Onimusha: Way of the Sword Review: Five Hours Short of a Masterpiece

Onimusha returns after 20 years with one of the best combat systems among modern action games. Capcom combined the drive of a classic slasher with technical sword fighting, making battles with demons so engaging that you want to applaud the developers after finishing the game. And at the same time, ask some extremely uncomfortable questions. We tell you what makes the new game delightful and what is frankly annoying.

The Return of a Legend

The last full-fledged Onimusha game was released back in 2006, so Way of the Sword reintroduces the series to a modern audience. Capcom retained its main feature – the coexistence of real Japanese history with demonic mysticism – but moved the action from the Sengoku period to the beginning of the Edo period. Along with the era, the heroes and circumstances changed, so familiarity with previous installments is not necessary.

At the center of events is the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, whose appearance was modeled after Toshiro Mifune – a star of Japanese cinema who played Musashi in Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy." Following the example of his historical prototype, the hero travels across Japan and challenges renowned swordsmen, hoping to earn the title of the greatest warrior of his time.

Musashi's ambitious plans are shattered after an encounter with the Genma. The demons kill both him and his long-time rival Sasaki Ganryu, but death becomes the beginning of a new adventure. On his way to the underworld, the hero's soul is intercepted by a mysterious man in white, who forcibly puts an Oni gauntlet on him and brings Musashi back to life.

Musashi himself is not at all happy about such a rescue. He is used to relying on his own skill and wants to get rid of the imposed demonic power. However, the gauntlet cannot be removed: without it, the hero will die. So Musashi has to live with both the artifact and the red-haired girl Shizuka residing within it, who gives advice and comments on events throughout the game.

Of course, the hero was resurrected just in time. At Rokudo-Chinnoji Temple, he meets Takamura, another owner of an Oni gauntlet, who has been guarding the gates to hell for 700 years. From him, Musashi learns that evil is rising from the underworld: hordes of Genma are breaking into the human world, and the shrines protecting Kyoto are losing their power. Takamura himself cannot leave his post, so Musashi must cleanse the temples and shrines.

The subsequent story unfolds in the spirit of a classic shonen. Musashi encounters increasingly powerful opponents, gains allies, masters demonic abilities, and regularly crosses swords with the resurrected Ganryu. His rival also received an Oni gauntlet, but for power, he is willing to feed it even with the souls of mortals.

However, Ganryu is a typical charismatic madman. The real villain makes a much greater impression, not averse to breaking into a dance after once again splattering the player across the arena. Such antics are quite organic for a world where a kitschy samurai action movie coexists with melodrama, black comedy, and horror, and the main character here fits this genre circus perfectly.

In Capcom's pantheon, Musashi resembles Dante from feudal Japan: he snipes, grimaces, and doesn't shy away from strong language, but beneath the feigned bravado, the dignity and composure of a true samurai still shine through. According to shonen laws, at some point Musashi suffers a defeat, stumbles, gets a guiding reprimand from allies, reconsiders his own beliefs, and returns to the right path.

However, his allies catastrophically lack attention from the scriptwriters. Takamura, his assistant Okuni, and the ghost of the writer Lady Murasaki turned out to be vivid characters, broadly sketched, but you don't really get attached to them – the plot, unfortunately, is as simple as can be. Most twists are predictable almost from the start, and the middle sags noticeably. Therefore, for most of the time, I remained indifferent to what was happening, and attempts to add emotional weight to the story in the final third changed little.

But how it's all presented! The staging of the story scenes is mesmerizing. I didn't want to skip a single one, and several episodes made me literally freeze in front of the screen with my mouth open. However, the script here is primarily needed to set Musashi against another horde of demons. So, it's time to move on to the main course – the battles.

Aggressive Defense

For all my love for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Way of the Sword's combat system seems head and shoulders above it – perhaps even the best among all modern action games. Both games turn duels into a rhythmic exchange of blows, where it's more important to break an opponent's stance and open them up for a finishing blow than to simply reduce their health to zero. However, where Sekiro achieves perfection through the meticulous refinement of a single mechanic, Onimusha captivates with a combination of flexibility, adaptability, and the interaction of combat systems.

At its core is a familiar formula: light and heavy attacks, block, parry, and dodge. Neither running, attacking, nor dodging consumes stamina – it decreases when taking and blocking hits. The game seems to communicate: passivity is not favored here. Even defensive mechanics are built into a kind of ladder of aggressive defense with varying degrees of risk and reward.

