Exploring Kyoto, Onimusha Style

I was fortunate enough to go hands-on with Onimusha: Way of the Sword back at Gamescom 2025, and as a big fan of the series, I was delighted to see that a lot of the series’ identity was still intact. I had two main worries going into the Gamescom hands-on: the first was the identity, and the second was about the potential linearity of the game.

My preview at Gamescom in 2025 didn’t do anything to alleviate that second point, and it remained my main worry, until now. My latest hands-on with Onimusha: Way of the Sword allowed me to explore a much larger slice where I was surprised by the amount of freedom I had when exploring East Kyoto.

With this better look at Musashi’s adventure, I’m now more excited than ever to get my hands on the game.

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Musashi finds himself battling the Genma horde in Kyoto.

Of Samurai and Genma

My latest hands-on session picked up right where the battle with Ganryu ended, as I got a bit more context on the gauntlets that Musashi and Ganryu both wield and the threat that engulfs all of Kyoto. Sticking with the Japanese voice acting that was set for us, I continue to be impressed by Musashi as a character; his quips and demeanor feel real enough for someone thrust into the situation he finds himself in, and I looked forward to every new cutscene.

Once I regained control and made my way out of the temple grounds, with my Oni Power (where you can see objects that aren’t usually there), I was able to follow a large beast into a cave. Eventually, after a challenging battle, I found myself in Eastern Kyoto, where the game took a bit of a shift from what I was expecting.

While I didn’t get a ton of time with the narrative, what I did see was enough to keep me interested, and I learned who the main antagonist is. While I won’t spoil the name here, it was enough to get me intrigued as much as Oda Nobunaga did all those years ago. While in Kyoto, Musashi will find himself with some allies, one who offers training, and another assistance dealing with the crisis taking place in Kyoto.

That’s not all, though, as the people of Kyoto have a role to play. While you explore this area (more on this later), you’ll run into the citizens and can help them out with the invading Genma. During my preview, this led to a task where I had to work out why people who were making wishes were getting more than they bargained for, followed by another boss fight.

Although just a small sample of what to expect with the narrative elements of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the game does a fantastic job of setting up the crisis Kyoto finds itself in along with the main players.

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The Genma soon invade Eastern Kyoto.

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You’ll have a much larger area to explore that gets larger as the story progresses.

Taking in the Sights

As alluded to at the top of this preview, my biggest surprise was just how open Eastern Kyoto was. Once I finished with the initial area from the demo, I found myself back here and was free to explore the area while I set off to complete my main tasks. The initial part of the city you can explore is fairly large, and there is a red mist around the edges of it that will eventually be lifted as the story continues, increasing the area you can explore.

This was far beyond what I expected when it came to this new entry, but it was a welcome discovery, and it was incredibly fun to run around the city, hack away at Genma, and find lots of loot scattered around. You’ll find chests, materials, and more hidden away in the city, and you can run into citizens who may need assistance from a group of Genma. Save them, and you’ll be awarded items that increase your favor, an important currency needed to upgrade your Charms.

Even when I explored all of the city that I could in my hands-on, I could already see places that I couldn’t get to until I removed some of the malice, getting me excited already for future trips into the city. Using Spirit Mirrors, you can always fast travel around the city (or previous areas located outside of the city), so I’d be surprised if you could miss anything important, promoting more exploration where you can.

Perhaps my favorite part of my hands-on with the game was when I reached a shrine that created a dream-like atmosphere once I entered the grounds. Here I ran into people who were making wishes that were being granted but warped grotesquely, and I was tasked with finding clues. After tracking down some stolen stout pillars hidden around the city, I returned and learned the cause of this: Rasho-gan the Wish Warper, a deadly Genma whom I had to take out.

While I only got a small glance at this part of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, it alleviated my biggest fear of the game (being too linear), especially as Capcom has already nailed the combat.

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You can help citizens in Kyoto and earn favor that can be spent on upgrading Musashi’s Charms.

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Rifts will appear throughout the city that will continue to summon Genma until they’re cleansed.

Dancing Blades

Of course, a major part of the Onimusha series is combat, and although a lot has changed, a lot of what makes the series what it is has made the transition, as I mentioned in my Gamescom 2025 preview (LINK). This time around, unlike the recently released demo, I didn’t have access to the Blaze Gauge right away, which makes sense as Musashi felt far too powerful for the stage of the game that the demo took place in. Likewise, the dodge equivalent of this mechanic also needed to be unlocked, meaning there’s a much better gradual increase of options available to you in the full game.

