Onimusha: Way of the Sword Hands‑On — A Refreshing, Less‑Stressful Samurai Comeback

I played Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword recently, and it felt like a clear shift from the wave of Soulslike samurai games. For one, it’s been nearly 20 years since the last mainline Onimusha. For another, this build emphasized a more relaxed pace and approachable combat, at least in the early sections I saw.

What the hands-on covers: combat basics, a boss fight, story presentation, and release details.

Gameplay basics

In the section I tried, protagonist Musashi Miyamoto approaches Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto and faces undead enemies armed with swords and bows. Enemy types included melee grunts and ranged attackers. Consequently, Musashi relies on a mix of deflects, parries, and counters.

Specifically, Musashi can deflect attacks — including projectiles — with a generous timing window. Moreover, on the easier story mode difficulty the game shows a button prompt that makes deflecting straightforward. Musashi can also parry, which briefly staggers foes and can push them into walls, objects, or even their allies. Pull off multiple parries in a row and Musashi enters Blazing State, granting an offensive power-up.

There are higher-risk moves too. If Musashi lands an attack just before an enemy hits him, he performs an Issen counterattack that yields extra absorbable souls. Additionally, he has the series’ signature Oni gauntlet, which charges to unleash powerful attacks. Souls come in red, yellow, and blue varieties, and each color provides a different benefit.

Boss fight: Sasaki Ganryu

Later, I fought a boss: Sasaki Ganryu, who also uses a gauntlet. He attacked relentlessly and was easy to bait into openings. Therefore, parrying and watching tells were effective tactics. The fight showed the game’s potential for higher challenge despite the generally more relaxed early pacing.

Story and presentation

Story-wise, I didn’t get a clear sense of the full narrative arc. In fact, beyond basic motivation the impression was roughly ““demons are bad, gotta kill these demons.”” However, the method of storytelling stood out.

Using the Oni gauntlet, Musashi can trigger Oni Vision to see past events overlaid on the present. The gauntlet speaks to him with a woman’s voice, and notably “hates being addressed as “Gauntlet Lady” by our hero.” Switching the voice track from Japanese to English in my session felt jarring, because English tracks used British accents for characters who appear Japanese.

Visuals and tone

The build I played showed polished environments at Kiyomizu-dera and large enemy designs. The combat animations support deflects, parries, Issen counters, and gauntlet attacks, which together form the core loop I experienced.