Imagine: an enemy swings a sword. You can hold block in advance and sacrifice some stamina. You can deflect the attack, avoiding damage. Or you can press the block button just before impact and parry: the enemy's blade will fly aside, the opponent will lose some stamina and open up for a counterattack. If you hit the perfect timing, you'll stagger the enemy even more and fill the flame gauge. A few such parries – and your katana ignites, temporarily increasing damage.

Sometimes blades clash head-on, triggering a short reaction contest: you either have to quickly press the attack button or timely continue the combo with an opposite strike. It's a small detail, but such clashes greatly diversify the fight and add even more cinematic flair.

Now imagine that the next opponent swung something too big and scary or decided to kick Musashi. You can dodge in advance – safe, but it won't bring any benefit other than a whole head on your shoulders. It's much more interesting to dodge at the last moment directly towards the opponent: Musashi will end up behind them, get an opening for a counterattack, and at the same time fill the reflex combo gauge – a swift series of retaliatory strikes in slow-motion.

And what if the demon decided to discard the conventions of a fair duel and came in for a hug? Most modern action games have taught us the only answer: run away immediately. Way of the Sword allows you to be audacious even here. You can break distance, or you can wait until the last moment and perform a counter-grapple: Musashi will intercept the opponent and throw them to the ground himself.

At the top of this ladder is Issen – the series' signature counterattack with the narrowest activation window and the highest reward for success. Instead of all these pathetic attempts to block, parry, and dodge, you can press attack at the last possible moment – when the enemy's weapon is already about to knock the soul out of Musashi. If you catch the moment, the hero will slip past the blow and with one lightning-fast lunge will cut a regular opponent in half or take a significant chunk of health from a boss. If you make a mistake, all the damage will fly into your face. As Musashi levels up, he will learn to chain Issens, performing spectacular executions of several opponents at once.

After such a description, it's easy to imagine a game that demands impeccable reactions and severely punishes any mistake. But Way of the Sword is much more forgiving. Two difficulty levels are available at the start, death returns Musashi to a save point, and a boss fight can be restarted immediately – no running to the arena, recovering lost resources, or other punitive rituals. There's even a full pause – an unforgivable luxury by the standards of many soulslikes.

Even on the higher of the two starting difficulty levels, Way of the Sword doesn't aim to drain the player's soul. With the exception of a few particularly tough bosses, mastering this entire arsenal affects not so much the fact of victory itself, but how beautifully you achieve it. You can take down opponents with reliable techniques, or you can constantly walk on the edge of the katana, turning each fight into a pompous spectacle with the demonstrative humiliation of demons – it all depends on your desires and skill.

From enemies, by the way, the game willingly shakes out dozens of multicolored souls – and here the developers also made sure that the mechanics feed each other. Yellow ones restore health, red ones go towards Musashi's development, and blue ones charge Oni weapons – six types of supernatural weapons, the choice of which becomes another tactical element of combat. The twin blades "Two Celestials" help to get more yellow souls and heal, the "Wind Whip" raises a huge whirlwind that scatters crowds and ignites upon contact with fire, the "Earthshaker" axes crush stamina, and the spear deals direct damage to health bypassing defense.

And now – how this synergy works. Successful parries ignite the katana, attacks in a flaming state bring more blue souls, and those allow more frequent use of Oni weapons. Their hits knock out purple souls, which charge Oni Awakening – Musashi's demonic form and the local equivalent of Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry. In it, the hero becomes even more deadly: incoming damage consumes the Awakening gauge instead of health, and a powerful finishing attack allows sacrificing the remainder of the transformation for serious damage to the enemy's health and stamina.

No matter what techniques you use to deplete an enemy's stamina, its depletion opens up the opportunity to perform a finishing break-issen. And even here, the player continues to make decisions: choosing the point of impact allows you to deal more direct damage or knock out additional souls. In the second case, you can heal, recharge Oni weapons again, and bring the next Awakening closer, starting a new cycle of this process.

But even with the souls themselves, it's not that simple. They remain suspended over the battlefield until the player decides to absorb them. In the demo preview, I criticized manual collection as an unnecessary action, but the full version made me change my mind. For example, you can knock yellow souls out of an enemy when at full health and leave them nearby – in case Musashi needs healing later.

