Onimusha: Way of the Sword Review — Capcom Revives a Legend After 20 Years.

Twenty years and two console generations. That's how long we've had to wait – excluding the various remasters released in the meantime – before we could get our hands on one of Street Fighter's family jewels again. We are, of course, talking about Onimusha, Capcom's third-person “feudal action” game, which has finally re-emerged from an oblivion that frankly lasted too long.  

A Bit of History

Kyoto, 1624. After years of internal wars, the Japanese people seem to have finally found a moment of peace. Everything seems to be going well, at least until a powerful miasma begins to envelop the city, transforming men and animals into powerful bloodthirsty creatures: the Genma.  Involved against his will in the eternal dispute between good and evil, and despite decidedly singular talents, the sword master Miyamoto Musashi will find himself forced to accept the “offer” of a mysterious character who appeared to him at the end of a fierce battle in which he succumbed to demonic forces, and to wear a very particular Oni gauntlet (supernatural forces opposed to the Genma), capable of bestowing extraordinary strength and abilities upon its wearer.

Supported by the power of the gauntlet and aided by other characters — human and non-human — involved in the same dispute, good Miyamoto will have no choice but to follow the way of the sword, preventing the portal separating the world of the living from that of the dead from definitively succumbing to the forces of evil.

A Little Less Resident Evil, a Little More Action, But Still Onimusha  

While classic chapters built much of their experience around exploration, puzzle-solving, and finding keys necessary to progress through the adventure — with consequent backtracking stemming from that old-school Resident Evil approach — Onimusha: Way of the Sword chooses to take a decidedly more modern path.

Exploration takes on a more central and, above all, less constrained role than in the past. Each of the different areas that make up the adventure offers a fair degree of freedom of movement, allowing the player to explore environments that are as evocative as they are rich in secrets, in search of resources, items, and secondary activities. Not everything we encounter during the game will be strictly necessary to advance the story, thus helping to make Miyamoto Musashi's journey less linear than we were used to with previous chapters.

However, what changes most is the emphasis placed on combat. Way of the Sword puts the sword even more at the center of the experience, offering decidedly more dynamic and spectacular clashes, in which timing and the ability to react to enemy moves become fundamental. The result is an Onimusha that inevitably looks to the present, without, however, denying its origins.

Because, despite the more open structure and a decidedly more pronounced action component, we still find all those elements that contributed to making the series so special: the dark atmosphere, the Genma, the eternal struggle between good and evil that gives a constant feeling of being in the midst of a battle between two worlds.

And then there's the Oni Gauntlet, of course. Because the way of playing may have changed, but some things, fortunately, never do. As per tradition, the artifact not only bestows extraordinary strength upon Musashi, but also allows him to absorb the souls of defeated Genma and to perceive what normally remains hidden, revealing otherwise invisible environmental elements.

The souls collected by the Gauntlet are divided into three different types: yellow ones, which restore health; blue ones, which fuel the bar needed to use certain Oni abilities; and finally, red ones, which can be used to upgrade equipment through the use of altars scattered throughout the game world. A seemingly simple system, but one that already introduces a first strategic component: each encounter becomes an opportunity to decide how to use the resources obtained, especially in moments when available energy begins to run low.

With the Oni bar at maximum charge, Musashi can also access powerful Oni Weapons, capable of adding further variety to a combat system already decidedly more articulated than in the past. In this case too, resource management plays a far from marginal role, as it will be up to the player to choose whether to spend part of the accumulated power or save it to face a particularly tough enemy.

It is precisely from this continuous management between risk and reward that Way of the Sword begins to show its most interesting side. But there is one mechanic, more than any other, capable of perfectly synthesizing the philosophy of Onimusha's combat: the Issen.

