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

[00:05] [music]

[00:08] >> Developer Capcom revives its long

[00:10] dormant Onimusha series with Way of the

[00:12] Sword, where a new demo offers up a

[00:15] slice of the adventure ahead of its

[00:17] September 25th release. The team's RE

[00:19] Engine is deployed once again, of

[00:21] course, hot off the heels of its uses in

[00:23] Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata just

[00:25] this year. Today, then, as legendary

[00:28] hero Miyamoto Musashi, you hack through

[00:30] demon-infested temples in this 30-ish

[00:33] minute segment, dispatching each foe to

[00:35] great bloody effect, and mopping up

[00:37] their souls with your gauntlet as you

[00:39] go. The highlight, so far, is once again

[00:42] Capcom's stellar use of facial capture

[00:44] technology. Musashi's every grin and

[00:46] grimace is put in these tight close-ups,

[00:49] selling his role as the reluctant hero

[00:51] before a single word's even been spoken.

[00:53] Paired with object destruction, cloth

[00:56] physics, plus decapitations, if you're

[00:58] so inclined, there's a convincingly

[01:00] hefty feel to his every move. Now, it is

[01:03] obviously early days, but there are some

[01:05] limitations to the demo worth touching

[01:07] on. The upside is that PC and PS5 Pro

[01:10] support ray-traced reflections, which is

[01:12] great to see. On PC, the ray-tracing

[01:14] setting affects the quality of those

[01:16] reflections alone. However, beyond RT

[01:18] reflections, we're missing support for

[01:20] RT global illumination, RT shadows, and

[01:24] even path tracing, features that are

[01:26] included in Requiem and Pragmata. As a

[01:29] result, and regardless of your chosen

[01:31] Onimusha's demo reverts to a limited

[01:34] rasterized approach to shadowing in

[01:36] particular. It holds up well enough

[01:38] outdoors, but you might notice lacking

[01:40] shadow reactions from interior light

[01:42] points, like lanterns and candles.

[01:47] Limited ray-tracing features aside, as

[01:49] an early snapshot of its progress on

[01:51] PlayStation 5 and Xbox, Onimusha's in a

[01:54] promising state overall. To start, every

[01:56] console release gets two graphics modes

[01:58] here, 460 FPS performance and 30 FPS

[02:01] quality. Visual settings are identical

[02:04] either way and both upscale to a 4K

[02:06] target as noted in Capcom's handy

[02:09] graphic here. However, the most notable

[02:11] difference is the underlying native

[02:13] resolution of each mode, which affects

[02:15] clarity. So, PS5 and Series X run at a

[02:18] dynamic 1440p to 4K in the performance

[02:21] mode and settle more typically at a

[02:24] fixed 4K value in the graphics mode.

[02:26] Meanwhile, Series S drops to 1080p in

[02:28] both modes and based on early testing,

[02:31] it's rare to see much in the way of

[02:32] dynamic adjustments under that figure so

[02:34] far. In practice then, it's 1080p either

[02:37] way, though this may change for later

[02:39] chapters in the final game. Lastly, PS5

[02:42] Pro operates at a more flexible 1296p to

[02:45] 4K range on its performance mode using

[02:48] Sony's new improved PSSR upscaler while

[02:51] the graphics mode runs at 4K.

[02:55] Rounding out, the settings menu offers a

[02:58] few other extras. The big one is the

[03:00] fixed frame rate option allowing for a

[03:01] cap at either 60 FPS or 40 FPS if you

[03:05] have the performance mode selected. To

[03:07] access that fixed 40 FPS cap, you'll

[03:09] need a 120 Hz display attached of

[03:11] course, while as an alternative, it's

[03:14] possible to run entirely unlocked, which

[03:16] is ideal for VRR displays. There's

[03:19] plenty of useful options here then, but

[03:20] in practice, the fixed 60 FPS

[03:22] performance mode is all you'll likely

[03:24] need. It enough on PS5, Series X and S

[03:28] and controllable play is a locked 60

[03:31] based on the demo content at least. On

[03:33] the quality mode meanwhile, it's only

[03:35] possible to fix the frame rate at 30 FPS

[03:38] or again, run with uncapped frame rates.