However, in battles with some bosses, such foresight can backfire. Enemies also know how to absorb souls, and with certain attacks, they literally knock them out of Musashi himself. If you let a boss feast, they can become stronger and gain the abilities of the next phase prematurely.

It is for this interconnectedness that I rate Way of the Sword's combat system so highly. A parry here doesn't end with a parry, and a finisher doesn't end with damage and a pretty animation. Almost every action triggers the next mechanic, and in the best moments, all of this merges into a continuous dance of blades, combining a sense of control over the situation, intuitiveness, and an intoxicating rhythm of combat.

And we've only just touched upon the main mechanics! Besides them, Musashi has a bow with an infinite supply of arrows, which after upgrading helps slow down enemy stamina recovery, a separate move for breaking guard, and the ability to use the environment in combat.

When the game pits a whole crowd against the hero, there's usually something suitable for mass slaughter in the arena: you can push a wooden cart and scatter demons, grab a demonic pillar and swing it widely at those around you, or shield yourself from shots with a wooden shield and then kick it at enemies. Such opportunities are rare, but they greatly diversify fights and give a reason to look around before grabbing the katana.

The only serious complaints about the battles are related to how the game utilizes its mechanics. Regular enemies sometimes lack aggression: they too willingly give Musashi space and time, although the entire combat system literally begs to pressure the player, forcing them to make decisions faster and constantly juggle abilities.

The best bosses provide such resistance. Vivid multi-phase battles turn into both an exam of Musashi's arsenal mastery and a full-fledged show – with epic music, spectacular scenery, cutscenes between phases, and staged finales. The final battle and encounters with Ganryu are especially good; he delves deeper into madness, masters new abilities, and each rematch forces you to adapt to him anew.

However, other opponents didn't get such inventiveness. Between unique bosses, the game regularly throws in generic large demons, and then shamelessly cycles them through for a second, third, and fifth time. Some, like Byakue, I sent back to hell almost a dozen times throughout the story and side quests.

The climax is the final chapter – a boss rush of six or seven already defeated opponents, many of whom Musashi had already overcome more than once by that point. Byakue, of course, couldn't miss his farewell appearance either. But repetitive bosses are not all that Way of the Sword tests your patience with.

A Step from a Masterpiece – Knee-Deep in Routine

After the demo, I genuinely expected a compact, high-tempo adventure in the spirit of the golden age of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – a sort of Pragmata, but with samurai and demons. A concise linear story of 15-20 hours, with small branching paths, secrets, and optional bosses, that flies by in one breath and ends before it gets boring. Alas, Capcom had other plans.

In reality, Way of the Sword alternates between two formats. Some story missions indeed unfold in separate linear regions: in the Arashiyama forest, the imperial palace, Mount Oe, and more. These excursions live up to expectations after the demo: spectacular battles and story scenes are interspersed with exploration and small puzzles, the scenery changes, and the adventure maintains a brisk pace. But as soon as another chapter ends, Musashi is asked, under some pretext, to return to Eastern Kyoto – a semi-open central hub.

Initially, the city is almost entirely consumed by malice, but Musashi gradually cleanses shrines and reclaims district after district. After another victory, happy residents emerge onto the streets, immediately burdening the savior with their problems. The map becomes covered with a scattering of new icons – errands, chests, and resources. In my estimation, about 80-90 percent of all side content is concentrated here, so between story excursions, you have to comb through the familiar gray streets again.

Formally, activities are divided into several types – from random encounters to "Kyoto Mysteries," which tell small stories about local residents and Japanese mythology. But behind different names lies a single sequence of actions: run to the marker, kill the Genma, listen to thanks, and collect the reward. Moreover, even some main quests, before sending Musashi to a linear region, also suggest running through Kyoto and clearing several demon-infested spots.

Other activities include treasure hunting based on drawings, hunting for hidden flying demons, and cleansing dogs of corruption – these diversify the list of tasks, but the game too insistently tells you where to go and what to do. For the same dog, it's enough to run to the icon on the map and press the interaction button. When searching for flying demons, you sometimes have to look around or find a position to shoot, but most of the time you're just following instructions, moving from one marker to another.

