---
title: 'Onimusha: Way of the Sword Demo - PS5/Xbox + PS5 Pro RT/PSSR Upgrades Tested'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=0vl5NQNS2ZM'
video_id: '0vl5NQNS2ZM'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 674
---

# Onimusha: Way of the Sword Demo - PS5/Xbox + PS5 Pro RT/PSSR Upgrades Tested

> Source: [Onimusha: Way of the Sword Demo - PS5/Xbox + PS5 Pro RT/PSSR Upgrades Tested](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0vl5NQNS2ZM)

## Summary

Digital Foundry analyzes the Onimusha: Way of the Sword demo, focusing on its performance and visual features across PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The video highlights the game's use of Capcom's RE Engine, ray-traced reflections, and PS5 Pro's PSSR upscaler, while noting limitations like missing RT global illumination and shadows.

### Key Points

- **Game Overview** [0:08] — Capcom revives Onimusha with Way of the Sword, featuring hero Miyamoto Musashi hacking through demons in a 30-minute demo. The RE Engine is used, with excellent facial capture and physics.
- **Ray Tracing Limitations** [1:07] — PC and PS5 Pro support ray-traced reflections, but RT global illumination, RT shadows, and path tracing are missing. The demo uses limited rasterized shadows, which can be noticeable indoors.
- **Graphics Modes on Consoles** [1:56] — All consoles offer two modes: 60 FPS performance and 30 FPS quality, both upscaled to 4K. PS5 and Series X run at dynamic 1440p-4K in performance mode, while Series S is fixed at 1080p.
- **PS5 Pro Enhancements** [2:42] — PS5 Pro uses PSSR upscaler and offers ray-traced reflections at 60 FPS without performance penalty. It provides sharper image and fewer artifacts compared to base PS5.
- **Series S Cutbacks** [5:50] — Series S runs at 1080p with lower quality textures and hair detail, but holds up well with SSR reflections and volumetric effects, maintaining 60 FPS.
- **Performance Analysis** [6:55] — All consoles achieve locked 60 FPS in gameplay, but cutscenes see drops to 50s (and high 40s on base PS5). PS5 Pro minimizes cutscene drops. VRR displays can smooth out fluctuations.
- **Unlocked FPS and VRR** [8:04] — With VRR, consoles can run unlocked from 60-90 FPS. PS5 Pro leads by 4-8 FPS over base PS5. Surprisingly, enabling RT is slightly more performant than SSR in most scenes.
- **40 FPS Mode Bug** [9:30] — A fixed 40 FPS mode is available but has a bug with one frame dropping every 960 frames on PS5 and Xbox. The 30 FPS mode is flawless.
- **Switch 2 Expectations** [10:17] — Capcom lists 900p handheld and 1080p docked at 30 FPS for Switch 2, but it's unclear if these are DLSS targets or native resolutions. Performance remains to be tested.

### Conclusion

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a well-optimized RE Engine title with solid performance across consoles, though ray tracing is limited. PS5 Pro offers the best experience with RT reflections and PSSR upscaling, while Series S holds up well at 1080p.

