The new game Onimusha successfully revives the historical Capcom franchise. The Onimusha series, created by the Japanese publisher Capcom in 2001, achieved commercial success, selling a total of 9 million copies. However, for two decades, the series had not released new titles, excluding remasters or mobile versions. Onimusha: Way of the Sword, which will be released next Friday (the 4th), finally breaks this hiatus and does so honorably, matching the reputation of both the franchise and Capcom.
Like its predecessors, the new Onimusha is an action game where the main character, samurai Miyamoto Musashi, navigates levels filled with monsters. The game starts relatively simply, with slow enemies, but soon becomes more interesting: numerous, naive opponents appear—ten or fifteen at once—as well as large and fast enemies.
The protagonist has smooth, yet human-speed movement, which differs from some enemies, especially agile ones. This means that to defeat them, one must skillfully use blocking and dodging, fighting strategically; a wrong strike can open the door to a series of devastating counterattacks.
Thus, Onimusha has an above-average difficulty level. Even the 'Story' mode, usually considered very easy, offers a reasonable level of challenge here. The second mode, 'Action,' is intended for the most dedicated players and requires weeks or months of skill refinement. Between these two modes, you can switch at any time.
The game's artistic design is good: it features beautiful locations and inspired, uniquely characterized opponents. Some of them look particularly menacing due to thoughtful artistic design: they have only one eye. The game was developed on the RE Engine, the same platform as Resident Evil. It demonstrates good visual effects and runs stably at 60 frames per second (on PlayStation 5, where the test was conducted). On PS5 Pro and PC, it is possible to play at 120 frames per second if a compatible TV or monitor is available.
A drawback is the lack of contrast in some scenes, whose image appears 'washed out.' This seems to be a feature of the game itself, appearing on other screens and even in published YouTube trailers. In-game brightness and contrast settings did not solve this problem; it required adjusting my TV's settings, after which the situation became acceptable.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword will appeal to franchise fans and those looking for a challenging action game. If you belong to one of these categories and are not yet completely absorbed by GTA VI, this game could be a good choice. You can confirm this by downloading the free demo offered by Capcom—a gesture that should be adopted by more publishers.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword will be released this Friday (the 4th) for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 2, and PC (Steam). The price ranges from 299 to 339.90 reals. The demo version is available for free on all platforms.