Of course, you can skip optional quests, but they provide resources for upgrading your sword, clothing, Oni gauntlet, and hozuki healing pouches. You can go to the next boss with your current gear and compensate for the lack of upgrades with your own skill, or you can first sweep Kyoto for extra damage, health, and room for error. The rewards turned out to be tempting enough that I ended up completing all marked side activities on the map – along with the story, this took about 25 hours.

But even when all available tasks are completed, you won't be allowed to walk peacefully through Kyoto due to random attacks on citizens and constantly returning enemies. In one round, you can save the same unfortunate person three times, who stubbornly falls into an ambush two steps from home, thanks Musashi with the same words, and hands over another persimmon.

Moreover, enemies don't even require resting at a local bonfire equivalent to return: they reappear as the city refreshes, and sometimes it's enough to just turn a corner. I never understood what exactly triggers their return, but the essence is the same: it's impossible to completely clear the location here. So at some point, I started just running past everyone who didn't need to be killed for a quest – only that helped me not drown in monotony.

And just think about what we've come to: in a game with such a well-developed combat system, I started consciously avoiding battles. The team responsible for the combat did a brilliant job, linking dozens of mechanics into a single system – but those who filled the world with quests and enemies managed to turn it into a routine: they lacked imagination and a sense of proportion to make even a relatively small Kyoto interesting.

It's even more frustrating that the true hardcore mode only unlocks after the first playthrough: I would have liked to test my skills in battles with enhanced bosses, but for that, I'd have to go through the campaign again, and right now, I absolutely don't feel like embarking on a second round in a world filled with such monotonous content. Alas.

Beauty in Motion

From a technical standpoint, Way of the Sword gave no serious cause for complaint. On a Ryzen 5 7500F, RTX 4070 Super, and 32 GB of RAM setup, the game in 1440p at maximum settings delivered over 90 FPS without upscaling and 75-80 FPS with ray tracing. DLSS in "Quality" mode along with frame generation boosted these figures to 190-200 and 160 FPS respectively. Throughout the entire playthrough, I encountered no crashes, graphical artifacts, or noticeable performance drops.

At first glance, Onimusha seems like a more modest game than Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem. This impression is partly created by the aesthetic itself: most of the time, Musashi wanders through gloomy temples, forests, caves, and the streets of feudal Kyoto, where wood, stone, and muted colors prevail. The picture turned out grounded and deliberately grimy.

There are almost no glass skyscrapers, wet asphalt, and mirrored surfaces where modern technologies like to demonstratively flex their muscles, except for dirty puddles on city streets. Therefore, ray tracing changes the image little: no matter how much I looked, I found no convincing difference and eventually turned it off for extra frames.

Some compromises, however, are visible even without close comparison. Secondary NPCs outside cutscenes have sparse facial expressions, and the faces of young girls sometimes resemble plastic dolls, although they convey emotions well with their eyes. Some additional lines have to be read under the sighs and grunts of interlocutors. There are no serious complaints about the Russian voice acting itself – Musashi, voiced by Islam Gadzhayev, turned out just right.

By the way, the developers clearly didn't skimp on the main character and combat animations. Musashi is worked out to an incredible degree: he snarls, winces in pain, and reacts to what's happening even in the middle of a fight – I specifically stopped and rotated the camera to examine facial expressions that no one would notice in the usual game hustle.

Dozens of movements are provided for blocks, deflections, parries, Issens, and finishers, taking into account Musashi's and the opponent's positions: the hero naturally intercepts attacks from the front, side, and back, smoothly transitioning from one technique to another. It is at such moments that it is especially clear that we are looking at an expensive flagship Capcom project. And it's even more frustrating that it fell short of being a masterpiece due to a lack of equally meticulous work on quests, world content, and the overall adventure structure.

Verdict

Onimusha: Way of the Sword stopped just short of being a masterpiece. Capcom has created arguably the best combat system among modern third-person action games: crushing demons, mastering new techniques, and disassembling tough bosses is pure pleasure, further enhanced by the charismatic Musashi, superb direction, and fluid animations meticulously crafted down to the smallest detail.

However, to enjoy these battles, you'll have to endure a drawn-out middle section, monotonous quests, and frequent boss repetitions – three manifestations of the same problem, stemming from either a lack of imagination, a lack of moderation, or simply game design laziness. All of this ultimately drowned the game in routine, leaving a mixed aftertaste of genuine delight and bitterness after completion. One can only hope that the series' return won't be a one-off event and that Capcom will learn from its mistakes when working on the next installment.