## Transcript

[music]
>> Developer Capcom revives its long
dormant Onimusha series with Way of the
Sword, where a new demo offers up a
slice of the adventure ahead of its
September 25th release. The team's RE
Engine is deployed once again, of
course, hot off the heels of its uses in
Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata just
this year. Today, then, as legendary
hero Miyamoto Musashi, you hack through
demon-infested temples in this 30-ish
minute segment, dispatching each foe to
great bloody effect, and mopping up
their souls with your gauntlet as you
go. The highlight, so far, is once again
Capcom's stellar use of facial capture
technology. Musashi's every grin and
grimace is put in these tight close-ups,
selling his role as the reluctant hero
before a single word's even been spoken.
Paired with object destruction, cloth
physics, plus decapitations, if you're
so inclined, there's a convincingly
hefty feel to his every move. Now, it is
obviously early days, but there are some
limitations to the demo worth touching
on. The upside is that PC and PS5 Pro
support ray-traced reflections, which is
great to see. On PC, the ray-tracing
setting affects the quality of those
reflections alone. However, beyond RT
reflections, we're missing support for
RT global illumination, RT shadows, and
even path tracing, features that are
included in Requiem and Pragmata. As a
result, and regardless of your chosen
Onimusha's demo reverts to a limited
rasterized approach to shadowing in
particular. It holds up well enough
outdoors, but you might notice lacking
shadow reactions from interior light
points, like lanterns and candles.
Limited ray-tracing features aside, as
an early snapshot of its progress on
PlayStation 5 and Xbox, Onimusha's in a
promising state overall. To start, every
console release gets two graphics modes
here, 460 FPS performance and 30 FPS
quality. Visual settings are identical
either way and both upscale to a 4K
target as noted in Capcom's handy
graphic here. However, the most notable
difference is the underlying native
resolution of each mode, which affects
clarity. So, PS5 and Series X run at a
dynamic 1440p to 4K in the performance
mode and settle more typically at a
fixed 4K value in the graphics mode.
Meanwhile, Series S drops to 1080p in
both modes and based on early testing,
it's rare to see much in the way of
dynamic adjustments under that figure so
far. In practice then, it's 1080p either
way, though this may change for later
chapters in the final game. Lastly, PS5
Pro operates at a more flexible 1296p to
4K range on its performance mode using
Sony's new improved PSSR upscaler while
the graphics mode runs at 4K.
Rounding out, the settings menu offers a
few other extras. The big one is the
fixed frame rate option allowing for a
cap at either 60 FPS or 40 FPS if you
have the performance mode selected. To
access that fixed 40 FPS cap, you'll
need a 120 Hz display attached of
course, while as an alternative, it's
possible to run entirely unlocked, which
is ideal for VRR displays. There's
plenty of useful options here then, but
in practice, the fixed 60 FPS
performance mode is all you'll likely
need. It enough on PS5, Series X and S
and controllable play is a locked 60
based on the demo content at least. On
the quality mode meanwhile, it's only
possible to fix the frame rate at 30 FPS
or again, run with uncapped frame rates.
Finally, the PS5 Pro version gets one
extra toggle allowing ray trace
reflections. This works independently of
the graphics mode toggle at the top of
the menus and in fact, it combines
beautifully with Pro's 60 FPS
performance mode. Effectively, you can
run at 60 FPS with ray tracing engaged,
and there's no performance penalty in
doing so. There's no downsides. Engaging
RT reflections replaces the screen space
reflection method seen on all other
consoles, and for Pro owners, it's
really the biggest plus point. Alas,
it's not used as extensively as say
Pragmata's glossy spaceship corridors,
and the Onimusha demo limits the effect
to puddles and ponds scattered around
the temple. It's expected given the
setting. Still, as you can see, ray
traced reflections allows more thorough
coverage of the scene than SSR, and
avoids that method's classic occlusion
artifacts from the player.
The second PS5 Pro advantage is its use
of Sony's PSSR upscaler. In this case,
on its newest iteration. Combined with
the typically high pixel counts on PS5
Pro, PSSR resolves a sharper image
compared to base PS5. A cleaner, more
stable frame in still moments
especially. It really stands out when
using the 60 FPS performance mode, where
a native 4K isn't a given. Though, to
truly demonstrate, I've had to go for a
two times or even three times zoom here.
The resolution on base PS5 generally
holds up, but Pro offers a decent
refinement in clarity across the dark
pathways ahead. On top of that, the
additional benefits of PSSR is its
treatment of the moving image. Some form
of reconstruction artifact is expected
within the upscaling tech, but at least
