Back in 2001 Capcom was the king of character action games. In truth, I was so into them back then, that the original Onimusha and Devil May Cry games have almost smushed together in my head. I loved both, but it was clear as time progressed that Devil May Cry was going to be the one that stuck around, with Onimusha fading slowly.
But the unthinkable has happened, and not only are people starting to make action games that don’t want to make you miserable again, but Capcom has decided that 2026 will be the year another great franchise returns. And after a little hands-on time with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, I couldn’t be happier.
Of the little story I got to see, it’s not entirely clear where protagonist Miyamoto Musashi fits into the wider narrative yet. He has the Oni Gauntlet that lets you reap souls, but he doesn’t seem to know an awful lot about it. In fact, a scene with it talking to him suggests there may even be a strange humorous character that’ll journey along with you. It pipes up and tells you what’s going on, then goes quiet, with Musashi wondering why it was dormant prior, before being told it had nothing to say until then and won’t answer to “Gauntlet Lady”, which is fair enough if you ask me. Humour in an Onimusha title? Why not.
As you’d expect, you have to manage your health and stamina, and the returning Issen attacks can be used if you deplete an enemy stamina gauge. If you don’t remember what the Break Issen moves are, they’re essentially flashy finishers. You can parry as well, which is useful against pesky archers, and of course you’ll be wanting to grab any souls that spew out of defeated enemies.
The Oni Gauntlet allows Mushashi to see some form of remnant from the past, and it’ll flash to alert you to this. It shows Malice in the area which you need to purify. This manifests by getting you to use Oni Vision that will show threads you will need to destroy to clear the way. This reminded me of Kunitsu-Gami, both visually and in the practice of clearing out demonic-looking things from the blocking the path.
There are special moves to unlock that require a full Oni gauge, and even in the short demo I had, there were a good variety of enemies to fight. I was pleasantly surprised when I found a cart I could push, and expecting it to be a puzzle based situation, but instead I used it to plough through enemies. Likewise, a ledge I could just climb instead of finding a way round to the other side reminded me this is a more traditional action adventure game, and not a soulslike, despite, you know, you actually collecting souls.
My demo time ended with a boss fight against a character called Sasaki Ganryu. Another Oni Gauntlet wielder, at first this felt like a comedic character who clearly has history with Musashi. Ganryu is bored as his gauntlet has made him powerful, so wants to fight you. During the fight he specifically says “death can’t stop us”, with Musashi saying “I wish it’d stop you, at least”.
The boss fight introduces some slow-motion moments, a two-handed attack, and the option to target specific areas with Break Issen during a named boss fight. I didn’t get to see what difference the choice made, and I went for the head, not the body. Either way it seems it’ll do a large amount of damage. I did beat Ganryu, and he seemed dead, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he came back later in the game.
And honestly, my short time with Onimusha: Way of the Sword was enough to leave me very excited to play more. My only concern was that the voice acting seemed slightly strange, with accents that didn’t seem to befit the era or characters. That said, it looks great, and my main annoyance was that I’ll have to wait until 2026 to play it.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is coming in 2026.
