Capcom’s Onimusha series had a rather strange life. Originally conceived as a ninja take on Resident Evil for the Nintendo 64, Onimusha was next pitched as a Sengoku-themed game for the first PlayStation console. After reaching around the halfway point of development, the team decided to switch the game to the then-upcoming PlayStation 2 console. It ended up serving as one of Capcom’s first big releases for Sony’s juggernaut, and with its success it seemed like the publisher had a new mainstay franchise. Just one console generation later, Onimusha was gone.
The whys and hows of that are questions all unto their own, but the end result was that 2006’s Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams appeared to send the series limping off the stage for good. Most fans had given up hope by the time a remaster of the first game in the series was suddenly released on modern platforms at the tail end of 2019. Was Capcom finally considering a new Onimusha game? Years passed with little else to follow it, and that spark of hope seemed to be flickering out. Then in late 2024, the big news arrived. Not only was the second game in the series getting a remaster, but a new title called Onimusha: Way of the Sword was on the way.
With most of Capcom’s recent major releases making their way to the Nintendo Switch 2, it seemed likely that Way of the Sword would do the same. We had to wait a while for the confirmation, but it was finally revealed that Nintendo’s console would get its version of the game on the same day as the other platforms. This is the first time an original entry in the mainline Onimusha series is hitting a Nintendo platform even remotely within its launch window. We’ve already seen a few games on the Switch 2 using the RE Engine that powers Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and I imagine many of you will know what level of performance to expect from this version because of that. It’s obviously going to look and run better on other, more powerful platforms, but if you favor handheld play or only own a Switch 2, I think what we’ve got here is acceptable.
Following in the footsteps of most of the previous Onimusha games, Capcom has used a famous person’s likeness for the protagonist. So far, the series has featured Takeshi Kaneshiro, Yusaku Matsuda, and Jean Reno in lead roles. Well, they’ve gone and done it this time. In Way of the Sword, the main character Musashi Miyamoto’s face is patterned after none other than Toshiro Mifune himself. He frequently worked with legendary director Akira Kurosawa during the course of his career, appearing in films such as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, and more. Perhaps more appropriately, he also played Musashi Miyamoto in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy.
This is naturally limited to his appearance, as Mifune passed away nearly thirty years ago. Still, Capcom’s animators have done an excellent job of capturing his rakish mannerisms for the hero of this game, and it’s all the better for it. Miyamoto is by far the most charismatic and charming protagonist this franchise has seen so far, and that helps push the sometimes silly narrative forward almost on its own. If you’ve played any of the Onimusha games before, you can more or less expect a similar level of narrative here. The main character comes into the Oni Gauntlet that gives them amazing powers, Genma cause trouble, hero fights monsters, and various other characters follow their own goals amidst the conflict. It serves its purpose well enough.
That purpose is to drive a big supernatural samurai adventure, and that’s what you’ll get in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. When it was initially unveiled, I was somewhat concerned that the identity of the series was going to get lost in a vain attempt to chase the Soulslike genre. I’m happy to say that whatever cues have been taken from FromSoftware’s influential work, they’re limited to the ones that make sense for an Onimusha game. It’s structured and plays like I would expect from a modern Onimusha game, shaking off much of the rustier elements from those decades-old games while honoring their desire to make you feel like a super-powered samurai battling against forces of evil. Exploration, puzzle-solving, item-collecting, and upgrading your weapons and tools remain big parts of the experience even if they’re not quite as prominent as in previous titles.
The biggest strides in the gameplay of Onimusha: Way of the Sword come in the combat. It has been significantly expanded over all of the previous games, and it’s perhaps here where one can spot some signs of the Soulslike influence. The one-hit-kill Issen attack is still here, and it feels as good as ever to pull off. You can also parry incoming attacks, dodge, escape throws, get in sword clashes, and pull off deadly finishing strikes. While initially the range of options in battles is somewhat limited and the enemies rather predictable, things get considerably more complex and challenging as the game goes on. You can adjust the difficulty if things aren’t quite right, but the default challenge is a fairly solid one without overdoing it. You are going to have to properly learn how to fight, though, or you won’t get all that far.
Indeed, I think this is one of the strongest points of Onimusha: Way of the Sword. It’s constantly raising the bar, but it never feels like it’s leaving the player behind. It will certainly test you, in some cases more strictly than others. But it never feels unfair about any of this, and it makes sure you have things mastered to a certain degree before it starts asking more of you. By the end of the game, you’ll be doing the deadly dance of a seasoned samurai without even realizing how far you’ve come since those initial clumsy battles. There are plenty of ways to improve your odds if you happen to get really stuck. Capcom properly nailed the difficulty curve here. It’s satisfyingly spicy, but it wants you to overcome its tests.
The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Onimusha: Way of the Sword is quite similar in performance to the likes of Pragmata and Resident Evil: Requiem on the platform. You can choose to fix the framerate to 30 frames per second in this game if you want more stable performance, and that’s an option I wouldn’t mind seeing put into previous RE Engine Switch 2 games via an update. While it would be nice to have a better framerate, it never felt like I was being hindered by the technical performance when I opted for the fixed 30 frames per second mode. The resolution and visual detail follow suit with the aforementioned games, taking a noticeable step down from other platforms’ takes while still looking quite good for the Switch 2 hardware. Capcom has a good handle on the Switch 2, and it’s getting better with each release.
As a fan of the Onimusha series, I’m thrilled with how well Onimusha: Way of the Sword has turned out. A huge gap between the previous game and the latest one could have led to a wide range of outcomes, and I think we somehow ended up with just about the best-case scenario. It’s a huge step beyond anything the series did before, and yet it still feels like an Onimusha game in all the right ways. The Switch 2 might not be the best platform to experience it on, but it holds its own well enough to get by. Capcom has had a truly unbelievable run of quality releases this year, and being able to play all of these games on a handheld console without any critical sacrifices continues to impress me.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Capcom
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