While others have been talking about Bloodborne, F-Zero, Half-Life, and Hollow Knight: Silksong each time a gaming event rolls around, I've been keeping my fingers crossed for a sign of life from Onimusha. There was something about the first two games in particular that clicked so incredibly well for me almost 25 years ago that I haven't quite been able to forget them since.
Fortunately Capcom heard my cries. During The Game Awards in December it finally happened, Onimusha: Way of the Sword was announced, and perhaps to remind everyone of the series and make the brand relevant again, a remaster of 2002's Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny was also announced, and over the past week I've had the privilege of playing through the adventure.
This remaster is extremely close to the original, and there's no new content to speak of beyond some fan-service in the menus consisting of a bunch of concept art, the ability to listen through the music, and play a number of mini-games. Capcom has, however, made some changes to the game controls, such as allowing you to switch weapons more quickly, and unless I've become a much more skilful gamer in the two decades since I last played it, I think the difficulty level has also been turned down slightly. It has, however, compensated with an extra challenging mode called Hell, which I'm not going to waste any energy on.
If you haven't played Onimusha before, it's kind of a missing link between the original Resident Evil games and Ninja Gaiden. Capcom uses its static backgrounds and camera angles to tell an ultra-Japanese story instead of surviving Raccoon City, and you don't even have to navigate in the direction you are facing like Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine did, plus the stylish battles are completely missing. Instead, you get a really smooth combat system at your disposal where you can take on larger amounts of enemies at once.
Broadly speaking, you have melee weapons (variants of swords, spears, and the like) and ranged weapons (such as bows, arrows, and rifles) at your disposal, during which you mow down enemies on the assembly line. To add some depth to the game, there are also special abilities available, which cost different types of magic points to prevent over-usage. These are particularly useful against bosses and consist of the ability to make an opponent stand still, as well as activating a super ability that allows you to briefly deal a lot of blows without taking damage yourself.
The big twist, however, is found in a really exciting counterattack mode. Instead of trying to time a block button, attack is the best defence, and if you get your attack in while your opponent is doing theirs, you'll kill the bad guy instantly, and you can even complete multiple ones if there are a lot of opponents in front of you at once. In addition, there's a fairly flexible system where your opponents release "genma" that you can absorb, giving you life, magic, and the ability to upgrade your equipment. However, these genma are volatile and disappear and you don't have much time to absorb them with a press of the B button, which often makes for interesting situations in combat because I like to have my genma, but I also like to avoid getting killed.
So far so good, but the system of fixed backgrounds and camera angles unfortunately often shows its age in combat. If you go a little too far to the left, you can end up in a new screen and are suddenly facing the wrong way and can no longer see the enemy you just fought. In boss fights, it often gets even worse when they quickly move out of view and you can't see where they've gone because you can't rotate the camera. It has a certain charm, but let's not pretend that this is something we want more of in today's gaming world. It disappeared for a reason, and it gets frustrating countless times during the ten-hour adventure.
The story revolves around the demon lord Oda Nobunaga who has been resurrected to spread death and destruction around him, which we get a taste of in a particularly brutal intro. We can't have that, and so we take on the role of Jubei Yagyu, an Onimusha tasked with stopping Nobunaga's demonic rampage. The story is told mainly in cutscenes and text, and is reminiscent of low-budget Japanese films, which may sound harsh, but it's something I actually like. Those who know their manga and anime will also recognise it as the story is straightforward, filled with dry humour and offers elements that would have felt completely impossible to write in today's society, and I'm almost surprised (but happy) that Capcom hasn't chosen to delete or rewrite some parts.
Added to this are allies that appear during the course of the adventure, depending on how you treat them. In true Animal Crossing fashion, you're expected to collect and buy gifts for them, where it's a matter of knowing who should have what. Is it Magoichi Saiga who should get the booze or the binoculars, and is it appropriate to give a red parrot to Kotaro Fuma? The only one who is easy to figure out is Oyu of Odani, a woman who likes jewellery, perfume, and mirrors. By spoiling your friends, you can get them to assist you on various occasions, which in a way allows you to personalise an otherwise very straightforward adventure.
It's often difficult to review a remaster and put them side-by-side against today's games. The age often shows through - these are old titles after all - and if a game had been released today with the same setup, I wouldn't be so forgiving. It's a kind of special treatment, but the fact is that I think Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny still holds up pretty well. Sure, all instructions are presented through a wall of text instead of being pedagogically taught, the dialogue feels underdeveloped and lacking by today's standards, and the battles are hampered by the locked camera angles.
But at the same time, there's nothing quite like what the Onimusha series offers. There's plenty of Japanese mumbo-jumbo to enjoy, the 16th century world is wonderfully designed, and Jubei Yagyu and his friends are all great characters. Plus, the game never gets frustrating or drawn out thanks to the slightly smoother gameplay system and the fact that it's only around ten hours long. So... if you want an ultra-Japanese samurai adventure that you can enjoy and can withstand the fact that its foundations were established for PlayStation 2, Gamecube, and Xbox, then I definitely think you should go for it.