Onimusha: Way of the Sword Review — All Thrill, Some Filler

A week after launch, the verdict around Onimusha: Way of the Sword has settled into two camps, and both are right. As an action game, this is a new benchmark for the genre — possibly the one everything else gets measured against for the next five to ten years. As a piece of campaign design, it bloats a superb core with busywork. Both things are true at once, and the fight between them is what you will remember.

The Flash Is the Way

Combat strips attack strings down to light and heavy strikes, then rebuilds depth on the defensive side: deflects, parries, read-dodges, blade clashes — and the Issen, the series' signature counter, landed by attacking in the exact frames before an enemy hit connects. What makes it special here is priority. Land an Issen from a recovery animation, from standing, even off the floor, and Musashi always comes out with the flash if your timing was true. Capcom quietly built the game's most reckless option to always work, and the reward loop is intoxicating: every successful Issen whispers that you could have played it safer, but why would you?

The bosses cash those cheques. The mid-game duel against the brothers Gale and Rairei is one of the great two-on-one fights — their combined attacks feel authored rather than stitched together, and cleanly answering each combo is a joy. Our boss hub breaks down every fight.

The Cost: 25 Hours of Filler

The main path — 22 chapters of the Way of the Sword — runs about 25 hours, and the padding shows. Kyoto Tales errands and the dog-rescue hunts send you back through cleared districts hunting checklist targets, and upgrades are tuned so skipping them hurts.

Verdict

The filler is real and worth complaining about. It also does not matter nearly as much as the combat, which is the best in class. Play it.

Related: combat fundamentals · Issen frame data by framerate