Onimusha: Way of the Sword looks like an incredible PS2 throwback in all the right ways, but with a modern feel and a swaggering protagonist I already love

It's starting to feel like Capcom can't miss, and after seeing a hands-off gameplay demo of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and speaking with the game's developers at Summer Game Fest, I don't think that streak is ending anytime soon. This is a confident comeback for a long-dormant series, and one that appears to perfectly capture the vibes of PS2 action-horror in a gorgeously realized modern package.

It's been nearly 20 years since the last proper Onimusha game, but Capcom says "it's been a long time coming for us" as much as it has for fans, as the studio has never given up its hopes on bringing the series back. A lot of things just got in the way first.

"We actually had wanted to continue the series ever since the last title was released," producer Akihito Kadowaki told me via translator, "but just a confluence of factors meant that it never quite came together until early 2020, which was when this project kicked off development. Part of it was getting the core team that we wanted to work on the game to be available, and everyone had this or that project in the lineup they had to take care of first."

The other big factor was the development of the RE Engine, which "saw the technological possibilities coming together to make this title possible." Those technological advances were apparent in the demo from its fantastic visuals through to its smooth action, but there's still something of the old school in how Way of the Sword plays.

Hack and slash

This demo was quite linear, seeing protagonist Musashi Miyamoto take on a series of Genma demons at a modestly fictionalized version of the real-world Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Each encounter sees Musashi come upon a group of Genma, and you're benefited by quickly building a strategy for how you take down your foes.

Your guard can block attacks from any direction – you just have to be careful not to take too many attacks, as your guard can break – which gives you time to plan your own strikes. You can redirect enemy attacks so that your foes run into walls or even flaming torches that'll take them down in a hurry. You can even deflect enemy archers Star Wars-style, reflecting the arrows straight back at them to kill them in a hurry.

And, of course, Onimusha's signature Issen move returns, where you parry incoming strikes by making your own attack at the right time to instantly take down foes, sometimes slicing them right in half as you do. The Issen kills can be chained together against multiple enemies, too. As director Satoru Nihei puts it, the Issen is "a more active way to get players involved with reading and reacting to the enemy's moves than just constantly being on defense."

This pace of combat evokes the old Onimusha, where you'd fight enemies screen-by-screen on prerendered backgrounds. Here, the areas are far more dynamic, but that feeling of entering an encounter, carefully making your moves, and moving forward is still preserved.

Particularly impressive throughout the demo were the combat animations, which look deliciously brutal and really bring forward Musashi's more playful, sardonic personality, showing him finishing off foes with a certain swagger that's very compelling. Capcom wanted to move away from the classic image of the serious samurai with Musashi, and he's just as magnetic in the game as he is in the cutscenes we've seen in the early trailers.

"Musashi Miyamoto is a figure who we felt wouldn't be averse to bending or breaking the rules and using what was available to him in any given situation to just survive, win each fight, and get to the next one," Nihei explains. "Whether that means grabbing a tatami mat and throwing it at an enemy to destabilize them, or taking opportunities to choose weapons other than a katana if the opportunity arises in order to defeat a foe, those are parts that we felt could build a new image of a samurai."

Capcom wanted to make the combat largely "about reading your opponent's moves and deciding strategically, moment by moment, how you're going to take each enemy on," as Nihei explains, "and I think that naturally led to a slightly more deliberate pacing of the action." Musashi has some superhuman moves thanks to his Oni gauntlet, so "he has moments where he's doing a slow, sort of samurai-style read of what action to take next, then with certain moves, you can do your super-human speed dodges and things like that. So there is a bit of a push and pull between those two elements of the game's pacing."

The samurai's way

It seems that the game will largely consist of linear stages, though there will be points with branching paths or "slightly more open" areas to explore and find side quests. "As the setting is Kyoto, you'll be able to talk to the denizens of that city," Nihei says, "and they might have requests that they make of Musashi and ask him to help them out in various ways." Other, more major side characters might also make requests of Musashi during the game for more optional objectives.

The demo concluded with a pair of boss fights. The first was against a human enemy named Sasaki Ganryu, who's also gotten hold of the same sort of Oni gauntlet as Musashi. But while Musashi is reluctant to use its demonic powers, Ganryu has no such reservations, delivering his antagonistic monologues with a high-camp charm.

The fight itself brings together all of the combat elements we saw throughout the demo in a much grander fashion, challenging you to counter Ganryu's moves and time your own strikes. But bosses also have a second bar under their health meter, which depletes as you deflect their attacks, and once it's empty you can perform a Break Issen, which stops the action and lets you choose a specific part of the boss to attack.

In Ganryu's case, you could use the Break Issen to either attack his head for a big chunk of damage, or stab him mid-torso – in the soul area, apparently – to cut loose a bunch of spirits you can then absorb for a quick health refill. It looks like a smart way to give a quick break in the action and let you choose what kind of boon best suits you as the fight wears on.

Finally, we saw another boss fight against a much larger, monstrous enemy called Byakue which had a completely different vibe from the more humanoid, sword and bow-wielding enemies we'd seen up to this point. It looks like we can expect a great deal of variety in these big encounters, and both fights looked like exciting challenges.

Based on this brief gameplay demonstration, Onimusha: Way of the Sword already has me hooked. I love the deliberate pace to the action, and Capcom's track record has me confident it'll feel just as good as it looks with controller in hand. Add in a lovable protagonist and a taste of some compelling villains and you've got the makings of a hugely memorable action game.

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