Onimusha: Way of the Sword Preview – Capcom Franchise is Back for Blood

Apart from the occasional remaster or alternative platform spinoff, Capcom’s Onimusha franchise has largely laid dormant since the release of Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams in 2006. Fortunately, the samurai action series finally makes its triumphant return next year with the eagerly anticipated Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Capcom unveiled a new trailer for the game and provided a hands-on demo for journalists at Tokyo Game Show 2025, with Den of Geek on-site to see the game first-hand and speak with several members of the development team.

Way of the Sword is a fresh starting point for the franchise, featuring new protagonist Miyamoto Musashi, a fictionalized depiction of the legendary 17th century samurai whose likeness in the game is modeled after famous actor Toshiro Mifune, with permission from Mifune Productions. The change in protagonist not only signals a new era for the series, but allows the developers to build their game around a more expressive main character with links to Japanese history and folklore. Despite the protagonist swap, Musashi still boasts many of the familiar gameplay mechanics from past Onimusha games, including the ability to absorb souls and, of course, plenty of dazzling swordsmanship. For Capcom, this was a way to retain the core franchise elements while modernizing the overall gameplay experience.

“Action games have changed a lot since we released the first Onimusha game,” observes producer Akihito Kadowaki. “One of the core guiding principles in making this title is settling on the dark fantasy elements of the classic Onimusha series, introducing fun swordplay, and making good on the Onimusha concept of absorbing souls.”

While several of the past Onimusha games had taken place in and around Kyoto, Onimusha 3’s modern Parisian setting notwithstanding, there is a more haunted quality to the Japanese city in Way of the Sword. In the demo, as Mushashi navigates his way through a metropolis overrun by monsters, Musashi experiences visions of ghostly denizens of Kyoto enduring their own traumas linked to Kyoto’s painful past. For the purposes of the game’s story, a medieval Kyoto setting not only leaned Onimusha’s penchant for dark fantasy but provided another source of richly bloody history and mythology to inform the narrative and design.

“Onimusha has always had a dark fantasy feel, but Kyoto has an image of being a beautiful and scenic place,” explains director Satoru Nihei. “In the history of Kyoto, there are a lot of dark elements, occult stories, and sad history. When we were looking for a setting to match the vision that we had for the game from an entertainment point-of-view, we found that Kyoto was a really good match because we had those elements already embedded within the history.”

One of the biggest changes to the wider gaming landscape since Onimusha’s 2000s heyday is the introduction of heightened difficulty hack-and-slash fantasy games, known as the soulslike sub-genre, popularized by titles like Elden Ring and Dark Souls. Though Way of the Sword certainly presents players with a healthy challenge, Capcom is careful to make the game accessible and fun rather than frustrating. In playing the game, bosses like Musashi’s swordsman rival Sasaki Ganryu definitely keep players on their toes but not to the point where a single slip-up results in an unforgiving game over as is common in soulslike games.

“With the soulslike genre, the difficulty wall is much higher and it can be very frustrating for players,” Nihei points out. “It’s not something that we wanted to do with this title. There is a balance so that there is some challenge to it but we don’t want players to get frustrated with it. We’ve focused on implementing those unique Onimusha aspects – the satisfying action and for people to enjoy cutting through enemies and not hitting these challenging walls.”

Onimusha: Way of the Sword was one of the most gorgeously rendered games at Summer Game Fest 2025 and that distinction remained firmly intact at this year’s TGS. Created with Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, this is a hack-and-slash experience that runs heavily on its environmental atmosphere and countless slick sword fights. For the creative team, the chance to contribute to the legacy of a dormant Capcom franchise and bring it roaringly back to life with the industry’s latest tech was an irresistible opportunity.

“I played the original game 25 years ago and, at that time, there weren’t that many samurai action games,” Nihei recalls. “Onimusha stood out and was really cool. Even though it was presented as CG, it was something that players could get a real hands-on samurai fantasy action to live out in real-time. We hope that now, with the technology that we have for this new title, we can create that same feeling.”

Kadowaki also played the original Onimusha games when they were first released and is aware of the expectations that comes with reviving the beloved property. Though this created a sense of pressure for the development team, they are confident in the quality of the game that they’re making in pleasing old fans and new players.

“As a developer working on the new title, I feel like there’s this pressure,” admits Kadowaki. “The first three titles are very iconic and, with the whole team, there’s a pressure to live up to that legacy. The past titles were great, but we want people to feel that the new Onimusha is great in its own way as well. We’re trying to live up to the image of the brand, but also introduce new things that will have people excited.”

Developed and published by Capcom, Onimusha: Way of the Sword will be released in 2026 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.