[03:40] Finally, the PS5 Pro version gets one

[03:43] extra toggle allowing ray trace

[03:45] reflections. This works independently of

[03:47] the graphics mode toggle at the top of

[03:48] the menus and in fact, it combines

[03:51] beautifully with Pro's 60 FPS

[03:53] performance mode. Effectively, you can

[03:55] run at 60 FPS with ray tracing engaged,

[03:57] and there's no performance penalty in

[03:59] doing so. There's no downsides. Engaging

[04:01] RT reflections replaces the screen space

[04:04] reflection method seen on all other

[04:05] consoles, and for Pro owners, it's

[04:08] really the biggest plus point. Alas,

[04:10] it's not used as extensively as say

[04:13] Pragmata's glossy spaceship corridors,

[04:15] and the Onimusha demo limits the effect

[04:17] to puddles and ponds scattered around

[04:20] the temple. It's expected given the

[04:22] setting. Still, as you can see, ray

[04:24] traced reflections allows more thorough

[04:26] coverage of the scene than SSR, and

[04:28] avoids that method's classic occlusion

[04:31] artifacts from the player.

[04:40] The second PS5 Pro advantage is its use

[04:42] of Sony's PSSR upscaler. In this case,

[04:45] on its newest iteration. Combined with

[04:47] the typically high pixel counts on PS5

[04:49] Pro, PSSR resolves a sharper image

[04:52] compared to base PS5. A cleaner, more

[04:55] stable frame in still moments

[04:56] especially. It really stands out when

[04:58] using the 60 FPS performance mode, where

[05:01] a native 4K isn't a given. Though, to

[05:03] truly demonstrate, I've had to go for a

[05:05] two times or even three times zoom here.

[05:08] The resolution on base PS5 generally

[05:10] holds up, but Pro offers a decent

[05:13] refinement in clarity across the dark

[05:14] pathways ahead. On top of that, the

[05:16] additional benefits of PSSR is its

[05:19] treatment of the moving image. Some form

[05:21] of reconstruction artifact is expected

[05:23] within the upscaling tech, but at least

[05:25] PSSR avoids the banding trails, the

[05:27] ghosting, present on the standard PS5

[05:30] version here. Note the arc of the sword

[05:32] as we approach this demon, and likewise,

[05:35] the trail left behind by Musashi's

[05:37] cloak. PS5 Pro benefits from fewer

[05:39] artifacts, and again, a slightly sharper

[05:42] image if you know where to look. Great

[05:44] stuff.

[05:50] >> Looking past the image quality

[05:51] differences and the ray tracing option,

[05:53] PS5, PS5 Pro, and indeed Series X are

[05:57] identical. The biggest variation in

[05:59] settings is on Series S, as you'd

[06:00] expect, which drops to 1080p with an

[06:03] expected loss in clarity. The most

[06:05] glaring impact of its lower native

[06:07] resolution is the presentation of hair,

[06:09] which tends to break up more obviously

[06:12] on the four teraflop console. In classic

[06:14] Capcom fashion, Series S also reverts to

[06:17] lower quality texture maps. To be fair,

[06:19] this is subtler than, say, the glaring

[06:21] cutbacks in Street Fighter 6, and the

[06:24] third-person view in Onimusha tends to

[06:26] prevent putting them in frame too often.

[06:29] Elsewhere, minor level of detail

[06:30] differences are also in place for

[06:32] foliage, favoring Series X, but

[06:34] otherwise, Series S holds up well based

[06:36] on the demo. You get SSR into the

[06:38] bargain for reflections, volumetric

[06:40] effects hold up well, and it runs at a

[06:43] tight 60 frames per second on its

[06:46] performance mode, too.

[06:51] >> [music]

[06:53] >> On which note, let's talk performance.

