For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be perfect for 10 seconds. To write the perfect sentence. One that sings, captures hearts, evokes emotion. To make the perfect play, to eradicate the gap between body and mind and live a complete life in an instant of pure movement. To be, for just a moment, free. There are moments in Onimusha: Way of the Sword where everything else fades. The controller falls away, the universe collapses, and the distance between you and Miyamoto Musashi is annihilated. There is nothing but move and counter move, sword clashing against sword, call and response. You will risk everything for another moment, another chance, and do it again and again until you claim victory or your chances are spent. As long as Musashi stands, you have a chance. Onimusha challenged me, and I used it to challenge myself. I found a connection to its hero I did not expect and will carry with me. It is a remarkable video game.
Strange as it may seem, Onimusha is a work of very loose historical fiction. Miyamoto Musashi, and his rival Sasaki Ganryu, both based on real samurai who share their names, are attacked and killed by monsters called Genma after Musashi bests the master of a rival school of swordsmanship. A strange man in hell then brings Musashi back to life and forces him to wear an Oni gauntlet that can absorb the souls of fallen foes – one that already contains the spirit of a woman named Shizuka. Now imbued with the power to stand against the Genma, Shizuka has Musashi join forces with fellow Onimusha Takamura, who guards the Oni Gate separating Earth and hell, and his assistant Okuni, to protect the city from the corrupting Malice that’s twisting everything in sight. But Musashi isn’t the only one the old man gifts with a gauntlet. Ganryu gets one, too, and it can feed on human souls just as easily as Genma ones.
There’s more, but I really do think you should discover Way of the Sword’s story for yourself. It’s more of a character-driven tale than a plot-driven one, and this cast sings. At the center of it is Musashi, as compelling and outright cool a character as you could ask for. He resents the gauntlet and the strength it has given him because he didn’t earn it himself. He’s not a hero by nature; he just wants to hone his skill with a blade and prove himself against the best the world has to offer, but his circumstances have left him no other choice. The only way to get the gauntlet off is to feed it enough Genma souls that it heals him. He’s crude and his confidence can border on arrogance, but it’s part of what makes him so interesting. He can give as good as he gets with both his mouth and his sword, and it’s incredible to watch him talk mad smack to demons as he cuts them down in the coolest ways you’ve ever seen. There are cutscenes here that are so insanely well done they’ve seared themselves into my brain, and watching Musashi do his thing often had me and my wife (who became so invested in the story that she watched my entire playthrough) saying “Oh my God, he’s so cool” out loud what felt like every five minutes.
But it’s not just Musashi’s skills and swagger that endears him to you, it’s also the relationships he forms with the other characters. Watching him go from calling Shizuka “Gauntlet Lady” to forming a ride-or-die partnership is a joy, and I understood it because I cared about her, too. Musashi is the kind of guy who is smart enough to respect and listen to Takamura and a good enough man to mentor Okuni where he can. These relationships form Onimusha’s emotional core, and as I watched its characters change and come to care about one another, I did, too. It doesn’t hurt that Way of the Sword has some of the best facial animations I’ve ever seen in a video game, effectively selling every second of how they feel. Musashi’s is based on the likeness of legendary Japanese actor Toishiro Mifune, who played Musashi in films directed by the equally legendary Akira Kurosawa, and Capcom has done a remarkable job of translating aspects of Mifune’s on-screen mannerisms, right down to his habit of scratching the back of his head and the way he walks. Using the likeness of a dead actor is always fraught, but Capcom navigates it with aplomb here.
Onimusha treats its characters with respect, but it’s never scared to have fun with them, either. Musashi is a brilliant swordsman, but it’s hilarious to watch him get into a boat to help Okuni and realize he doesn’t know how to steer it because he doesn’t know what an oar is – something Okuni rightfully roasts him for. But he gives it right back when Okuni volunteers to play “the most beautiful girl” in a nearby village so they can use her as bait to sneak into a fortress.
And Shizuka… man. If Musashi is Onimusha’ heart, Shizuka is its clear-eyed, iron-willed soul. It would be easy for the spirit of a woman trapped in the Oni gauntlet to be reduced to a supporting character, there solely to make Musashi (and by extension, you) feel good about himself. And while she does gas you up when you pull off something impressive, she’s never presented as anything less than Musashi’s equal. He may be the one doing the fighting, but he can only do it because he’s borrowing her strength. They need each other, and their journey is one they could only undertake together.
The writing is impressive, but what truly elevates Onimusha is its voice acting. I played Way of the Sword in Japanese, and the performances are incredible across the board. The English cast does fine work, too, but everyone sounds like they’re from some part of London, and it distracted me – besides, playing a game set in feudal Japan in English seems just as wrong as watching Seven Samurai or Yojimbo dubbed. And after rolling credits, it is impossible for me to imagine anyone other than Yoshimasa Hosoya as Musashi or Aya Endō as Shizuka. If you can get past the subtitles, it’s absolutely how I recommend playing.