PSSR avoids the banding trails, the
ghosting, present on the standard PS5
version here. Note the arc of the sword
as we approach this demon, and likewise,
the trail left behind by Musashi's
cloak. PS5 Pro benefits from fewer
artifacts, and again, a slightly sharper
image if you know where to look. Great
stuff.
>> Looking past the image quality
differences and the ray tracing option,
PS5, PS5 Pro, and indeed Series X are
identical. The biggest variation in
settings is on Series S, as you'd
expect, which drops to 1080p with an
expected loss in clarity. The most
glaring impact of its lower native
resolution is the presentation of hair,
which tends to break up more obviously
on the four teraflop console. In classic
Capcom fashion, Series S also reverts to
lower quality texture maps. To be fair,
this is subtler than, say, the glaring
cutbacks in Street Fighter 6, and the
third-person view in Onimusha tends to
prevent putting them in frame too often.
Elsewhere, minor level of detail
differences are also in place for
foliage, favoring Series X, but
otherwise, Series S holds up well based
on the demo. You get SSR into the
bargain for reflections, volumetric
effects hold up well, and it runs at a
tight 60 frames per second on its
performance mode, too.
>> [music]
>> On which note, let's talk performance.
Base PS5, PS5 Pro, Series X, and S are
all faultless in their push for 60
frames per second, at least while in
gameplay. There's barely a drop on
record here, and again, PS5 Pro does it
all with ray tracing engaged, too. Even
with a high on-screen enemy count,
multiple effects, and the destruction
physics, each is locked at 60. The fact
that Series S is also hitting the mark
perfectly is encouraging. The only
downside is the cutscenes, which engage
more post effects, notably depth of
field, with less flattering readings
overall. On base PS5, for example, we're
dropping into the 50s while first
collecting the gauntlet, and then later,
even going into the high 40s during a
final boss showdown. It applies to all
machines, sadly. The silver lining being
that it's still within range for VR to
smooth out. That said, PS5 Pro does at
least minimize these cutscene lurches in
the demo, and so switching to a similar
boss cutscene on Pro, it's only dropping
to the 50s here. Again, it's only for
cutscenes, and once you take control
again, all consoles are back to a
rock-solid 60.
Those lucky enough to have a VR display
have an extra benefit in the form of an
unlocked FPS option. It works fine with
the graphics mode, but it's more
sensibly combined with the performance
mode to give VR the most frame data
possible. This way, both PS5 consoles
run from 60 to 90 FPS depending on the
complexity of the frame, and PS5 Pro is
the clear performance leader on average
as you'd expect. In fact, the Pro lead
ranges from 4 FPS to 8 FPS in matching
runs, and surprisingly, you'll spot the
ray tracing mode is the more performant
of the two. In almost every scene,
keeping ray tracing disabled, therefore
engaging SSR, is actually more expensive
for the system across a bulk of the demo
content. Perhaps it's down to the
minimal use of ray tracing in most
scenes, being limited to a small
scattering of puddles. Either way, ray
tracing or not, the divide is very
slight, by around 2 to 3 FPS in favor of
keeping RT engaged. Meanwhile, jumping
over to Xbox Series X and S running
unlocked, you're getting a likewise 60
to 90 FPS range. Despite running at
matching settings here, Series X is
averaging at 2 to 3 FPS lower than base
PS5, which thankfully doesn't affect
play with a 60 FPS cap engaged. And
then, Series S trails behind X by a
further 1 to 2 frames per second on
average here.
All of this points to Onimusha: Warlords
of the Sword being a well-optimized RE
Engine release on console as it is, but
there's surely more to do and see in the
full version. There's a fixed 40 FPS
option, too, of course, which could
potentially be a good backup if you
prefer to mask those sub-60 drops during
cutscenes on the performance mode. That
said, I did notice an unusual bug at 40
FPS with one frame seemingly dropping
every 960 frames. PS5 and Xbox consoles
have the same issue, a minor blip that's
evenly spaced out over the course of the
120 Hz output. Thankfully, there's no
such issue with the fixed 30 FPS option
via the graphics mode. This gets you to
a perfect 30 FPS line with the most
crisp, high-resolution output each
console can afford.
The only remaining question then is how
this series return will play out on
Nintendo Switch 2. Looking at Capcom's
spec sheet, we're expecting a 900p image
in handheld and 1080p in docked, both at
30 FPS. It's not yet certain if those
stated resolutions are the target image
for, say, DLSS or the actual native
pixel count we can expect on Switch 2.
Without a demo in hand for this one,
we'll also have to wait till September
to see if Nintendo's machine can hit a
tight 30 FPS lock. But for now, that's
all for this quick look. If you did
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