Review | Onimusha: Way of the Sword

A short, demonic review

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a 2026 action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom, and it's the first mainline installment in the Onimusha series since Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (2006). The game was released on September 4, 2026, for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

In short, is it worth it? Yes, it is, but you have to know that it feels like playing the new God of War games, minus the story and the characters. And the side content. Still worth it? The combat and boss fights alone carry this game, so if you love that in games, I can't think of a better game than this one. It works flawlessly on PS5 Pro, although there are no Pro modes, just performance and graphical modes. Performance is great, and I recommend that mode.

Story and the characters

The story follows Musashi, a cocky samurai who will learn that demons tend to be strong and that dying is not the end of life. When Musashi finds himself in an overrun Kyoto, he soon falls to a demon's blade, but if you remember the Onimusha games, you know he will soon learn about the gauntlet and how to feed on demon souls. I love this concept, and I've always looked at Onimusha games as RE with swords. It's different now, but we still have swords!

When it comes to the story, it's mediocre, a typical demon sonata where nothing stops until you kill them all. Musashi is a cool character, a bit different from other protagonists, and his development is good. The rest of the crew is also not bad, with some minor lip-sync issues, but overall, there is good voice acting and one of the best scenes I've seen in recent gaming history.

I would still say that this segment lacks more depth and better pacing, especially the side content—which brings nothing to the table. I always found Onimusha games to be about the atmosphere and art, and that is exactly how I interpret this one as well.

Game design, exploration

I've mentioned GOW games. To me, this reboot feels like the same premise, just in the Onimusha world and with an Onimusha plot. I love the new enemy models and the art overall, but the linear exploration and open-world Kyoto are not really what I had hoped for. I don't mind linear locations (every area in between Kyoto, which is a hub and expands as you progress), but I do mind when the rewards are basically a ton of upgrade items.

Pacing is really problematic, and that happens due to the side content. The main plot and simply following the main path are good, and I recommend playing it like that, but if you want to collect everything, you will for sure feel fatigue due to 20+ fetch quests with boring characters (NPCs) and other side activities that are not numerous but feel like a chore.

I do like the reboot approach to the series, but I wish the game revolved more around the combat, maybe some puzzles (I remember one being in the game!), and a better upgrade system. But hey, we have what we have, and that is not bad. It's just not great in all segments.

Combat

The best part is for sure the combat. How good it feels is hard to explain with words, but imagine Sekiro (easy mode) combined with dodging, parrying, deflecting, and transformations, and you get a unique system that feels different from souls-like games but holds its own like it's one. And to mention—it's not as hard as souls games, but the challenge is real (and you can lower the difficulty at any time).

After 32 hours, I still feel the urge to play and enjoy the combat. It's just that good. My issues with it are the lack of basic combo moves (it's like they've invested everything in countering attacks instead of delivering some basic expansion), a simple and weird upgrade system, and only one sword (only cosmetic equipment changes).

Boss fights are some of the best in the industry, although after 30 hours, you really start to feel that parry/deflect/block/dodge + a couple of basic combo moves + stagger finisher and repeat pattern. The visuals and sound are so good that it still works, but the last location and recycled fights in general (outside of boss fights, although some of them are also recycled) are not my thing. I would easily pay the same amount of money for 20 hours of the best content and some good replayability modes instead of this fetch garbage and handholding at times.

Side Content

Side content is terrible. It's like the first wave of fetch quests from 20 years ago. There is nothing I would mention here in a positive sense.

Collecting upgrade items is the only other thing that can count as side content, and even that is really simple. The whole game is about collecting chests to upgrade your armor, sword, and gauntlet, plus learning new skills (which are great, but they still lack basic combo stuff).

The exploration is OK, but the rewards are almost always the same, so it starts to drag after 10 hours or so. I do love the boss and skill training modes. It's a place where you can practice and simply retry the best segment of the game—boss fights.

I really hope they fix what carries over to NG+, as the upgrades don't. So, replaying the game just to beat it on a higher difficulty while thinking that I need to replay the side missions... Hell no.

Conclusion

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is at its best when it lets you fight. The combat feels fantastic, the boss fights are among the best I've played, and the visuals and sound make every major encounter feel special. Unfortunately, mediocre side content, repetitive rewards, questionable pacing, and a limited upgrade system hold it back from being great in every aspect.

Still, the good parts are really good. If you're here for the combat, atmosphere, and boss fights, it's absolutely worth playing. Just don't feel bad about ignoring most of the side content.

The visuals are next-gen in every possible way.

There is a lot of meat to chop, and a lot of chests to open! Too bad they hold so many items that you will probably use in the whole game.

Musashi is a great character and his development hits the spot. Kyoto as the main town - is not really authentic, it feels big instead of private to the player, and I always look for that private feel when exploring.

The animations are so cool! I love me some animations, and this game has them a ton.

Musashi is a great swordsman, and so you will become, let me asure you.