While I won’t go over the basic combat systems found in the demo and the Gamescom 2025 preview again, I did have the opportunity to test out a new Oni Arm, the Wind-Whipper, a dual-bladed weapon that allows you to, well, whip up a storm that strikes a large group of enemies. Better yet, if there is a fire source nearby, such as a sconce or brazier, you will ignite the gusts, causing fire damage at the same time. It’s these context-based situations that really bring the combat system to life, something I saw a lot during the two boss encounters I got to try out.

The first, at the end of the area from the demo, was perhaps the highlight of what I can come to expect from the combat in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. The massive Daidara, a Genma with a club to match his size, felt very much like an endurance encounter where I fully got to grips with the combat system. Our arena, the caverns of a former Oni settlement, where the majority of Daidara’s attacks would blow away the walls that surrounded us. As someone who tends to rely more heavily on dodging enemy attacks, I had to change that mindset quickly if I wanted to defeat my adversary.

After dying multiple times on this boss, I quickly figured out that the game really wants you to parry and deflect (two different mechanics) when dealing with bosses, for the most part. While dodging can be useful in certain situations, you really want to focus on performing an Issen Break (by draining their Issen gauge) on bosses so you can really deal major damage. This becomes challenging, then, as Daidara often chains together multiple attacks and can easily break your own stance if you’re not careful. Fortunately, you can lure Daidara next to a wall and cause him to get his club stuck, allowing you time to get some strikes in.

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Time a parry at the right moment, and you may send a boss plummeting to the ground.

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Some bosses, however, will swap brute strength for speed, making you rethink your approach.

I was also introduced to another mechanic here: Blazing Enemies. As you attack enemies and souls are released, they have the ability to absorb them themselves. Not only will this restore some of their health if they absorb yellow souls, but eventually, it will put them into a Blazing state. Think of this like an enrage, which sees them get stronger and gain new attacks to use against you. Of course, you can prevent this by absorbing any rogue souls yourself, so it’s a delicate dance of knowing when to attack, when to absorb souls, or deflect and parry that feels very satisfying to play.

So, while Daidara was a slower brute, the other boss I got to try out, Rasho-gan, was the complete opposite once I got to its second phase (a trend I noticed with most bosses in the game so far). Unshackled from its shrine, Rasho-gan launches jumping attacks with devastating speed that, unlike Daidara, meant dodging had a much larger part to play here. While parrying and deflecting its sword strikes and ranged attacks, once Rasho-gan closes the distance, dodging becomes far more attractive. It was good to see two wildly different boss encounters and how I might approach them, and it gets me excited for what other encounters I can expect in the final release.

Tools of the Trade

The final part of the game that I managed to get a good look at was the progression systems, another feature I was curious to learn about. Once you get the ability to explore Eastern Kyoto, you’ll be able to use Shrines to upgrade various aspects of Musashi’s equipment and learn new abilities.

Musashi’s Clothing, Sword, and Gauntlet all have proficiency levels that are increased when you enhance a piece of equipment enough times using the various materials found around the world. Once you go up a proficiency level, you’ll get an even larger stat boost than the regular increments normally obtained. Musashi’s Clothing is centered around his health and defense for the most part; his Sword will affect your regular attack power, Issen power, and Oni Armament Power, while his Gauntlet upgrades will affect abilities related to absorbing souls.

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There are many ways to customize Musashi.

Next up, you have Basic Skills, which are upgraded through the use of Red Souls and Power Stones (items found in chests and as quest rewards). These include skills such as improving your Deflect and Parry skills and unlocking mechanics such as the Blazing State. Finally, you have Special Skills, which are upgraded through the use of Red Souls and Power Stones. These will be focused on improving your Oni Sight, such as adding the ability to mark nearby treasure, or learning new skills for your various Oni Armaments.

There’s a lot of customization to be had in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and this all feeds into that gameplay loop of exploring the environment, finding materials, and enhancing Musashi to really feel powerful and deliver devastating blows to the Genma threat.

Despite playing just a few hours of this latest Onimusha title, any lingering fears I may have had as a longtime fan of the series have evaporated, leaving me with just excitement for the upcoming release at the start of September. My main hopes now lie in wishing that the rest of the game can deliver, and we see a lot more of the series.