Capcom's comeback slice-and-dice actioner has the mechanics to back up its swagger. After multiple hands-on sessions spanning Summer Game Fest and Tokyo Game Show, Onimusha: Way of the Sword emerges as a deliberate, punishing, and genuinely satisfying return to the franchise that respects both its heritage and modern action game expectations.
The demo mission, titled "Careful What You Wish For," unfolds at Yasui Konpiragu Shrine, a once-sacred site now corrupted by a malevolent Genma who grants wishes in the most twisted ways imaginable. A woman who envied others loses her eyes. A man with chronic knee pain gets his wish fulfilled permanently. Two lovers seeking eternal togetherness become living dolls. The shrine's victims are eerily content with their fate, making Musashi the only force capable of intervention. To confront the source of this madness, he must first locate the Five Stout Pillars, some of which have been scattered throughout the grounds by humans under the Genma's spell.
Musashi's design carries real weight. Capcom modeled the protagonist on Toshiro Mifune, the legendary Japanese actor famous for his work with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The character animation captures Mifune's essence with remarkable precision, from his shoulder shrugs to his casual head scratches. This commitment to capturing an actor's physicality shows in every frame.
Combat is where Way of the Sword separates itself from the noise. This is not a combo-heavy spectacle like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. Instead, Capcom has built an action system around deliberate, defensive play. Light and heavy attacks form the foundation, but they can transition seamlessly between each other, creating a fluid rhythm. The real magic happens when you lean into defensive mechanics.
Parrying opens enemies up for counterattacks. Deflecting builds the enemy stagger meter and can redirect projectiles. A perfectly timed dodge triggers a Reflex Dodge, which grants a powerful counter. Push your luck further with an Issen counter, attacking just before an opponent's strike lands to potentially execute lesser enemies outright, though mistiming means you eat damage. Chaining defensive techniques activates Blazing State, supercharging Musashi's blade and causing enemies to drop blue souls that power Oni Armaments, special weapons capable of clearing entire rooms or devastating single targets.
The layering feels generous without becoming overwhelming. Successful Reflex Dodges unlock Reflex Combos for sustained damage output. Blade Barrages and Blade Locks introduce choreographed moments requiring precise input timing. Every tool serves a purpose, and mastering the defensive toolkit makes combat feel less like button mashing and more like movement through space and consequence.
The demo's climactic fight against Rasho-gan, the Genma holding the shrine hostage, tested whether the mechanics could hold weight in sustained combat. Rasho-gan forces you to respect spacing and commitment, punishing aggressive players who overextend. When his second health bar appears, new tricks emerge: summoning chunks of the shrine to crash down like divine punishment. The solution remains unchanged: parry, deflect, counter, and strike when openings appear. A second attempt revealed how well the game teaches mastery, with Rasho-gan barely landing a blow the second time around.
The difficulty presents one genuine concern. Playing on the harder available demo mode, the fight never felt desperate until deliberately ignoring healing items. For action game enthusiasts who chase punishing difficulty, Way of the Sword risks feeling underbiting at launch. Capcom showed restraint in the demo build, holding back equipment and upgrades Musashi would access later in the full game, but even accounting for that handicap, the challenge ceiling seemed negotiable. A higher difficulty tier or New Game Plus mode with teeth could elevate the experience significantly.
Walking away from the demo, the impulse wasn't relief but regret at having to stop playing. Capcom's demonstrated ability to maintain this quality across a full release would position Way of the Sword as another major hit in their current hot streak.
Author Emily Chen: "This has the juice, but it's going to need teeth to stay satisfying beyond the first playthrough."
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