The Onimusha franchise was created in a very different era for gaming, decades before open-world titles and souls-like games were all the rage. Next year, Capcom will revisit the franchise with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and the game’s director, Satoru Nihei, wants fans to know that he and his team won’t be embracing those modern trends in the new title.
“Onimusha: Way of The Sword isn’t an open-world game, and it certainly isn’t a punishing die-and-retry (souls-like) game either,” Nihei told Automaton. “While there’s no doubt seasoned action-game players will be able to enjoy it, our goal was to make a game which gamers who don’t consider action games their forte will also have fun playing. In Way of The Sword, our main focus was to express the clashing of blades through the action.”
Nihel went on to explain that Way of the Sword is incorporating new mechanics to make the sword fights feel more realistic. Deflecting allows players to deplete the stamina of bosses, which will eventually allow characters to trigger a Break Issen attack and destroy part of the boss. Nihel also confirmed that the soul-absorption ability will be retained in the new game.
Producer Akihito Kadowaki recently told GameSpot that Way of the Sword is completely unconnected to any of the previous Onimusha games. Instead, players will assume control of Miyamoto Mushashi, a samurai warrior whose likeness is based on the late actor Toshiro Mifune.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword will hit PS5, Xbox Series X❘S, and PC in 2026.