Dodge, Bend, Evade, Dive, and Dodge

Once again, the series' famous counterattack plays a central role in combat, asking the player to set aside, at least for an instant, the typical frenzy of an action game in favor of a much more reasoned pace. The Issen is not just a simple technique to memorize, but the result of a precise reading of the encounter: observing the opponent's movements, recognizing their attack patterns, and waiting for the exact moment to intervene. A parry or a dodge performed just as the enemy is about to strike or grab Musashi opens the way for a counterattack, transforming a potentially dangerous situation into an opportunity to inflict significant damage.

The concept is simple, but putting it into practice is another story entirely. Way of the Sword demands that the player learn to know their opponents, distinguishing different types of attacks and, above all, resisting the temptation to act prematurely. The Issen rewards those who know how to wait until the last moment, but punishes with equal severity those who misjudge the timing. It's a matter of fractions of a second, and precisely for this reason, the satisfaction felt when everything goes as it should is directly proportional to the frustration resulting from error.

To further complicate matters, the Genma don't just face Musashi one at a time. Encounters can involve multiple enemies simultaneously, often characterized by different approaches and strategies. Some attack from a distance, some seek close combat, and some wait for the opportune moment to take advantage of a distraction. Being surrounded means not being able to concentrate all your attention on a single opponent: you have to keep an eye on what's happening around you, move constantly, and, above all, understand which threat to tackle first.

It's a shame, in this sense, that the artificial intelligence is not always up to the ambitions of the system. Some groups of Genma seem to be tied to a precise surveillance area and, once a certain limit is exceeded, they tend to simply retreat, even when they have already been involved in the fight. So, just moving away from the sector they are defending can suddenly diminish the threat. A solution that can be useful for catching your breath or reorganizing the fight, but which at the same time ends up breaking the tension that the game had just built.

Where the system truly expresses its full potential is in boss fights. The most imposing creatures, in fact, require a completely different approach: facing them relying solely on brute force often means quickly meeting certain death. In this sense, the Issen becomes a precious tool, as learning to recognize and exploit their attacks not only allows you to avoid damage, but above all to inflict considerable damage on the opponent in question.

To make the clashes even more impactful, the boss's strength bar also comes into play. By progressively reducing it to zero, it will be possible to unleash a particularly powerful attack, accompanied by a very brief QTE, which will allow a significant portion of the enemy's health bar to be subtracted. A mechanism that, in addition to adding a spectacular component to the most important clashes, allows their duration to be significantly shortened, rewarding the player capable of putting pressure on the opponent until the decisive moment.

It is precisely in these moments that Way of the Sword manages to find its best balance. On one side there is the spectacle of a richer and more dynamic system, on the other the need to observe, wait, and react with precision. Musashi has more tools at his disposal than in the past, but the game doesn't simply invite you to use them all as quickly as possible: it asks you to understand when to do so.

And perhaps this is the greatest merit of the game's combat system. Onimusha inevitably looks to the present, increasing the pace, spectacle, and variety of encounters, but without forgetting that component of precision that has always characterized the series. The Issen is its perfect synthesis: it doesn't reward those who fight faster, but those who know how to choose the right moment to do so.

A Postcard Japan

On the technical front, Onimusha: Way of the Sword presents itself with a solid realization, starting from a precise and reactive control system, capable of unhesitatingly accommodating Musashi's movements. A characteristic that is far from secondary in a title where timing and precision are fundamental elements of the experience.

Fluidity also remains at excellent levels, with the possibility of opting for 60 fps or prioritizing visual quality with the 30 fps mode. A choice that, considering the centrality of precision and timing in combat, makes 60 fps particularly suitable for fully enjoying the combat system.

The sound compartment is also good, effectively accompanying the game's atmosphere, while the presence of a complete localization in Italian, both for texts and dialogues, is certainly appreciated.

Some perplexity, however, comes from the camera management, especially during boss fights. On more than one occasion, the camera's position can completely compromise the view, almost placing the enemy behind the camera. A particularly annoying situation precisely during the most frantic clashes, where losing sight of the opponent even for a few moments can mean not being able to read an attack and ruining the timing necessary for an Issen.