Onimusha: Way of the Sword Retains the Series' Identity!

When it comes to my history with Capcom’s titles, few have such an impact on me like the Onimusha series. Back when I was a lot younger, writing guides for Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, especially, I was a huge fan. Following one final spin-off after Demon Siege (Dawn of Dreams), the series would lie dormant until last year’s reveal of a new entry, Way of the Sword.

Cue my excitement as the announcement played out, but also my trepidation at what direction Capcom may take this revival. After all, action games have come a long way since the last mainline entry, with Soulslikes especially becoming very popular. As much of a fan as I am of that genre, it’s not something I wanted for Onimusha.

Gamer Guides were invited to a hands-on with Onimusha: Way of the Sword at Gamescom, and after my time with the game, I can quite comfortably say, Onimusha is back!

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There is a heavy focus on swordplay in Onimusha: The Way of the Sword.

Newcomer Musashi finds himself heading to the iconic Kiyomizu-dera to investigate the appearance of Malice in the area, a significant plot point in Way of the Sword, but a whole legion of Genma lies in wait. It’s clear to see from the outset that this short demo is set relatively early in the story, but it was enough to get a feel for not only the direction of it, but also Musashi as a character.

Immediately, I found myself drawn to him, and he’s a lot more personable than the previous protagonist, Samanousuke. Musashi has seemingly been thrust into his position as a wielder of the Oni Gauntlet, and he finds himself at odds with a mysterious voice he keeps hearing. While there wasn’t too much story in the demo, there were brief glimpses of where this goes, and it already sets up an intriguing premise with a colorful cast of characters (the boss at the end specifically).

More importantly, how does Way of the Sword play? Well, fans of the original Onimusha trilogy will be pleased to see that Issen makes a triumphant return here in many ways, being one of the main features of combat. Combat is slow and precise, with a lot of emphasis on timing your parries or blocks to set up an Issen, an instant death attack that will slice in half the fearsome Genma, demonic creatures from the underworld.

New to Way of the Sword is the Break Issen gauge, which fills up as you attack enemies or perform parries. Once full, an enemy will become staggered, and you can perform an Issen on them, releasing plenty of Souls in the process. Of course, it’s very important for newcomers not to get confused with Souls from a Soulslike, instead, they work almost identically to how they did in the original trilogy.

They come in three different colors: red, blue, and yellow, all performing a different function. Red is your main currency and is used to purchase ability upgrades (we didn’t have any access to this in the demo), blue will power up the Oni Gauge, allowing you to use special attacks, and yellow will replenish lost health. Perform Issen enough, and you’ll get plenty of these to fuel you through your demon slaying. It all flows perfectly, and along with having consumable healing items on the d-pad, it helps the combat feel brilliant. Indeed, the sound design especially is something to marvel at; every clang of the sword as you parry attacks is extremely satisfying, which is important as you’ll be doing it often enough.

Although the demo area I had access to was rather linear, there was a map that we could access, which leads us to believe that there will be more complex areas as the game continues. Nevertheless, combat carries the game heavily, with the highlight of the demo being the boss fight I was treated to at the end of it.

Up against a foe who Musashi appears to have had a previous encounter with, Sasaki Ganryu, who is another wielder of the Oni Gauntlet. He, however, appears more interested in the carnage he can inflict with it, rather than helping people. What follows is an invigorating duel between the two, where I put together all of the tools I learnt leading up to it. Having got used to the parry mechanic quickly in my time with Way of the Sword, I focused on that as my means of both defense and attack.

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The battle against Sasaki Ganryu is an exhilarating one.

Much like regular enemies, Ganryu also has a Break Issen gauge, albeit much harder to deplete. Once you do, however, there is a new mechanic exclusive to boss battles. It wouldn’t be fair to instantly kill him, so instead, when you go to perform an Issen once broken, you can choose to manually attack Ganryu in a specific direction. Choose the red location, and you’ll deal increased damage, but choose the purple location, and you’ll release a bunch of Souls, which are usually in the form of blue and yellow Souls, making it a viable technique to restore Health when low on healing items.

Once my time was over with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, I was left with a desire for more. I couldn’t be happier that this new entry retains the identity that made the originals some of my favorite games, and as it continues to be a trend with Capcom, they have another blockbuster on their hands.