It’s honestly so refreshing for a game that’s steeped in Japanese folklore to emerge without mention of being a Soulslike or Roguelite. Of course, it’s equally pleasing that Onimusha: Way of the Sword is reviving a beloved PlayStation 2 franchise, which flared through the early 2000s before drifting into obscurity for more than two generations of console.
As Edo-era Kyoto and its countless shrines and temples are corrupted by Malice and the emerging Genma monstrosities, the only person that can stand in their way is the renowned historical swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (modelled after actor Toshiro Mifune and voiced by Kenichiro Thomson), a samurai who’s found himself bonded to an Oni Gauntlet that gives him the chance to fight back against the supernatural.
This is a fresh take on the Onimusha series, meaning that you won’t have to have played the earlier titles to appreciate the story – more than understandable given the almost two decades since the last new entry in the series – and absolutely plays into Musashi’s character and bond with the spirit within his gauntlet.
But first, one of the most important things for Onimusha: Way of the Sword is to let you feel like a badass samurai, souped up by some supernatural powers. At its heart, you’re looking to both damage enemies and sap their resistance, staggering them to let you deal a finishing blow (if you haven’t already offed them, of course). While you can absolutely take a front-foot approach to combat, the Issen technique returns, allowing you counter enemy attacks and dish out devastating killing blows in return, slicing them in half in the process. It takes a moment to get used to, in contrast to many contemporary control schemes, as you hold to block and tap another button to counter. This even works on ranged attacks, letting you ping arrows back at archers, staggering them and giving you the chance to get close for a finishing move – you can even string together a bunch of finishers in an Issen Chain.
Much of this is also dependent on you’re ability to evade, with another swift finishing move only available to you once you’ve filled up the meter by dodging. This requires you to ghost out of the way of the incoming strike, leaving a fleeting spectral form as Musashi shifts barely half a step to evade, keeping you right in the thick of the action when compared to a full-blown dodge roll. Each dodge gradually builds up the meter until you can unleash this attack.
Defeating enemies sees their souls float nearby waiting for you to manually absorb them in three different colours and types. Blue charges your energy attack, yellow your health and red your experience. You’ll need to be fast in certain situations, some kinds of floating Genma will actively try to suck up these souls and use them to attack you with elemental abilities. Obviously, it’s best not to let them do that…
There’s also a new type of soul, a black soul to absorb that furthers the story and reveals more of the plight that befell this region. Drawing upon a real myth surrounding the Kiymizu-dera temple, this shadowy flashback reveals the local population making sacrifices to try to and appease the demons, though naturally failing as kids and others are sent plummeting down the sides of the mountain.
There’s environmental puzzles tied in with some of these moments, giving you Genma tendrils to follow and destroy, though we only really saw this in its most basic form. More fleshed out were some of the environmental interactions that fed into the combat. You can, for example, kick up a tatami mat to use it to block some attacks, or grab and push a cart through a bundle of enemies to gain the advantage.
Our hands on time with the game concluded with a battle against another swordsman with an Oni Gauntlet. Sasaki Ganryu has what would no doubt be an utterly infuriating personality to encounter in real life, all of his movements looking so thoroughly lazy, but backed by bags of self-confidence and awareness that, yeah, he really is all that. He’s in many ways the polar opposite to Musashi’s steadfast tone.
He’s a satisfying opponent to face, able to strike quickly but, at this point in the game, still rather languid and lackadaisical, giving you plenty of opportunities to dodge and strike back. Once his stamina is depleted, it triggers a full-blown Issen Break, giving you a choice of where to strike – head or armour – perhaps giving a more tactical approach to later combat.
After two decades away, it’s lovely to see Onimusha return and do so with such a striking panache. this is absolutley one to keep an eye on for 2026.
