When Capcom launched a demo for Onimusha: Way of the Sword a number of months in the past, a vocal portion of motion sport followers landed someplace between involved and crestfallen—enemies simply weren’t aggressive sufficient, leaving them nervous the ultimate sport could be unchallenging to the purpose of boredom. There was sufficient warmth that Capcom producer Akihito Kadowaki determined to reply in a video, to not say that they’d be making the sport tougher, however that the demo was “only a slice of the early a part of the story” and that “within the remaining sport, the bosses and the common Genma will put up a harder combat.”
Now that I’ve performed the complete sport, I can again that assertion up. Onimusha kicked my ass lots.
Because the demo hinted at, although, the primary few hours of Onimusha are fairly simple in case you have any expertise with motion video games, significantly should you’re used to managing stamina meters in soulslikes or dying from only a couple hits. And on the entire, the sport is not as punishing or demanding as FromSoftware‘s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or the Nioh video games. However throughout almost 40 hours of playtime I died lots, significantly to bosses that ruthlessly punished my poor parry timing or overeager button mashing. Even the essential mobs took me down various instances once I leapt into the fray only a bit too cocky or impatient.
That mentioned, let me attempt to deal with the precise complaints I noticed from gamers when Onimusha’s demo set off this wave of considerations.
Concern: Approach of the Sword wants a tougher problem choice
It has one! Sadly, although, you must beat the sport to unlock it, and Approach of the Sword isn’t quick. I feel Capcom would’ve been sensible to make this feature obtainable from the beginning.
Concern: Enemies are too passive
it’s 2026. should you dare think about a sport with group fight, don’t fear: enemies will politely take their flip one after the other and die with a single parry. pic.twitter.com/wUG1nrUhAOJune 3, 2026
I noticed the video above unfold round as proof that Onimusha’s enemies are far too passive, attacking one after the other as a substitute of as a bunch. This worry ought to largely be put to relaxation by full sport. It holds true that when a bunch surrounds you, they will not all assault concurrently, however after the opening couple hours, which primarily function an introduction to Onimusha’s key fight mechanics one after the other, you may often be combating combined teams of enemies that preserve you in your toes.
The fundamental, weak Genma will start an encounter by dashing behind you, encircling you after which menacing their blades in what I feel is a enjoyable nod to how these battles are often depicted in samurai films. They’re no risk by themselves and are clearly fodder so that you can take pleasure in slicing to items. That mentioned, they do provide some resistance: should you open with a heavy assault, which is vertical, they’re going to often sidestep it. Typically they’re going to block a number of assaults in a row, pushing you to both put on by way of their stamina meter with repeated blows, again off and parry them, or break by way of their guard with a shoulder test you may unlock a number of hours in.
A lot of the problem will come from the enemies the weak Genma are paired with. Every group often has not less than one “heavy” who you’ll be able to’t simply take down by button mashing: they’re going to parry, hit you with assaults which you could’t block, or use seize strikes that deal huge harm.
Typically you’ve got acquired archers or flying Genma within the background throwing projectiles at you. And if you’re targeted on the massive guys, that is when the essential Genma will work up the braveness to attempt to stab you within the again, resulting in many alternatives for Onimusha’s beautiful animations to shine: Musashi will stick his sword behind his again to parry an assault coming from behind him in an exhilarating little bit of “hell yeah I am a samurai” protection.
As the sport goes on, fundamental enemies will steadily start to make use of unblockable assaults, present up carrying armor or toting shields, and even take in the souls you’ve got simply loosed from the center of their allies.
I can see some gamers nonetheless being unhappy that the teams do not assault en masse—in comparison with a Darkish Souls mob, it would not really feel just like the unhealthy guys listed below are out to kick your fucking tooth in. However their actions really feel becoming for a sport the place you are enjoying Japan’s most well-known swordsman empowered by a magic demon gauntlet: you are the apex predator and so they’re the prey. Later within the sport you may even get a capability that makes weaker enemies fall over in worry if you slaughter certainly one of their pals.
The true problem is within the boss fights, and Onimusha has a number of these.
Concern: You possibly can simply button mash
This would possibly get you thru the primary couple hours, however it’s definitely not going to work towards bosses, and even common mobs will start to punish you for an excessive amount of sloppy mashing.
There are many weak enemies you’ll be able to dispatch with a fundamental three hit combo, however when you’re smashing that button one other enemy will in all probability are available swinging with an assault you want to dodge or parry. At first it is fairly protected to dam most assaults, however you may ultimately need to take care of assaults that deplete your total stamina meter should you block them—they need to be parried or deflected.
And once more, at first you’ll be able to parry all day, however deflecting turns into extra vital as you face enemies that want their guard damaged earlier than you’ll be able to meaningfully harm them. The timing on deflection is definitely simpler to tug off, however it introduces one other in-the-moment consideration of which talent to deploy.
The circulation of most boss fights could be very Sekiro-esque: It is advisable study their assaults and repeatedly parry and deflect to empty their stamina bar, opening them as much as a giant hit. Mashing or consistently blocking will get you killed actual fast in these fights, significantly as a result of when bosses smash your stamina gauge they’re going to steal a bit of souls and energy up, swinging the combat of their favor.
Concern: Fight feels too sluggish
Onimusha: Approach of the Sword is certainly a slower-paced swordfighting sport than Crew Ninja’s soulslikes, and it is virtually glacial in comparison with Satan Could Cry or Ninja Gaiden. I really like this about it: the sport looks like a heightened illustration of the samurai movie duels that impressed it, emphasizing the burden behind every strike and bodily our bodies holding every blade. No motion sport has had animations like these, or the physics to actually promote them.
Gradualer doesn’t suggest sluggish, not less than in my thoughts—there are bosses that demand extraordinarily fast reactions should you do not need to find yourself useless, and ‘issen,’ the sport’s most superior and riskiest method, requires you to push the assault button simply earlier than an enemy hits you to carry out an on the spot riposte.
If the overall really feel of motion and fight within the demo weren’t for you, I am unsure the complete sport would change your thoughts. If Onimusha’s demo left you chilly since you thought it was too simple, although, I feel you may nonetheless discover loads of problem, not less than from the boss fights—except you’ll be able to beat Sekiro’s bosses with out taking a single hit, during which case you may in all probability sleepwalk by way of Approach of the Sword.