The demonic highs of ‘Onimusha’ make up for jarring lows

The soaring heights of "Onimusha: Way of the Sword" are so superb that they nearly wipe away the blemishes of its more forgettable parts. | CAPCOM

Sep 12, 2026

If a new album has some real bangers alongside a few dud tracks you always skip, can it still be considered a great listen overall?

In a nutshell, that’s “Onimusha: Way of the Sword,” the latest hack-and-slash action game from Capcom and the first in the series since 2006. While the game’s lows are obvious, its stratospheric highs trick you into overlooking those faults.

In this reboot of the franchise, heavily inspired by Japanese folklore, players step into the shoes of legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (with a likeness modeled after the late actor Toshiro Mifune), who is hell-bent on improving his martial skills as he travels across Kyoto at the dawn of the Edo Period (1603-1867). But when hordes of genma (monstrous creatures and longtime foes of the “Onimusha” series) start to break through the weakening barrier between our reality and the underworld, Musashi is cut down by a pack of genma and sent to hell — before being revived as an onimusha (literally, “demon warrior”) thanks to the power of a mysterious gauntlet granted to him by an oni (demon) of uncertain motivation.

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