Capcom are getting ready to bring Onimusha back to the masses next year but are doing a bit of a whistle stop tour first.

Onimusha Warlords was the start in 2019 and now Samurai’s Destiny, its intriguing sequel, is next up to bat. And it’s certainly a good followup that both follows the pattern of what was laid out before but tries some new gameplay elements as well that seperates it quite a bit from other, like-minded Capcom titles, laying the ground work for the likes of Devil May Cry.

For those who don’t know, Onimusha is an action-first third person adventure with some puzzle elements and RPG like mechanics thrown in good measure. The first game centered around a samurai, Samanosuke Akechi, who goes on a princess saving mission, fighting against horrendous demons brought about by the death of a rival.

The game was first released back on the PS2, one of the console’s early titles, and it played around with the vintage Capcom formula founded in the likes of Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, but in feudal Japan. And actually providing the player with a partner, a ninja named Kaede.

The sequel, Samurai’s Destiny followed shortly after and just like its predecessor, players can claim new weapons, upgrade them – each offering various elemental attacks for Thunder, Fire, Earth and Water – and progress through various pre-rendered settings by placing items or solving bespoke puzzles. When enemies are defeated, they drop souls and you absorb them to then power yourself up and the weapons you carry.

But what’s interesting here is that the stories, while connected and do take place in rapid chronological order, are actually standalone and follow different protagonists. This time, you play as Jubei Yagyu, who is on a mission for revenge. But he is connected to Akechi as both have a bitter rival in Nobunaga Oda and Jubei actually finds himself of oni heritage, which lets you slay and kill demons.

Samurai’s Destiny once again is an action-first experience and it also leans into Jubei having a partner he can rely on. In fact, more than one. Onimusha 2 essentially expands the ally system introduced in the first game and offers up four additional characters to fight alongside. And most interestingly, your actions in-game decide who will team up with you and when.

This time, Onimusha 2 has a gift system which, when you’re in safe refuge, enables you to offer bespoke items to members of your outfit. You can essentially gift them anything, but some items will be received unfavourably, some will be returned to you and others will really reward you with cool bonuses. By listening to your allies needs, you can make a call as to what they might want.

Have a taste for dutch courage? Maybe that bottle of wine will do the trick. Fancy something shiny and rare? How about a stunning, one of a kind, coin. By getting allies on side, they will then drop into your fights and help you out in a pinch, whether it’s against a terrifying boss or an overwhelming mob of baddies.

As before, you have a nice selection of weapons to choose from as well, from a devastating sword to a polearm and bow and arrow so you can diversify your approach to battle and level up a weapon according to your preferences and tastes. Which lets you play your way. Similarly to Onimusha 1, gathering souls not only lets you perform special, elemental attacks, but you can then infuse those into weapons, building them up, empowering them even more.

Onimusha 2’s split story path options and the characters you favor offer some nice twists on the story, enabling you to prioritise a fighter you like – and a style you vibe with – following their arc and also being able to benefit from their expertise on the battlefield.

Samurai’s Destiny plays in mostly the same way as Onimusha 1, so if you didn’t really gel much with that, this isn’t going to reconvince you. But for me, honestly, I have a pretty strong fondness for the game. It mixes up the combat formula nicely, adds some more replayability with the characters, offers an interesting story. And has suitably terribly, but hilariously great voice acitng and dialogue.

There’s a charm about this, it’s a proper PS2 level game in every sense of the word. And I love that about it. There’s something raw about it that picks at the tech its on, finding ways to push its limits, while also suitably understanding its constraints. It’s not trying to reinvent a formula that worked before but giving more of the same while logically showing signs of progression.

And it does look a lot better, the cutscenes and gameplay lovingly upscaled with the CG still looking quite impressive considering the times. The pre-rendered backdrops of Feudal Japan have just the right amount of life and variety to them too, from humble villages to forests, to mines and castles.

The updates to the gameplay also make sense too, such as quicker weapon switching and auto saving – useful considering the distance between save spots originally. There are also updated controls to better fit modern hardware, though you can still fall ill of some pitfalls along the way with blocked movement and getting turned around by the camera.

But to be honest, the core essence of the game mostly remains untouched and it’s mostly aged pretty well, save for some awkward camera angles and janky movement controls – having to adjust your control stance based on where you are positioned and that can be especially frustrating if you’re in the middle of a fight.

However, upgrading your weapons, finding cool puzzle boxes to unlock new secrets, discovering hidden extras and the different story paths mean there’s more substance to this than most. Though some enemies definitely take a hiding to bring down. I was also quite impressed by the detail still present in the characters and how reactive their facial expressions are. It shows how Capcom really was ahead of its time in developing these games and breathing life into their characters to give games more intrigue in their stories.

That music, though. It’s still beautifully written and composed and sticks in your head just as much as it did all those years ago.

Ultimately, Samurai’s Destiny mostly remains a product of its time, for better and worse. And as is always the risk of that, if you don’t have much nostalgia for the game or era in the first place or you don’t have the patience for its awkward nature, plot holes and limited feeling combat, you’re going to struggle getting to grips with it.

In fact, one could argue if you’ve never touched the Onimusha series before, these might not get you in the mood for Way of the Sword – even though that appears to have maintained the humour, soul-sucking and demon fighting of the original games.

For me, though, this game formed a core part of my childhood and it is both a delight and a relief that I can not only go back to this franchise – and game in particular – and really benefit from a full remaster to improve its overall quality, enjoying myself along the way. It’s not perfect, but as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t need to be because I love it, warts and all!

Verdict

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is a very faithful recreation of the PS2 classic, but given an updated lick of paint and modern quality of life improvements. At times, that adaptation comes with frustrations, but for me it also comes with a wealth of nostalgia and doses of joy. If you loved it before or what Capcom did with Onimusha Warlords, you’re going to feel right at home here, but newcomers to the series or those who struggle with classic tank setups and jarring camera angles may not be quite so forgiving or find this a particularly convincing reason to get excited about Way of the Sword. That music, though..

Pros

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Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is out now on PC, PS, Switch and Xbox.

Played on PS5

Code Kindly Provided by Capcom for review purposes