Onimusha: Way of the Sword review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

We’ve all seen the generational run that Capcom’s been on lately with Pragmata, Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Wilds, and more on the way. We’ve seen re-releases on Switch 2 including Devil May Cry V and the revival of Onimusha with this new game, Onimusha: Way of the Sword. After spending a lot more time with Onimusha than I’d have expected, I’m happy to give the rundown on this phenomenal new Capcom title.

As an action game, gameplay and combat design is incredibly important in a title like Onimusha. There is a demo available for those interested in getting an early hands-on with Miyamoto Musashi and his abilities, so I’d also advise checking that out if you have yet to do so.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s combat systems are incredible and there really isn’t anything negative to say about it. The parries are some of the most satisfying in gaming, learning enemy attack patterns to better beat them without taking any damage is addicting, and the general use of Oni tools and weapons make strategy feel really rewarding. Fans of other action games should feel the combat click pretty smoothly and quickly so I wouldn’t expect any real difficulty if you’ve not played the demo yet.

A key point that’s worth mentioning still coming off of concerns with the demo is difficulty. There’s been a couple specific boss enemies that have maybe beaten me two or three times but other than two or so unique enemies, on the default normal difficulty you’ll likely just steamroll most things. I’ll do another playthrough on Hard later to compare, but the game’s big enough that I wanted to do as much as I could on the “intended” difficulty first before tackling a harder experience.

From a narrative standpoint I can’t say I had any expectations but Capcom blew me away with Onimusha. The characters are witty and fun when they have the space to be but serious and well handled when the story demands it. Miyamoto Musashi is both a goofy idiot and a real serious samurai hell bent on following his own code of strength and “Way of the Sword”. The supporting cast is just as great with each character standing out from the next. You’ve got your battle hardened warrior, a dancer that helps with upgrades, and a writer that has a big affinity for lion dogs. The cast of characters you find yourself befriending are all great.

Musashi coming to terms with the fact that he’s an Onimusha now and can’t just rely on his natural human abilities make for a fantastic character arc. Over the course of the game you’ll witness him hit new walls that he cannot overcome with his typical prowess and it makes for an interesting mental conundrum for him. As he learns to wield the powers of the Oni and defeat each foe, of which is more deadly than the ones before, he really does grow into a new person. A character driven by self sustain learning that he’ll need to rely on others whether he’s willing or not makes for a well done character story.

Capcom continues to make waves with its RE Engine and that’s no different here with Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Turning all of the settings up results in a really gorgeous albeit bleak set of environments for you to slay Genma in. The RE Engine is generally always really pretty and that’s no exception here. Capcom has managed to yet again remind us why they’re one of the greats with this.

Not only does it look really pretty but it runs like a dream, at least on the PC I use. For reference, I am on an AMD 9070XT with a Ryzen 7 7800x3D CPU supported by 32GB of DDR5 memory clocked at 6000MHz. I cannot speak on hardware beneath where mine sits, but with everything cranked to absolute max (without ray tracting) and upscaling set to quality, I had genuinely zero noticeable frame drops or hitches. After some of the post-launch hiccups Capcom might’ve had before, it’s really nice to see how smooth and well put together Onimusha is.

It’s honestly hard to say what Onimusha’s done wrong because it’s done basically everything correct. The open world of your main “hub” is pretty same-y, but that’s just a result of it being a portion of a city. Given the context of the main area it’s not fair to take the similarities of all of it as a negative. The combat is the most fun I’ve had in a while with bosses that really make you feel like a badass Oni hunter. It’s excellently written with a cast of characters and voice actors that really tie the whole thing together with a pretty pink bow resulting in what should be on everyone’s game of the year list in some capacity. In an absolutely stacked year so far for Capcom, Onimusha: Way of the Sword is my favorite by a mile.

Note: Capcom provided us with a Onimusha: Way of the Sword code for review purposes.

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