All things really do start as Resident Evil when it comes to Capcom. Devil May Cry is the most obvious, but you could argue that Dino Crisis could not have existed without Resident Evil either. But both of those games would eventually carve out their own identity as the sequels started rolling in. Onimusha is no different. Onimusha began life as a feudal Japanese take on the Resident Evil formula. That much is obvious in Onimusha: Warlords, the debut title for the series. But, like the other franchises from Capcom, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny further steps away from the Resident Evil-inspired design philosophy to offer up something completely different. And, thankfully, these changes result in a game that’s easily my favourite in the franchise so far.
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny follows Jubei Yagyu, a character based on one of Japan’s most famous samurai. Following a return to his hometown, Jubei discovers that the demonic army of the Genma has slaughtered his people, led by none other than Oda Nobunaga. Driven by revenge, Jubei is eventually given the powers of the Onimusha, a demon slayer of sorts, and must gather five Oni Orbs that’ll allow him to bring the Genma and Nobunaga to their knees. It’s a simple story, ittedly, but it’s all about the friends you make along the way, arguably, and Onimusha 2 has many of them.
Inspired by samurai films of old Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is arguably about the ing cast more than Jubei himself. Each of the characters you meet in the story – Oyu, Ekei, Kotaru and Magoichi – have strong personalities, and while the writing is ostensibly dated today, it’s fun to get to know them. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Onimusha 2’s plot is incredible, nor am I going to tell you it’s emotionally engaging, but it’s just enough to get you to lean forward and listen to them when the characters or the game has something to say. But only just.
Playing as Jubei, compared to Samanosuke, not a lot has changed. You will still be striking down demons with a wide array of weapons that you’ll unlock as you gradually progress through the game. A series trademark, the Issen, is still here. Issen is a critical hit you can pull off if you tap the attack button at the right moment, just as the enemy is about to land their blow. In Onimusha 2, you can pull off an Issen multiple times, attacking in an equally devastating and satisfying chain. It feels like the ultimate risk-reward mechanic – as you’d often have to forego blocking to try to pull off an Issen, and in Onimusha 2, it never gets old.
But beyond this, the whole structure of Onimusha 2 feels very different to Onimusha: Warlords. Where the first game felt like it was trying its hardest to invoke the same feelings that Resident Evil did, Onimusha 2 goes for a more linear and cinematic approach. You’ll often be pushed from one area to the next, as the story dictates, sometimes without much rhyme or reason. But despite this shift in design, the pacing still feels just right.
However, in the opening moments, the game deviates from Onimusha: Warlords in a big way. I’ve spoken about this already in my preview, though they are a bit bizarre in the bigger context of the game. The game returns you to a small mining village between each major “dungeon”, allowing you to converse with your companions, give them gifts and complete optional quests to earn….more gifts. It’s a cool system that genuinely has a bearing on which stories you’ll see and sometimes even provide you with some perks for later in your playthrough.
Befriending Magoichi, for example, will allow you to learn a bit about his past, as with all the characters. But it’ll also mean he’ll pop up in the midst of battle for you to help you out. There is even a moment where he’ll finish off a boss battle for you if you’re good enough friends with him. If you befriend someone else, you’ll have to fight that battle yourself, but you might get other benefits at another point in the story. It’s an invisible system – helping some people might annoy others, perhaps even resulting in a battle – but it feels organic and interesting enough that I played the game multiple times just to see all the routes. The game lets you know which ones you’re missing when you’re finished, too.
But I mentioned that I found the way the opening moments were executed to be bizarre; it’s because of this companion system. At first, seeing how I could shape the relationships with the ing cast throughout the game was exciting. However, most opportunities to build relationships only happen in the first third of the game. Once you hit a particular plot point, your relationships with each companion are locked in and can’t be changed too much, and the game becomes a lot more linear. It seems bizarre to jettison these mechanics a third of the way through the game.
But this increased focus on linearity undoubtedly makes the game much more appealing and digestible for less seasoned players. For one, rather than having a large area to and backtrack through when you find a new item, Onimusha 2 feels much more compact. Each location you’ll spend time in never sprawls too much, making for a better-paced and snappier adventure and less wandering or getting lost. The world is made up of a few smaller areas that connect rather than one big interconnected world, and while I miss that approach of the original Onimusha, it means that Onimusha 2 is bound to appeal to more people than before.
Similarly, another part of the game that feels equally as unbalanced is the boss encounters, which vary so much in difficulty that it can get frustrating at times. I speak specifically about the penultimate boss, who feels incredibly tough to beat without being perfectly prepared. I’m no stranger to challenging games, but there is something about the balance of these boss battles that feels a little bit off. When the director of this remaster said that even he didn’t finish this game on the newly added Hell difficulty, where you die in a single hit, I am inclined to believe him. And it’s probably because of these boss battles.
One of the aspects of the original Onimusha that surprised me when revisiting it was how short it was. I still had fun, mind you, but the fun felt like it was too soon, and I was left wanting more. Onimusha 2 does excellent work in remedying that in two ways. For one, it’s a generally longer game. Most players would finish the game in between seven to nine hours. But it’s also much more replayable. Replaying the game, which feels remarkably paced, is well worth your time here. Not only do you get more storyline from the ing characters, but you’ll often play as them in different scenarios throughout the story, too.
While I’ve already praised it, I can’t emphasise enough how good Onimusaha 2 looks with this remaster treatment. I praised it in my preview, and thankfully, it remains true for the entirety of the game. I still can’t be sure whether Capcom simply had better access to the source files for the original or if their upscaling efforts have improved, but the game looks incredibly crisp. Often, with games like these, the models get upscaled, but the backgrounds don’t. Here, everything feels notably higher resolution to the point where the game looks better than the FMV cutscenes peppered throughout the story. The music is also great, though the voice work, especially the script, has aged a bit.
When I was younger, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny was my favourite of the Onimusha games, though I was always a bit scared to revisit it for fear my nostalgia was blinding. While there are some awkward moments in the script, owing to the time it was made, it’s easily still my favourite in the franchise. Hopefully, with the strength of this remaster, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is just the beginning of us seeing more Onimusha in general, and especially seeing the older games make their way to modern platforms.