[06:55] Base PS5, PS5 Pro, Series X, and S are

[06:58] all faultless in their push for 60

[07:00] frames per second, at least while in

[07:02] gameplay. There's barely a drop on

[07:04] record here, and again, PS5 Pro does it

[07:06] all with ray tracing engaged, too. Even

[07:09] with a high on-screen enemy count,

[07:11] multiple effects, and the destruction

[07:13] physics, each is locked at 60. The fact

[07:16] that Series S is also hitting the mark

[07:18] perfectly is encouraging. The only

[07:20] downside is the cutscenes, which engage

[07:23] more post effects, notably depth of

[07:25] field, with less flattering readings

[07:27] overall. On base PS5, for example, we're

[07:29] dropping into the 50s while first

[07:31] collecting the gauntlet, and then later,

[07:33] even going into the high 40s during a

[07:35] final boss showdown. It applies to all

[07:37] machines, sadly. The silver lining being

[07:40] that it's still within range for VR to

[07:42] smooth out. That said, PS5 Pro does at

[07:44] least minimize these cutscene lurches in

[07:46] the demo, and so switching to a similar

[07:49] boss cutscene on Pro, it's only dropping

[07:52] to the 50s here. Again, it's only for

[07:54] cutscenes, and once you take control

[07:55] again, all consoles are back to a

[07:57] rock-solid 60.

[08:04] Those lucky enough to have a VR display

[08:07] have an extra benefit in the form of an

[08:09] unlocked FPS option. It works fine with

[08:12] the graphics mode, but it's more

[08:13] sensibly combined with the performance

[08:15] mode to give VR the most frame data

[08:17] possible. This way, both PS5 consoles

[08:19] run from 60 to 90 FPS depending on the

[08:23] complexity of the frame, and PS5 Pro is

[08:26] the clear performance leader on average

[08:28] as you'd expect. In fact, the Pro lead

[08:30] ranges from 4 FPS to 8 FPS in matching

[08:33] runs, and surprisingly, you'll spot the

[08:36] ray tracing mode is the more performant

[08:38] of the two. In almost every scene,

[08:40] keeping ray tracing disabled, therefore

[08:43] engaging SSR, is actually more expensive

[08:45] for the system across a bulk of the demo

[08:47] content. Perhaps it's down to the

[08:49] minimal use of ray tracing in most

[08:51] scenes, being limited to a small

[08:53] scattering of puddles. Either way, ray

[08:55] tracing or not, the divide is very

[08:57] slight, by around 2 to 3 FPS in favor of

[09:00] keeping RT engaged. Meanwhile, jumping

[09:02] over to Xbox Series X and S running

[09:05] unlocked, you're getting a likewise 60

[09:07] to 90 FPS range. Despite running at

[09:10] matching settings here, Series X is

[09:12] averaging at 2 to 3 FPS lower than base

[09:14] PS5, which thankfully doesn't affect

[09:17] play with a 60 FPS cap engaged. And

[09:19] then, Series S trails behind X by a

[09:22] further 1 to 2 frames per second on

[09:23] average here.

[09:30] All of this points to Onimusha: Warlords

[09:32] of the Sword being a well-optimized RE

[09:34] Engine release on console as it is, but

[09:36] there's surely more to do and see in the

[09:38] full version. There's a fixed 40 FPS

[09:41] option, too, of course, which could

[09:42] potentially be a good backup if you

[09:45] prefer to mask those sub-60 drops during

[09:47] cutscenes on the performance mode. That

[09:49] said, I did notice an unusual bug at 40

[09:52] FPS with one frame seemingly dropping

[09:55] every 960 frames. PS5 and Xbox consoles

[09:58] have the same issue, a minor blip that's

[10:00] evenly spaced out over the course of the

[10:03] 120 Hz output. Thankfully, there's no

[10:06] such issue with the fixed 30 FPS option

[10:08] via the graphics mode. This gets you to

[10:10] a perfect 30 FPS line with the most

[10:12] crisp, high-resolution output each

[10:14] console can afford.

[10:17] The only remaining question then is how

[10:19] this series return will play out on

[10:21] Nintendo Switch 2. Looking at Capcom's

[10:23] spec sheet, we're expecting a 900p image

[10:25] in handheld and 1080p in docked, both at

[10:29] 30 FPS. It's not yet certain if those

[10:31] stated resolutions are the target image

[10:34] for, say, DLSS or the actual native

[10:36] pixel count we can expect on Switch 2.

[10:39] Without a demo in hand for this one,

[10:40] we'll also have to wait till September

[10:43] to see if Nintendo's machine can hit a

[10:45] tight 30 FPS lock. But for now, that's

[10:48] all for this quick look. If you did

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