Onimusha isn’t just an excellent story; it’s also a damn fine action game. Since Takamura’s duty is to protect the hellgate, he can’t leave it alone for long, lest a bunch of Genma pour out. That leaves Musashi to take the fight to them. Kyoto serves as your base of operations, but it’s also the city you’re fighting to protect. You’ll spend much of your time here killing Genma, closing the Rifts that spawn them, and destroying the Malice-producing plants infesting the city, which opens up more of it for you to explore.
But you’re not stuck here; Musashi and Shizuka will also often visit other areas – temples, mountains, forests, and even the Imperial palace – to hunt down powerful Genma and try to figure out why everything is going sideways. These areas feel like real, distinct places, each with its own vibe. Onimusha is more “wheel and spokes” than open world, but there’s plenty to explore and discover, including materials that can be used to upgrade Musashi’s sword, clothing, and Oni Gauntlet, providing more damage, health, and souls (which fuel the gauntlet’s power), respectively. Any trip into the wider world means fighting Genma, but fortunately, that’s where Onimusha is at its best.
Initially, I actually found it too easy, so I gave myself a challenge: I would play without using any items. That meant everything from healing items to items that brought me back from the dead to items that granted temporary buffs. I figured it wouldn’t last; you aren’t meant to play this way, so I thought eventually I’d grow bored of the self-imposed handicap, get stuck, or just need to get this review wrapped up. I came close to giving in many times, but I’d always think, “I’ve made it this far, just a few more tries and then I’ll give up.” But I never did, and eventually the credits rolled. I’m not telling you this to brag; I didn’t do it to put it in this review, or to show off, or prove a point. I did it because I wanted to see if I could. I did it for myself. And I can’t write about Onimusha without talking about it.
Musashi is an incredibly skilled swordsman, with light and heavy attacks that he can chain together into short combos. It’s familiar stuff, but thankfully none of it (nor sprinting in combat) costs stamina. Musashi is always at his best. And where he (and Onimusha’s combat system) really shines is on defense. In addition to your standard block, Musashi can also dodge, parry, reflect, and do special Issen counterattacks if your timing is precise enough.
Each option has its own strengths and weaknesses. Dodging is the most reliable, but unless you perfectly time your move, it will only just get you out of trouble or allow for limited follow-up attacks. Parries require putting yourself in harm’s way, but they both deplete a foe’s stamina and open them up to further punishment, while deflects just take a massive chunk of stamina (unless you’re returning a projectile to sender; that hurts). But the white whale is the Issen: by pressing an attack button at just the right time (in my experience, as soon as the enemy swings their weapon), Musashi will sidestep the blow so quickly it looks like he disappears and then reappears somewhere else, triggering a counterattack that deals massive damage and takes out an enormous chunk of stamina.
Landing this feels incredible, and if you time another attack as your Issen hits, you can chain them together to wipe out several small enemies at once. If you attack at the same moment an enemy does, you’ll even trigger a clash where you have to press the opposite button of the attack you started with to win (so if you trigger one using a light attack, you must follow up with a heavy). You might also lock swords and have to mash your way out to overpower your foe. All of these systems combine to form a combat system where you always have to pay attention, and anything feels like it can happen. It never gets old.
What makes Onimusha’s combat special is that each move has its place. Blocking is a last resort as it depletes stamina. Run out, and an attack will break your guard and deal huge damage. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its uses in a pinch. Dodging is particularly good against unarmed attacks, and if you time one right, you’ll fill a special meter. Once full, a perfectly timed dodge – called a Reflex Dodge – will trigger a Reflex Combo, which will often kill smaller Genma outright and carve a chunk from elite enemies. Parries do a little of everything, and if you nail one, you charge the Blazing Gauge, which sets your sword aflame and boosts the damage of your attacks. Deflects sacrifice the parry’s ability for follow-up attacks in exchange for massive stamina damage, perfect against armored enemies who are largely immune to your basic attacks because you can focus on depleting their stamina entirely, staggering them, and landing the absurdly powerful Break Issen execution-style moves. But as powerful as deflects and parries are, they can’t be used against grabs, which require you to dodge.
The Issen is your defensive holy grail, but the timing is strict and it doesn’t work on everything: certain attacks can’t be Issen’d but can be dodged, parried, or deflected, forcing you to pick a strategy on the fly. But the biggest risk of the Issen is that it leaves you wide open – miss it, and you’re eating whatever attack is coming your way. And since the telegraphed (and most damaging) attacks are the most reliable targets for Issen attempts, the technique always carries huge risks. But lock down your timing and you can do things like Issen a lightning bolt. Yes, really.
What’s most impressive, though, is how Way of the Sword sells all of this. When you parry or deflect an attack, it doesn’t look like you are just performing some generic animation; it looks like you actually parry that attack. It makes each fight, especially against bosses, feel like unique clashes between individuals. Feedback is everything in an action game like this, and few feel as good moment-to-moment as Onimusha does. Combine all that with your regular attacks, the special Oni Armaments that serve as high-damage-but-meter-dependent attacks, and the ability to break a foe’s guard (plus a few other things I won’t spoil), and Onimusha is constantly forcing you to both come up with a strong gameplan and react quickly as the unexpected tests it.
