuka, but with the allies he makes along the way. It’s a fairly typical hero’s journey, but Capcom’s execution is stellar, deftly spinning in heartbreaking moments and comedic relief as Way of the Sword progresses.
Way of the Sword’s early game is fairly pedestrian, getting you up to speed with Musashi’s new tricks. It’s largely a cycle of find rift, kill Genma, profit, with the odd boss thrown in here and there to make sure you’ve cemented the basics. It’s a bit of a slow burn for the first couple of hours, and your ability to appreciate everything Kyoto has to offer is hamstrung by a perimeter of intense malice, but it’s interspersed with some well-placed narrative beats to keep things ticking over. It’s not long, however, before things really start to ramp up.
I’m particularly fond of how Capcom has nestled in its side quests and collectibles, enticing you to retread old ground as the malice begins to clear, and more traversal mechanics are gradually unlocked. The developer-publisher manages to squeeze everything it can out of its linear sections, showcasing, as it’s been doing for years, that you don’t need a huge sandbox to facilitate discovery. It also remains congruent with the series’ roots, with plenty of tight encounters around every bend. Aesthetically, Way of the Sword draws from the historical and the spiritual. It’s not a horror game as such, but my favorite areas were where it was at its most horrific – the more grotesque, the better.
That being said, it feels as if a few of Way of the Sword’s smaller corners have been cut. Kyoto’s population has the density of my hairline, and there’s very little ambient chatter outside of the occasional cry for help as a resident flees from the Genma – a recurring encounter that isn’t the only example of copy-paste being deployed (my apologies to the local artisans for the thousands of completely identical pots I carved up in search of materials). The city feels empty as a result, though, in Capcom’s defense, if Hell rifts were opening up left, right, and center, I probably wouldn’t stick around, either. It’s the same case with puzzles. Onimusha has never been Resident Evil when it comes to challenging conundrums, but bizarrely, I only counted a single truly unique one, the satisfaction of solving which was spoiled by Shizuka chiming in with hints. These gripes only slightly detract from how excellent Way of the Sword is overall, but it does feel like it’s lacking in parts.
Where Way of the Sword certainly makes up for its shortcomings is in its combat, which is far more redolent of the original games than Dawn of Dreams. “If you live by the sword, fighting is everything. Or, to put it simply, because it’s fun.” Takamura’s philosophy isn’t anything particularly enlightening, but the imposing swordsman perfectly encapsulates how it feels to cleave through Genma. Musashi was already an accomplished fighter by the time he reached Kyoto, having won his first duel with a wooden quarterstaff at just 13 years old. Unsurprisingly, he’s a dab hand at demonic demolition.
Musashi makes liberal use of light and heavy strikes, but the main heft of his moveset lies in defensive manoeuvers. Timing a counter-attack at the perfect moment initiates a classic Issen, which can be upgraded in the skill tree to quickly dispatch multiple enemies at once. While holding down the block button won’t do much, you’ll be rewarded for successfully parrying or deflecting blows.
The former builds up the Blaze Gauge, empowering Musashi with extra health and stamina damage when full, while opting for the latter nets a greater reduction of your target’s stamina bar. This distinction entices you to switch up your defense, and the delight found in triggering a quick-time duel, a slow-mo deflection, or even filling up your Reflex Combo Gauge by perfectly dodging grabs more than matches that of a well-weighted strike hewing hellspawn. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the dual-wielding Niten Ichi-ryū style Musashi famously developed, but his shortsword does at least make an appearance during certain ‘Break Issen’ executions. I did notice a lack of overall animation variety for each action, but what’s there is suitably flashy.
Breaking the stamina bars of mini-bosses like the Byakue, as well as those of major encounters, triggers a different type of Break Issen. Here, you’re offered a choice of multiple weak points to strike. One sore spot spills out souls – perfect if you’re running low on resources. Another deals devastating damage. In certain fights, a third option, one that removes a pesky appendage entirely, may appear. This is another solid strategic addition, one that bailed me out on more than one occasion.
As an onimusha, Musashi has a variety of powers available to him. While the decision to shift the usual arsenal of oni weaponry to a bar charged with souls may not sit well with some vets, it was the right call. Not only is this thematically consistent with Musashi’s preference for the blade (it’s called ‘Way of the Sword,’ not ‘Way of the Superpowered Oni Weapons,’ after all), but the basic swordplay is so good that having them there as a strategic option feels like a far stronger design choice. The Two Celestials yield more yellow soul orbs, which is perfect if you need a quick health injection. Wind-Whipper, meanwhile, is fantastic for dealing with groups. There were a couple of options I didn’t get the most value out of, but the eye test may have let me down when gauging their actual strength.
Naturally, shoving a sword in the designs of the damned is a surefire way to bring some serious heat, and Onimusha’s big bads don’t disappoint. Every boss has its place thematically, with each one providing an extra tier of challenge over its predecessor. It’s not long before Musashi encounters Daidara, a hulking meat slab that demo players (or OGs Osric slayers) will already be well acquainted with. Pork chop comes at you with broad, clearly-telegraphed attacks; barely a challenge. A duel with a revived Ganryu offers a better indication of how Way of the Sword’s more frenetic encounters will go, which is only cemented when facing off against Rasho-gan, a terrain-tossing fiend who’d been suckering the locals into giving up body parts as a means of fulfilling their wishes. Shooting the Sukuna-like Genma’s tendrils with the Oni bow mid-animation disrupts his throw, and I appreciate how certain fights were designed with Oni weapon utilization in mind.
The main criticism stemming from the demo is that big bouts were too easy. Obviously, this is a subjective stance that will differ from player to player, but I understand the sentiment. Way of the Sword presents two base difficulty options: Story and Action. The former is incredibly forgiving, with bosses being notably less resilient and dealing less damage, while parry windows were considerably larger. For the average player, Action mode should provide a cromulent level of challenge – I averaged a few deaths per attempt of the late-game fights. The hardcore soulslike sickos out there probably won’t break much of a sweat, but if you’re coming into the game expecting to rumble with Isshin, then that’s not an issue; that’s an iss-you. Way of the Sword isn’t trying to be merciless, it’s trying to be approachable and fun… that is, until you finish the main game once.
A final area where Way of the Sword gets it right is in the performance department. The RE Engine is at its best when utilized in more contained games, and I can happily report a buttery smooth experience on my Ryzen 5 3600 / RTX 4070 Ti rig. Playing at 1080p with Ultra settings and DLSS set to ‘Quality,’ I didn’t fall foul of stutters or anything of the sort. Its system requirements are modest by modern standards, so you can expect similar results with a weaker GPU (as you can imagine, the bottlenecking on my end is real).
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a solid return for the storied franchise. It feels as if Capcom has stuck to the fundamentals, focusing on delivering a compelling story and satisfying combat, rather than getting bogged down in the bells and whistles. It’s materialized superbly, reintroducing us to a series that clearly has much more to give. Whether or not this is the last we see of Musashi and Co., Way of the Sword has only made me more excited for Onimusha’s future.