Onimusha: Way of the Sword Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] There are moments in Onimusha Way of the Sword where everything else fades away. The controller vanishes, the universe collapses, and the distance between you and Miyamoto Musashi is annihilated. There is nothing but moves and cannon moves, sword clashing against sword, call and response.

[00:15] You will risk everything for another moment, another chance, and do it again and again. As long as Musashi stands, you can win. Onimusha challenged me to be perfect for ten seconds at a time, and I used it to challenge myself.

[00:27] I found a connection to its hero I did not expect, and will carry with me. It is a remarkable video game.

[00:41] Strange as it may seem, Onimusha is a work of very loose historical fiction. Miyamoto Musashi and his rival Sasuke Ganryu, both based on real samurai, are attacked and killed by monsters called Genma.

[00:57] 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.

[01:09] Now endued with the power to stand against the Genma, Shizuka and 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.

[01:22] There's more, but you should discover Way of the Sword's story for yourself. It's more character-driven than plot-driven, and this cast sings. At the center is Musashi, as compelling and outright cool a character as you could ask for.

[01:36] He resents the gauntlet and the strength that has given him because he didn't earn it himself. He's not a hero by nature. He's crude, and his confidence can border on arrogance, but that's part of what makes him so interesting.

[01:48] 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 the demons as he cuts them down in the coolest ways he's ever seen. Watching Musashi do his thing had me saying, Oh my god, he's so cool, out loud, what felt like every five minutes.

[02:14] But it's not just Musashi's swagger that endears him to you. It's also the relationships that he forms. watching him go from calling Shizuka a gauntlet lady to forming a ride-or-die partnership is a joy,

[02:26] and I understood it because I cared about her too. It doesn't hurt that Wave of the Sword has some of the best facial animations I've ever seen in a video game, elevated further by exceptional voice acting across the board, which effectively sells every second of how these characters feel.

[02:39] Uhhh... So, what the hell, Tremble, what are you doing? Capcom has done a remarkable job of translating the mannerisms of legendary actor Toshiro Nifune, who serves as the model for Musashi's face, right down to the way he walks and his habit of scratching the back of his head.

[02:53] Using the likeness of a dead actor is always fraught, but Capcom navigates it with aplomb here. And Shizuka, man. If Musashi is Onimush heart Shizuka is its clear iron soul It would be easy for the spirit of a woman trapped in the Oni Gauntlet to be reduced to a supporting character but she never presented as anything less in Musashi sequel He may be the one doing the fighting but he can only do it because he borrowing her strength

[03:24] Winning Ruche isn't just an excellent story, it's also a damn fine action game. 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,

[03:37] 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.

[03:49] Honolusha is more wheel and spokes than open world, but there's lots to explore and discover, including plenty of different upgrade materials. Any trip to the wider world means fighting Genma, but fortunately that's where Onimusha is at its best.

[04:01] 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.

[04:14] I came close to giving up many times, but I'd always think, I can end it this far. Just a few more tries and then I'll be done, but I never did, and eventually the credits rolled. I'm not telling you this to brag or show off that this was new. I did it because I wanted to see if I could, and I did it for myself, and I can't talk

[04:29] about Unimusha without mentioning it. Musashi is an incredibly skilled swordsman, with light and heavy attacks that he can chain together into short combos. It's a familiar spell, but where Unimusha's combat system really shines is on defense.

[04:43] In addition to your standard block, Musashi can also dodge, parry, reflect, and do special E-Sing counter-attacks if your timing is precise enough. Dodging is the most reliable, but it rarely puts you on an offense afterward.

[04:55] It carries a list gear, but they both complete a foe's stamina and open them up to further punishment. Meanwhile, the flecks just take up a massive chunk of stamina, but the white whale, the one you'll send away with the sword chasing, is the essential.

[05:08] By pressing an attack button at just the right time, Musashi will sidestep so quickly that it looks like he disappears and then reappears somewhere else, triggering a devastating counterattack. Uninviting this feels incredible, and if you time another attack as your Easton hits regular

[05:22] Genma, you can chain them together to wipe out several small enemies at once. There are also different types of clashes that either require specific button presses or printed mashing depending on what's registered. All of these systems combine and you always have to pay attention, and anything feels

[05:35] like it can happen. It never dissolves. What makes uninvited combat special is how each move has its place. Dodging is particularly good against unarmed attacks, and if you time one right, you'll feel a special meter.

[05:47] Once full, a perfectly timed dodge, called a reflex dodge, will trigger a reflex combo, which will often kill smaller than the outright, and carve a chunk from the lead in.

