Nostalgia glasses on! Onimusha has a truly special place in my heart. I was still trying to find that killer PS2 game that set it apart from the PS1. Any body who remembers the early days of the PS2 remembers that it was pretty slim pickings for quite a while.
Then came Onimusha. The first game to truly feel like it was built from the ground up with the horse power of the PS2 in mind. I was a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise on the consoles predecessor. Onimusha followed that same formula. Survival Horror, pre rendered backgrounds and the now archaic tank control scheme. It worked! I loved it then and I can tell you that 18 years later, I love it now as well.
The story begins with the massive battle of Okehazama. during the siege, Samanosuke of the Akechi Clan and our main protagonist is attacked by Nobunaga Oda's men. Though Nobunaga reigns victorious. He is shot dead by an arrow to the throat collapsing on the spot. This sets the stage for our hero to be summoned to a fortress with a letter beckoning him to investigate the disappearance of his cousins servants. It's a fun little story mixed in with some real world history and fiction regarding demons and reincarnation. The story is fun, albeit occasionally cheesy and some rough around the edges dialogue. But it does the job fine to put together the setting for that the game does best. Killing Demons with some awesome weaponry and using their souls to become an unstoppable wrecking machine towards the end of the game.
Nostalgia glasses off for a sec. This is an old game. Game design and gameplay mechanics have come a long way in 18 years. I was quite confident in my memory of how Onimusha played. I was in for a few surprises when some of the outdated mechanics from that time had forgotten reared their ugly heads. The static background images are also quite jarring for todays standard. the camera cannot move and you will transition to the next static background when walking into an entry point. This was fine for me as I have experienced these types of design in the past. For a new comes however. They may definitely feel at odds not being in control of their camera or surroundings.
Let's just start with the negative side of this port. You cannot skip cutscenes. Yes you read that correctly. You CANNOT skip cutscenes at any time, period. Now I am not the kind of player that skips through the story line of any game. Stories, interesting lore and are fantastic and one of the main reasons video games are so appealing to me. I am however opposed to dying in a difficult boss fight and having to watch sometimes up to 6 minutes of cutscenes to retry learning the bosses attack patterns and conquer my foe. This was an odd choice 18 years ago. This is blasphemy in 2019. The reason Capcom hasn't included that option in this port is not only baffling. But downright shameful. It's such an easy quality of life feature that just seems like a no brainer with how far we've come in game design. So, while not a deal breaker for me. It was just something that definitely threw me off guard.
My next critique is the lack of the Genma Onimusha additional content. Genma Onimusha was released a year later on the original Xbox with some serious extra content. New bosses, new gameplay mechanics. Extra costumes, a new area and a ton of gameplay balances and tweaks.
It seems odd to me for them to remaster a lesser version of the game. Maybe DLC or a patch is in the works. But so far, no news from Capcom to confirm this strange omission.
Now, Lets focus on what this game does best! The meat and potatoes. The combat and gameplay. Compared to the Resident Evil series of the time. This is lightning fast combat with the encouragement of pounding your enemies with a barrage of well timed attacks. There is no conserving ammo here! You will be engaging some pretty fierce enemy types which will take quite a bit of punishment.
Your arsenal will consist of three expertly designed weapons with their own special attacks. As well as two ranged weapons for foes perched on rooftops or out of swords reach. These three weapon types have their own strengths and weaknesses. Your lightning based Katana is about medium strength and speed with a special attack that locks on to an enemy with ease. Your broad sword based weapon is extremely powerful but quite slow with a special attack that has to be carefully aimed. These kind of balances make Onimusha's combat a real treat. Each encounter is made easier depending on your weapon of choice. I had a great time going in and out of encounters discovering what weapon type works with what situation. It really showed the high level of polish that the development team incorporated into this title. I could tell right from the get go this wasn't their first game in the genre.
There are a handful of bosses throughout your adventure as well. They to have received some incredible balancing and I never found myself frustrated or confused of how to dispose of them. It's not to say that them or the game is too easy. In fact I would say the game is actually quite on the difficult side which is a probably an example of its development time. The boss patterns were great to figure out and once I realized the best load out to dispose of them. They fell one by one. Going back to my negative feelings about Onimusha. I just hated rewatching cutscenes if one of them got the best of me.
Your three weapons and special attacks can all be upgraded. This is where O.W. truly shines. The upgrade system is fun, clever and smart. You use the vanquished souls of your foes as currency to level up your arsenal. Your gauntlet will then become a vacuum in a sense to suck these souls towards you in real time during battle. It's a genius risk, reward system because these souls will not stick around for long. They will float off screen never to be seen again you don't absorb them fast enough. In real time you must absorb them into your gauntlet while your enemies still attack and stalk you. It was probably my favorite aspect of the gameplay while I frantically tried to get enough currency to upgrade my gear or my health with yellow orbs. It may seem simple in premise. But they will throw in some enemies that will also absorb these souls and multiply them if they are vanquished before disappearing. It truly kept me on my toes throughout the entire adventure.
So now comes the burning question. Does Onimusha: Warlords still hold up today? Well, with the visual upgrades and the virtually no loading time. I believe so. However please keep in mind that I had an affinity with this game being a huge fan of survival horror for over 20 years. The new analogue control scheme is an ABSOLUTEY welcome as well. the tank style control scheme of yore would've made this an even tougher game for new comers to get into.
A few more tweaks and some of the extra content showing up from this previous port would've been very welcoming. But, overall for the 20 dollar price tag. Onimusha holds up still incredibly well.
If you like survival horror or have a great memory of playing this game back in the day. The overhauled visuals and convenience of playing this on a modern machine definitely out weigh the negatives. Now, lets hope the far superior 2 and 3 get the same treatment!
All images belong to their respected owners
Score7/10
Playtime: 9 hours
Platform: Nintendo Switch