Onimusha: Way of the Sword caused quite a stir upon its reveal in late 2024. The revival of this beloved franchise comes at a time when Capcom is in perhaps the richest vein of form that the industry has ever seen; this year alone, the Japan-based studio has delivered two other exceptional titles in Resident Evil: Requiem and Pragmata. It’s no surprise, then, that Way of the Sword wastes no time in proving it deserves a seat at this illustrious table.
The latest in the Onimusha series follows Miyamoto Musashi: an extremely skilled but endearingly bumbling samurai who is based on a historical figure of the same name. Quite against his will, Musashi is thrust into a war on the hoards of hell after his untimely death, whereafter he is revived by a mysterious magical gauntlet that sustains and empowers him — with the caveat of being irremovably bonded to his flesh. From here, he has no choice but to wage war on the demons emerging across 19th-century Kyoto, viewing this as his only option to ultimately part ways with the gauntlet.
Musashi is a master swordsman, and nowhere is this more obviously realised than in the ultra-slick combat. Every sword swing, parry, deflection and magical ability he pulls off has a phenomenal sense of impact, making the moment-to-moment gameplay addictive in a way that only the best action games are. Initially, Musashi has only a few abilities at his disposal, but new ones are steadily introduced to the player during the opening hours until a variety of tools for self expression are available. A perfectly timed parry or deflection can stagger an enemy, opening them up to a quick but stylish finisher. As the difficulty steadily ramps up, players will be engaged in blade dances with increasingly brutal enemies, the culmination of which is a quick flurry of dodges, parries and deflections before delivering a brutal counterstrike. If everything goes well, that is.
At first, Onimusha: Way of the Sword can feel a little too easy, even on the harder of the two difficulty options. Players are rewarded for sticking it out, though, as it steadily ramps up to allow players to get familiar with the game’s mechanics while respecting their time. With each new combat and traversal ability unlocked, Musashi’s arsenal grows until he becomes a veritable powerhouse. Beware, however: his enemies are strengthened alongside him, ensuring players must remain on their toes.
The balance of the combat and the way it is taught to players bely an extreme confidence from the developers, and this culminates in a perfect action power fantasy. It’s accessible at first without being mind-numbing, but the skill ceiling is high enough that it always feels rewarding. This is most evident in the incredible boss encounters, most of which have a unique quirk to ensure you’re always employing Musashi’s full arsenal of techniques and abilities, and steadily levelling up his combat capabilities as you scour the demonic hellscape that this version of Kyoto has been transformed into.
Tonally, Way of the Sword is fantastically realised. It’s grim, slick, grotesque, and occasionally imbued with a dark sense of humour that permeates throughout the experience, from the iconic visual style and presentation to the well-realised characterisation of Musashi, his allies and his enemies. Most of the story unfolds in the hub area of Eastern Kyoto, which steadily expands as the story progresses and Musashi clears out the demonic fog of war that gates off certain areas. There’s also a variety of side activities and quests to partake in, which unfortunately aren’t immune from some undesirable open-world bloat, but are nevertheless enjoyable enough by virtue of the rewards they offer. At times, Eastern Kyoto can feel a little lifeless as a sandbox, but this is somewhat forgivable given that this is kind of the point for story reasons.
What of the Switch 2 version, then? Given Capcom’s impressive success with Nintendo’s flagship console since its launch, the answer is delightfully predictable: this runs like a dream. The graphics are excellent for the hardware it’s running on, with strong load times and fantastic performance across the board, even in handheld mode. When docked, Onimusha: Way of the Sword outputs at 1080p, and this drops to just 900p when playing handheld (which is quite fantastic for such a graphically demanding title).
There’s a variable framerate mode too for players who don’t want to be locked to 30 frames per second, and this reviewer encountered no major hiccups whatsoever throughout the experience. The Switch 2 version also has a fun—but somewhat gimmicky—control mode that relies on swinging one of the Joy-Cons to execute light and heavy attacks, which further grounds the experience on the system.
It’s a great joy to be a Capcom fan in this era, particularly for Nintendo Switch 2 owners. This is instantly one of the best action titles available on the system, offering a masterfully executed power fantasy that will make players truly feel like a demonically-imbued samurai. Consistently exciting and endlessly engaging, this is yet another title from the developer that can’t be missed.