[05:59] Parries do a little of everything, and if you nail one, you charge the blazing rage, which hits your sword aflame and boosts the damage to your heart. Deflects are perfect against armored enemies who are largely immune to your basic attacks, because you can focus on depleting their stamina staggering them and landing an absurdly powerful break Eason is your defensively grail but the timing is strict and it doesn work on everything Certain attacks can be easened but can be dodged parried or deflected forcing

[06:24] you to pick a strategy on the fly. But the biggest risk of the eason 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

[06:37] before Ethan attempts, the technique always carries huge risks. But lock down your timing and you can do things like Ethan the Lightning Rod. Yes, really.

[06:55] What's most impressive though is how Way of the Sword sells all this. When you parry or deflect an attack, it doesn't look like you were just performing some generic animation. It looks like you actually parried that attack. It makes each fight feel like a unique clash between individuals, especially against bosses.

[07:11] Feedback is everything in an action game like this, and few feel as good moment to moment as Onimusha does. Combine all that with the regular attacks, the special Oni armaments that serve as high damage but neither defend as attacks,

[07:23] 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 game plan and react quickly as the unexpected tests you.

[07:36] The only reliable way to get healing yellow souls out of your enemies is to use a certain owning armament or pull off break-eatsons. When you use a break-eason on a regular foe, you kill them outright.

[07:49] Against bosses, however, you choose a weak point to attack. Striking at red weak points will deal incredible damage, while purple ones will deal about half as much damage, but reward you with additional souls.

[08:01] And here's 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 as the spirit mirrors the music of Sager Game between fights. That meant staggering the boss or spending my limited gauge to use the two Celestials.

[08:18] Success was built in small moments, knowing when to parry, when to deflect, when to risk the E-Send, 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 in them.

[08:31] I was often tempted to give up. Only Musha 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 just retry.

[08:44] To succeed required every tool I had. I couldn't think beyond the next ten seconds, the next decision, the next moment. Most great seasons were spent to gain souls and restore my health. Each time, I was prolonging the fight.

[08:56] Each time, I was betting on myself for the next ten seconds. After a while, the distance between myself and Musashi would fall away as I acted purely on instinct. I gave myself to the next ten seconds. In those moments, Onimusha soared.

[09:08] There are fights here that I will remember for a very long time. They are excellent regardless of how you play, but by choosing to limit myself to comebacks in the moments of perfection mattered even more. Like Musashi I put my belief in myself and the strength of my technique Just when I thought it was impossible I would find a way My journey neared here

[09:34] Onimusha's bosses are its greatest strength, but its optional content is so strong 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 living to tell stories.

[09:48] 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

[10:00] by the gods. Many of these side quests build on one another, telling a single narrative across several smaller stories that Murasaki then records. Other side quests don't always feature the same level of detail, often lacking voice

[10:14] acting, but using drawings to find hidden treasures scattered around Kyoto returning to previous series 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

[10:27] 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.

[10:39] Some were funny, some were sad, and some were just playing the beard, but I enjoyed reading them all. Equippable charms and stat upgrades provide an incentive to hunt down the optional upgrade items scattered around Kyoto and the other areas. Which in turn made me want to explore the city, figure out workarounds for areas that

[10:54] had been blocked off, and open shortcuts once I did so I could get back there more easily. Each part of Onimusha's touches every other part, and each piece is better for how it combines into a greater whole. That said, some mini-bosses appear what feels like dozens of times, and certain main boss

[11:09] fights recur a few times as well. I was never bothered by these revisits, however. In fact, I often welcomed them. There's a chance to test my skills again, to gain greater mastery, to put the will and musashi that were here now against those that had come before.

[11:24] Each time, I learn something, as that will be handy when I go back for another run in Medium Plus or in Carnage, an additional difficulty you unlock after you complete the campaign. This time, though, I think I'll let myself use items. Probably.

[11:36] It's a testament to Onimusha's way of the sword's combat that I could beat it without using some of the systems designed to help you progress. Not because you don't need them,

[11:48] but because it leaves room for you to truly understand its action and overcome their absence through sheer determination. Even if I hadn't initially made things harder for myself, though, I still would have loved spending time with the charismatic denizens of this world, all

[12:00] of whom are as well-acted as they are animated. I still would have thought that Nishashii himself was one of the coolest, most interesting protagonists in any video game, and I would have loved going on this journey with him. I still would have favored the creative fights against dozens of impressive bosses.

[12:14] My journey reflected Musashi, and Onimushin made that possible. The best part of life is the challenge. You have to learn to love the fight. For more in the world of action games, check out our reviews of Reznor,

[12:26] A Plague Tale Legacy, or Mortal Shell 2. And for everything else, keep it here at IGN.