While FromSoftware’s take on action RPG combat has been the dominant form of third-person action game combat for a while now, Capcom has confirmed that the upcoming Onimusha: Way of the Sword will not be a Souls-styled game. In an interview with Automaton Media, director Satoru Nihei spoke about how the title will also not have an open world that players can freely explore.
“Onimusha: Way of The Sword isn’t an open-world game, and it certainly isn’t a punishing die-and-retry (Soulslike) game either,” Nihei explained. “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.”
The Onimusha series has traditionally focused quite a bit on melee combat, with parrying and dodging being the primary defensive capabilities of its protagonists over the years. However, the more fast-paced style of combat from that era of games has been largely left behind aside from a few franchises like Capcom’s Devil May Cry and Platinum’s Bayonetta.
In the upcoming title, players will be able to make use of well-timed deflection of attacks to leave the enemy open for a brutal counter attack, dubbed the Break Issen. Through this, the player will be able to destroy parts of larger enemies, while outright killing smaller ones. Nihei explained that, rather than Souls-styled combat, Onimusha: Way of the Sword will focus more on using Issen to take out weaker foes in a single hit. The Oni Gauntlet will also be an important part of gameplay.
“Being able to insta-kill weaker enemies with the regular Issen is one of the series’ representative game elements, and it also appears in the new title,” said Nihei. “Other actions that we decided to keep as-is were those related to the Oni Gauntlet. The soul absorption ability appears in Way of the Sword as well, […] and as a part of the series’ identity, we consider it to be very important.”
Nihei, alongside producer Akihito Kadowaki revealed that it took Capcom two years just to get the likeness rights for actor Toshiro Mifune so that the main protagonist, Musashi Miyamoto, could be modelled after him. Nihei spoke about going to classic Japanese movies to look for “a young samurai who fights roughly, covered in blood and mud.” Ultimately, Nihei decided that Mifune is the image that popped into his mind when he thought about “what it is about samurai that makes them actually cool.”
“There are already many portrayals of Musashi Miyamoto’s character out there,” noted Kadowaki. “That is why we were very particular about making our new protagonist Musashi into a brand-new character. And in that sense, we were absolutely determined to use Mifune’s face to portray him. With how much we were particular about the details, we are confident that he turned out to be an exceptionally great series protagonist.”
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is slated for release in 2026, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.