Development

Development on Onimusha began in 1997 as the first instalment in what was originally envisioned as a trilogy. The game was originally intended to launch for the N64DD (the disc drive attached for Nintendo’s N64 console), but production was later moved to the PlayStation. Development on that version was finished halfway through to completion, however, the development team’s excitement about the PlayStation 2 and the greater technical capabilities it offered led to that version getting cancelled, and the project instead shifting to being developed for the PS2.

Onimusha was originally pitched as a ninja version of Capcom’s very own Resident Evil franchise. The game would employ many of the similar design philosophies, systems, and mechanics as the Resident Evil games and would put players in a ninja house, similar to the Spencer mansion in the original Resident Evil. The game was geared as more of an action title, though, with much less focus on horror and survival elements.

Capcom chose the Sengoku era as the game’s narrative backdrop because they felt the historical events and figures of the period would provide interesting stories and characters for them to employ in their own story, which they would then put their own spin on within the game’s fiction. The game also used motion capture for character movements, which was a relatively rare practice at the time.

In January of 2019, a remastered version of Onimusha: Warlords was also released for the PS4, Xbox One, Windows (via Steam), and the Nintendo Switch. The remastered version touched up the visuals to run in HD and support for 60 frames per second frame rate (for hardware that supports it). The game also added Achievements and Trophy support on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam, the ability to play in widescreen (since the original game was played in a 4:3 aspect ratio), and new control options. Pre-rendered backgrounds were also touched up.

Japanese voices for the game were also re-recorded (English voices were brought over as is from the original release), with Takeshi Kaneshiro, the original actor for protagonist Samanosuke Akechi returning to reprise his role. The game’s soundtrack was also entirely re-written and recording anew, owing to the fact that it had come to light in 2014 that the original composer, Mamoru Samuragoshi, had not actually composed the soundtrack for the original Onimusha: Warlords soundtrack and had illegally claimed it to be his own work.

Story

Onimusha: Warlords is set in Sengoku era Japan, with the story beginning in the year 1560. It follows the story of two protagonists- the main protagonist, a samurai named Samanosuke Akechi, and the secondary protagonist, a female ninja named Kaede.

The game’s story begins at the Battle of Okehazama, between Imagawa Yoshimoto and Nobunaga of the Oda clan. Just as a victory for Nobunga and the Oda clan seems imminent, Nobunga is killed as an arrow pierces his throat. The story picks up a year later, when Samanosuke receives a letter from his cousin, Princess Yuki of the Saitō clan, in which she claims that the servants and maids in her castle have been falling victim to mysterious disappearances of late, and she suspects it to be the work of monsters, finishing her letter by asking Samanosuke to come to her rescue.

Samanosuke and Kaede make their way to the castle, which is coming under attack as an army of the Oda clan marches toward it, being led by Nobunga, who was thought to be dead during the battle a year ago, but seems pale- but living. The game follows Samanosuke and Kaede as they attempt to rescue the princess, and uncover the truth behind the mysterious things happening in the castle.

Gameplay

Owing to the fact that Onimusha: Warlords originally spawned as an offshoot of the first Resident Evil title, it employs many similar mechanics and systems. As such, Onimusha: Warlords is played from a fixed camera perspective, with rooms (and many times even separate sections within rooms) being presented from different camera angles, so that at times enemies that are outside of the camera’s perspective cannot be seen, even though they might be in the same room. Backgrounds are pre-rendered, while immediate environments and enemies are rendered in-engine. Similar to Resident Evil, the game also employs tank controls (the player has to change the direction the character is facing with directional buttons and can only move forward in the direction the character faces). However, the remastered release of the game added the option of being able to play without tank controls using the analog stick. The remaster also lets the player switch weapons on the fly, rather than having to go into the inventory to manually select a different weapon every time, which was the case in the original release.

Players have three primary actions during combat. They can attack using their equipped weapon, they can block attacks, or they can use elemental magic, which varies depending on which weapon the player has equipped. The game starts off the player with a simple katana, but the player gets more weapons throughout with different elemental properties. In total, there are three elemental weapons, in addition to a regular katana. Weapons can also be upgraded to become more powerful.

