Once I ask Onimusha: Method of the Sword producer Akihito Kadowaki and director Satoru Nihei in the event that they really feel the stress of getting to observe two well-received Capcom releases this yr, Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata, they candidly confirmed they do. The pair even shares that the producers for these two video games routinely want them good luck on maintaining the momentum at any time when they cross paths at work. I can’t think about how nerve-wracking that could possibly be, particularly since Method of the Sword is the primary Onimusha recreation in a few years, including extra stress to get it proper for starved followers. But when what I performed of the sport throughout Summer time Recreation Fest is any indication, Kadowaki and Nihei might have little to fret about.
Onimusha: Method of the Sword stars a fictionalized model of the real-life grasp swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi (whose in-game likeness is modeled after the late actor Toshiro Mifune). When demons often called Genma invade Kyoto, Musashi turns into unwillingly sure to the Oni Gauntlet, a robust heirloom that may additionally speak. The gauntlet, who identifies as Shizuka, mixed with Musashi’s unparalleled swordsmanship, makes the pair the right heroes to purge Kyoto of this risk, a lot to the reluctant Musashi’s chagrin.
My demo unfolds halfway into the journey, with Musashi encountering a blind lady outdoors of a village. The chipper girl says she will inform Musashi resents the Oni gauntlet and the difficulty it is introduced him and provides an answer: go to the Yasui Konpiragu Shrine on the town, the place all of his issues can be solved. Upon coming into the village, which is enveloped in a dreamlike golden glow, I encounter unsettlingly cheery residents who inform me how glad they’re to have had their needs granted by a mysterious god. An outdated man affected by persistent knee ache sought reduction, so his leg was amputated. A pair who wished to remain collectively endlessly had been became a pair of smiling, creepy dolls. Neither Musashi nor Shizuka is aware of what to make of this unusual place, however they know it could’t be good. Shizuka suggests contacting the soul of a heroic oni named Yorimasa, who died in battle, to assist type this place out.
Sadly, visiting Yorimasa’s grave yields no outcomes, so Shizuka suggests calling upon the assistance of the Eight Stout Pillars. These speaking statues stand excessive on ceremony, however solely 5 are current; three of their brothers are lacking, and we’ll want to search out them to obtain their collective blessing. Exploring the village to search out these stone figures results in many fight encounters, giving me an opportunity to see how the motion has developed since I performed an earlier part of the sport final August. The reply is that it’s nonetheless excellent.
Hacking foes aside nonetheless feels considerably deliberate but flashy, however countering and parrying is Method of the Sword’s bread and butter. Enemies have well being and stagger meters, and parrying assaults whittles down the previous, which might open them as much as assault. Parrying feels nice because of satisfying suggestions and clean counter animations (achieved utilizing movement seize utilizing a real-life sword skilled, based on Nihei), similar to slicing off a limb or carving a foe in half. Projectile assaults can be deflected again to their senders. My demo featured floating demonic heads that spat power balls; deflecting these assaults lodged them proper again into their mouths, inflicting them to blow up into a large number of blue ooze.
Auto-directional blocking permits Musashi to protect in opposition to assaults from all sides, whereas dodging assaults on the final second lets Musashi shift behind them in a near-supernatural vogue, opening them as much as counterattacks. Successive parries or blocks construct respective meters that, when full, trigger Musashi’s sword to radiate a blue aura. When on this state, Musashi can reduce down a number of foes in fast succession. Filling the dodge meter unleashes a unique however nonetheless devastating multi-hit assault. Break Issun assaults, flashy ending strikes that act as emphatic exclamation factors to encounters, have been made much more impactful over the previous few months as a result of participant suggestions, Nihei shares.
Defeated enemies drop souls that I manually soak up into the Oni gauntlet by holding a shoulder button. I’m doing this quite a bit as a result of I select to hurry into most encounters head-on regardless of having the choice to stealth execute oblivious foes. I benefit from the fight that a lot. Plus, I wish to grasp parrying, given how essential the mechanic appears to be for fulfillment. I accumulate the three lacking Stouts and return them dwelling. As a reward, they use their energy to condense the malice within the space into one spot, making it straightforward to determine the Genma liable for granting these so-called miracles.