Every enemy in Onimusha drops souls: yellow souls heal, red souls are currency used to upgrade certain skills, and blue souls recharge your Oni Armaments. There is another kind, but… well, you should see it for yourself. The only reliable way to get yellow souls is to use a certain Oni Armament (shout out to The Two Celestials) or pull off Break Issens. When you use a Break Issen on a regular foe, you kill them outright; against bosses, however, you choose a weak point to attack. Striking at weak points marked in red will deal incredible damage, while choosing a purple one will deal about half as much damage, but reward you with additional souls.
And here is where my own imposed limitations came into play most. By refusing to use healing items, I made it so I could only recover health by absorbing souls (or at the Spirit Mirrors where you save your game between fights). That meant staggering the boss or spending my limited gauge to use The Two Celestials. Success was built in small moments: knowing when to parry, when to deflect, when to risk the Issen, and managing my Reflex Dodges so I could spend Reflex Combos in the right moments. I had to truly learn the fights, to understand what was needed of me. Since many bosses have multiple phases and health bars, I would often master one only to get clobbered by the next. And every mistake cost me; getting hit by a powerful strike cost souls. I wasn’t just losing health, I was being robbed of the resources I needed to get it back, too. And I wasn’t the only one who could absorb souls – most bosses can as well, and if they get enough, they’ll power up and gain access to new attacks that would normally be granted during the next phase, making the rest of the fight even harder. That rules.
Some fights took me hours to learn, and I was often tempted to give up. Onimusha wasn’t doing this to me, I was doing it to myself – but each time I died, I would take a deep breath, wait a second, and press retry. To succeed required every tool I had. I couldn’t think beyond the next 10 seconds, the next decision, the next moment. Most Break Issens were spent to gain souls and restore my health. Each time, I was prolonging the fight. Each time, I was betting on myself for the next 10 seconds. I learned sometimes it was better to take the damage on the Break Issens when my health was in a good place, how to save The Two Celestials for the right moments.
After a while, the distance between myself and Musashi would fall away as I acted purely on instinct. This is yielding to the flow of the moment, not fighting it or trying to force it to what I wanted. I gave myself to the next 10 seconds, and in those moments, Onimusha soared. There are fights here – against Benkei, the Oni brothers, the Greater Nue, Ganryu, and several more I won’t spoil – that I will remember for a very long time. They would be excellent regardless, but by choosing to limit myself, I made the comebacks and the moments of perfection matter even more. Like Musashi, I put my belief in myself, in the strength of my technique and whatever I could carve from my opponent. Just when I thought it was impossible, I would find a way. My journey mirrored his.
Onimusha’s bosses are its greatest strength, but its optional content is also strong. So strong, in fact, that I did all of its side missions (and everything else) over the course of my 39-hour playthrough. My favorites were quests from Lady Murasaki, a writer whose spirit stayed in the world of the living to tell stories. She would send me to get to the bottom of anything that seemed interesting so she could write about it, whether that was a child searching for a father consumed by revenge, a wife praying for her abusive husband’s recovery, or a man who believed he had been blessed with immortality by the gods.
What’s even better is that many of these side quests build upon one another, telling a single narrative across several smaller stories that Murasaki herself then records. Other side quests often don’t feature the same level of detail (aside from Murasaki’s and Shizuka’s, most side quests are not voiced), but using drawings to find hidden treasures scattered around Kyoto, returning to previous areas to shoot down flying Genma, or just helping average citizens is often funny and rewarding. Even hunting down and rescuing Murasaki’s missing Lion Dogs, a fairly normal take on collectibles, was entertaining because the dogs themselves were incredibly cute and each one also rewarded me with a retelling of a story from Japanese mythology. Some were funny, some were sad, and some were just plain weird, but I enjoyed reading them all. I also loved helping Shizuka find hidden Oni Portals scattered around the city, which illuminated more of her story and unlocked more tiers in my skill trees.
I normally wouldn’t spill much ink over skill trees. In many games, the options locked within them feel like things you should have from the start that have only been taken away so that you have something to pursue; Onimusha, however, makes upgrades feel meaningful.
And it’s not just skill trees. Equippable charms and stat upgrades provide an incentive to hunt down the upgrade items scattered around Kyoto and the other areas, which in turn made me want to explore the city, figure out workarounds to areas that had been blocked off, and open shortcuts once I did so I could get back there more easily. Every part of Onimusha touches every other part, and each piece is better for how it combines into a greater whole. Even something as simple as earning a new look for my sword or finding a new haori for Musashi to wear pointed to how far I’d come on my journey.
That all said, some minibosses such as the Byakue and Dohatsu-ten appear what feels like dozens of times across the main story and all of the sidequests, and certain main boss fights happen a few times as well. It’s a Capcom classic, but I was never bothered by these recursions; in fact, I often welcomed them. It was a chance to test my skills again, to gain greater mastery, to pit the Will and Musashi that were here now against those that had come before. Each time, I learned something. Each time, I sharpened my skills. That will be handy when I go back for another run in New Game plus or on Carnage, an additional difficulty you unlock after you complete the campaign. This time, though, I think I’ll let myself use items. Probably.
feedzy_import_tag feedzy_import_tag
About the Author