When enemies are killed, they drop their souls, which players have to collect using their Oni gauntlet by holding down a button. While the player does so, they are rendered immobile until the souls are absorbed by the gauntlet, encouraging players to be aware of their location and to time when to absorb souls during combat encounters, which is bolstered by the fact that souls disappear if left unabsorbed for too long. Souls are used for various purposes- green souls restore health, blue souls restore the magic meter that is used for elemental attacks, while red souls are used to upgrade weapons. There are also some long range weapons in the game that can be used within restrictions of limited supply. During some sections of the game, players can also play as the ninja Kaede, who has her own weapons and attacks, but cannot absorb souls.

Onimusha: Warlords also has puzzle solving elements. These mostly revolve around interacting with the environment, picking up items in the surroundings and applying them where they are needed, and also involve backtracking, mostly functioning very similarly to puzzles in the classic Resident Evil titles.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Onimusha Warlords’ remastered version is exactly two months away from release now, and Capcom have revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for the game’s PC version. You wouldn’t expect a remaster of what will be an eighteen year old game in January to be very taxing, and while it’s not taxing, the recommended requirements are more demanding than you might have expected.

Capcom recommends that you play with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 graphics card, with an Intel Core i3 dual core processor, or an AMD equivalent of that. An 8GB of RAM also comes recommended, along with DirectX 11, Windows 10 as your operating system, and 16GB of storage space. The minimum requirements, on the other hand, are much more relaxed- an Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R7 260x graphics card, for instance, will do you just fine. You can check out the full system requirements below. Pre-orders for the game are also now open.

Onimusha Warlords launches on January 15, 2019 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The game recently received two new trailers, one showing off some slick looking gameplay footage from the upcoming remastered release, and the other focusing solely on how it looks on the Switch. Make sure you check them both out through the links.

Onimusha Warlords Remastered may not be the Onimusha sequel we’ve all been waiting for for years, but it’s still more Onimusha than we’ve had in a long, long time, and more Onimusha is always a good thing. To give us a taste of how the upcoming remaster of the classic action title is shaping up, Capcom have released a bunch of new screenshots from the game.

The new images give us glimpses of several characters from the game, good and bad guys alike, including the likes of Hecuba, Kaede, Princess Yuki, Tokichiro Kinoshita, Samanosuke Akechi, and others. It’s also looking like a pretty good remaster, with sharper and better defined visuals bringing older assets to life. Should be interesting to see how the game looks in action.

Capcom have also announced (via Famitsu), that they’re recording new Japanese voices for the game, and have revealed the voice cast. The cast includes Mugihito as the narrator, Houchuu Ootsuka as Guildenstern, Takeshi Kaneshiro as Samanosuke, Fumihiko Tachiki as Oda Nobunaga, Mayumi Sako as Hecuba, Hisako Kanemoto as Yumemaru, Mikako Komatsu as Kaede, Wataru Takagi as Tokichiro Kinoshita, and Kaori Nazuka as Yuki.

Onimusha Warlords Remastered releases on January 15, 2019, for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

It seems Capcom have been fuelled by the desire to operate first and foremost on fan service over the last few years. After reviving Reisdent Evil, they’ve announced Mega Man 11, a proper sequel to Devil May Cry, and a remake of the classic Resident Evil 2. Something else fans have been demanding for a long, long time is a revival of the popular action franchise, Onimusha, and now that wish has been fulfilled as well.

Well, not exactly- they haven’t announced a sequel. But they have announced that Onimusha: Warlords, the first game in the series, is getting remastered, and will be launching for PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on January 15, 2019, just a little over four months from now. You can view the announcement trailer below.

As per an update on the PlayStation Blog by Capcom community manager Andy Wong, the remaster will come with several enhancements, other than the obvious visual upgrades. The game will now come with wide screen support, a new soundtrack, and the addition of an optional modern control scheme, with players being able to choose between the classic one and the new one. Additionally, while in the original Onimusha, an easier difficulty could only be unlocked after beating the game, in the remaster it will be unlocked from the get go.

Onimusha: Warlords will release digitally for all three systems for just the price of $19.99, while a physical release for the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game is also planned. Great work, Capcom. Now we just need an Onimusha 5 announcement.