I return to the village, which has misplaced its idyllic glow and is now tinted in ashen gray. I spot a black mass of power forward, and upon reaching it, I’m handled to a flashback. A lady is proven praying to a shadowy Genma often called Rasho-gan, who asks her if she’s “becoming a member of” or “severing”. The lady cries about how she’s been pressured to play the Shamisen each day and is scolded by her mistress when she performs badly. She doesn’t wish to observe enjoying her instrument anymore. Rasho-gan provides a twisted answer: severing the lady’s destiny utilizing her fingers. He takes out a big pair of scissors. Unfazed, the lady provides her fingers, and Rasho-gan amputates her digits in a single slice (off-screen, fortunately, however the sound is gross nonetheless) as Musashi watches in shock and horror. The lady barely flinches and is sort of happy to appreciate she’ll by no means need to play her instrument once more.
Rasho-gan admires his bloody prize as Musashi remarks about how tousled this example is. Immediately, what we regarded as a magical recording of Rasho-gan from the previous instantly turns and addresses Musashi straight. The creature makes an attempt to sweet-talk Musashi into letting him take away the gauntlet by taking his complete arm; Musashi is sort of bewitched by Rasho-gan’s supernatural charms earlier than Shizuka yells for him to snap out of it. Good factor, too, as a result of Musashi catches Rasho-gan’s huge blade on the final second, kicking off one hell of a boss battle.
Because the battle begins, Rasho-gan takes his true type: a disturbing humanoid mass of human arms and fingers. A defiant Musashi tells Rasho-gan he gained’t be getting something from him. Rasho-gan wields a big sword and connects to surrounding objects utilizing what I can solely describe as spectral umbilical cords. Hacking away wildly at this boss has restricted success, however I quickly notice that parrying will win the day. Taking part in defensively and deflecting his tough assault patterns drastically lowers his stamina meter, creating openings to retaliate. This intense sword dance jogs my memory of the most effective battles in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which might be the best reward I can supply. I would not say Method of the Sword’s parry is simply pretty much as good as Sekiro’s, however the depth and satisfaction of deflecting assaults is unquestionably within the ballpark.
Different assaults can’t be blocked, similar to when Rasho-gan makes use of his cords to choose up massive objects, similar to boulders, bushes, and even complete buildings, to throw at Musashi. Rapidly firing Musashi’s bow to sever these connections causes the objects Rasho-gan holds to crash down on him, dealing injury. So much is going on on this battle, however I discover my rhythm parrying his assaults and interrupting his ranged strikes, till I lastly carry Rasho-gan to his knees. Sadly, I don’t get to complete him, as Rasho-gan makes a run for it. He doesn’t get far, nonetheless, because of a deadly intervention from a personality I gained’t spoil.
“That specific boss, Rasho-gan, slightly than being sort of born from a specific sort of monster or mythological creature, is extra sort of tied to the placement itself,” explains Nihei by a translator once I ask in regards to the inspirations for Rasho-gan. “So the place that you just battle him in, Yasui Konpiragu temple in Kyoto, it is an actual temple. And that place has lengthy had legends related to sort of bonding and separating fates, and there is a whole lot of imagery tied to that with the threads and cords. So sort of interested by that location and what sort of twist [we] may placed on it’s sort of the place that boss was basically born from.’
I cherished this battle, and it ended my time with Onimusha: Method of the Sword on a excessive notice. Each Sekiro fan has in all probability been chasing that recreation’s highs since 2019, and whereas I gained’t say Capcom’s motion recreation is the second coming of From Software program’s ninja traditional, it’s one of many closest to achieve that fashion whereas nonetheless feeling distinctly Onimusha. Tack on how a lot of an entertaining pair Musashi and Shizuka appear to be, and I can’t wait to face all the things this corrupted Kyoto throws at me on September 25.
