Onimusha: Way of the Sword could be the action game of the year

Earlier this year, my flatmate pointed out to me that most of the games I play in the front room look exactly the same.

Nioh 3, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Black Myth: Wukong, Wo Long – we appear to be living in an era of East Asian action RPGs where you traverse a semi-magical medieval setting slaying monsters. Maybe there's a plague or something to spice things up.

Obviously, these games are fundamentally very different, but going into my first hands-on with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, I couldn't help but worry that such a unique series may end up being watered down to fit this modern mould.

I was delighted to be so wrong.

Onimusha's combat centres on the Issen system. Attack an enemy just before their own attack lands, and you perform a True Issen, slicing through their guard, often instantly killing them in a gloriously dramatic fashion.

True Issens are the tippy top of the scale, but there are easier methods of performing Issens, such as blocking attacks or dealing enough damage to stagger them.

New to Way of the Sword are Break Issens. Reminiscent of Sekiro, when you deplete an enemy's stamina bar, you can perform an Issen for tremendous damage.

As you progress through the game, you begin to acquire new weapon types and special abilities that add a nice layer of flexibility to how you approach combat.

The first boss fight I took on was rather easy, which did have me worried that perhaps this would be little more than a series of foregone conclusions, but with how soundly I was demolished by the next two bosses, I can safely say that this is not the case.

The Issen system makes Onimusha's combat feel wholly unique, and while in its individual parts one could make comparisons with games like Nioh or Sekiro, the sum of its parts is fast-paced and purposeful without ever feeling like you're just mashing attacks.

It also means that, while plenty of people jumping into this game will never have touched an Onimusha game before, they will be able to enjoy it just as much as those of us who enjoyed the originals.

The same can be said of Way of the Sword's story and characters.

Onimusha has always been a tremendously campy series, and I'm delighted to see that tradition continue here.

You play as Musashi, and grumblingly reluctant hero with an iconic Gauntlet harbouring a trapped Oni from Hell, which has been overtaken by the evil Genma demons and their malice.

While many stories of this nature can become bogged down in the seriousness of their setting, Way of the Sword leans into its absurdity.

Musashi bickers with his allies, gets told off, grumbles at being forced to do things while everyone else sits around.

But it never feels trite, either – when the time comes for a shift in tone, Way of the Sword knows when to drop the levity and get serious.

That balance is extended to many of the game's bosses, too, each of which has an excellent design and personality.

One particular fight saw Musashi come up against a Genma covered in limbs it has stolen from unfortunate victims, flailing arms and legs as it flits around the arena.

I don't think I could quite do the monster's personality justice, either, but it certainly fits in with the campiness I described earlier.

Exploration is also a strong suit of the game, though it's rather unintuitive.

Way of the Sword makes use of a guiding line system, which you can summon to guide you directly to your objective.

This is useful when you need it, but I imagine many players will begin to rely on it entirely – I certainly did when I first started playing.

But after a couple of objectives, I started trying to go off the beaten path a bit more, and found that I was missing out on a lot of content by simply following the line.

That being said, plenty of players won't care for side content, and for anyone just wanting to beeline the main story, this won't be an issue. If you like seeing anything and everything, my advice is to forget the line and just go for a wander.

Way of the Sword, combined with last year's remaster of Onimusha 2, appears to represent an attempt by Capcom to revive the series.

It's not a series that ever had much widespread appeal – none of my friends have played them, and the only reason I did is that I found a copy of Onimusha 3 in my local GAME.

Way of the Sword, therefore, is a chance for Capcom to bring back older players, but cement Onimusha as a series for an entirely new generation.

Based on what I've seen so far, Onimusha: Way of the Sword could be exactly the game Capcom needs to bring this series into the mainstream, and in a year where we've already had Nioh 3, Beast of Reincarnation and more, it could well be the very best action game of the year.

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