Onimusha: Path of the Sword will be released in 2026, marking the return of the series after a full 20 years. Anyone who has played the original Onimusha games will be eager to tell you how big a deal this is, as the IP has developed a fervent cult following over the years.
Action games have changed quite a bit since the heyday Onimushawhich released four mainline entries during the PlayStation 2 era. In other words, the franchise rose to prominence in the face of the overwhelming cultural force that was Demon's Soulsan action game that is perhaps the most influential of modern times, inspiring everything from The Witcher 3 to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. FromSoftware's “soul-like” combat model is so infectious that it has seeped into the very fabric of action game design, to the point where many of its basic features, like the mapping of heavy and light attacks to shoulder and trigger buttons, are almost ubiquitous today. They may even appear in Onimusha: Path of the Swordbut if this upcoming title is anything like its predecessors, it can be expected to be quite different from FromSoft's work overall.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword reveals new characters
Miyamoto Mushashi's journey in Onimusha: Way of the Sword gets a new story-focused look during TGS 2025, introducing important allies.
Onimusha's fighting style, explained
Although it was developed over the course of the four core games, Onimushas combat sandbox has always focused on one guiding light: the survival horror genre. Indeed, the elevator pitch for the first Onimusha was that it was a ninja-themed spin on Capcom's Resident Evil franchise. Thus, Onimusha has one foot in the survival horror genre and another in the action genre. Onimusha even had a hand in the creation of the character-action school of design: history says so, while developing the first OnimushaCapcom discovered a bug that allowed the player character to juggle enemies in the air, leading to the mechanic appearing in the first Devil May Cry.
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I make these comparisons to illustrate how fundamentally different Onimusha game is from soulslikes. While a game that Dark souls is about slow and deliberate positioning, frame-perfect dodging and David-and-Goliath-style showdowns, Onimusha is much more akin to older survival horror games, where the camera is fixed and the environments are cramped and claustrophobic. At the same time have Onimusha game is quite similar to the other action games of its time, incl Devil May Cryas combat mastery is more about learning combos, switching between weapons and playing aggressively.
Controls are a good area to focus on when examining this distinction. I like to think of soul-like games as giving the player a relatively limited box of tools in this regard – moment-to-moment combat usually boils down to a block/parry, a simple light combo, simple heavy combo, charged heavy and dodge roll – but also offer several different contexts to use those tools. Conversely, the Onimusha game gives players many tools in moment-to-moment gameplay, such as various weapons that can be switched between on the fly, integrated magic attacks, contextual finishers, powerful Issen counters, blocks, dodges and more. Again do this Onimusha closer to a character action game than a soul-like one.
Onimusha has one foot in the survival horror genre and another in the action genre.
Still, the older Onimusha games are more grounded (literally – you can't jump) than traditional character action games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. The emphasis is almost always on swordplay rather than flashy dodges or deadly aerial ballets, keeping the combat sandbox focused and skill-based. This focus is reflected in its other main difference from soulslikes: its lack of RPG elements. Soulslike games are action RPGs and therefore place a premium on character building, encouraging players to explore a wide range of equipment and stat compositions to create their own unique, optimal playstyle. On the contrary Onimusha creates a narrower space for experimentation, instead stimulating the player to master a more static set of variables.
Will Onimusha: Way of the Sword have a different fighting style?
It wouldn't be surprising to see FromSoftware's influence appear in Onimusha: Path of the Sword. Especially, The Way of the Swords battle may have some parallels with Blood borne and Sekiroboth of which are more aggressive, linear spins on the traditional soul-like combat sandbox. Sekiro in particular is quite similar Onimushawhich takes place in a fantasy version of feudal Japan and in many ways bases its entire combat framework around parrying.
Like I said, we already know that Onimusha: Path of the Sword positioned as a modern continuation of the classic Onimusha combat design. That is, it will still be combo-oriented, health will be replenished by absorbing Genma souls rather than through finite consumables like Estus Flasks, and the pace of combat will be controlled more by the player than by enemy NPCs. Also worth noting is that while The Way of the Swords parry may look a bit like Sekiros, it will probably be quite different in practice: parry into Onimusha is more about setting up powerful Issen counter attacks than degrading an enemy's balance.
If you're new to action games, I can't blame you for thinking the soulful combat formula is the standard, but Onimusha: Path of the Sword could be a good opportunity to challenge such a notion. Capcom's samurai action franchise isn't a button masher by any means, but it can often be as intense and flashy as most Souls-like, so the next entry, with any luck, will deliver a modern version of its own formula.
- Released
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2026
- ESRB
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Rating is pending
- Engine
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RE engine
