Onimusha: Way of the Sword is not a 5 star game. It’s not a 10/10, it’s not a Masterpiece. It can’t be, it simply has too many problems. Obvious problems, too. You don’t have to dig deep into the story or have a masters in level design to spot the flaws.
And yet. Way of the Sword might have the best combat system I’ve ever touched. I’ve played a lot of 3D action games (mostly of the FromSoft style– I have a blind spot in the DMC-style), and I struggle to think of a better combat game. It has really good boss design, not quite exceptional, but really good, and almost everything else ranges from acceptable to poor. But I have to be honest. It’s not a 5 star game, but I am giving it 5 stars.
I dig into the mechanical specifics of why I find the combat system so engaging below, but I first want to touch on the animations. I’ve seen reviews discuss how great Musashi’s facial animations are and how well they endear his character. This is very true but doubly so with combat. Way of the Sword expresses the physicality of combat spectacularly. Parries don’t just bounce an enemy sword back; Musashi catches their blade, twirls it, and follows their momentum. The metal weapons angrily grind against each other. Time a deflection properly and you can practically see the vibrations in the enemy’s arm as they stumble back. People use this phrase too liberally, but I really mean it when I say that this game has the fucking juice.
Sekiro is a top 5 game of all time for me, a game Way of the Sword is very much in conversation with. But Way of the Sword’s development of Sekiro’s combat is really what shines. Sekiro’s combat system unintentionally generated a mechanical strategy that minimizes its difficulty. Simply hold LB in combat and quickly tap it when you want to parry. (Or, if you’re less composed, repeatedly mash LB.) This tap-parry method means you are always either blocking or parrying, so you are never fully exposed. You get the full benefits of parry attempts without the risk of eating an unmitigated attack to the face.
Since the rise of parry-slop, which I will happily munch in my trough, we’ve seen many different solutions for this strategy. The simplest is a cooldown on the parry. You can block, and tap or mash LB, but the parry only works on a cooldown. I think Wo Long had a system like this? In practice I don’t like the cooldown answer, I don’t think it feels good. It’s awkward to communicate when the cooldown is available for a core mechanic. Compare to a dodge, where the physical movement acts as a built-in indicator of availability. But more importantly, we don’t want such a key combat action unavailable or unresponsive so often.
Mortal Shell 2, which I recently reviewed, is a good example of the more common solution: assume your players are tap-parrying and balance your encounters around it. (Mortal Shell 2 also gives players an option to use a Dark Souls style knife parry.) Enemies hit hard and often enough that tap-parrying will deplete your stamina expeditiously, and Mortal Shell 2 punishes you heavily for getting staggered.
This is a fine solution to the tap-parrying problem but works more as a bandaid – it’s a balancing solution to a design problem. Way of the Sword answers by presenting a suite of options ranging from low-risk/low-reward (deflection) to high-risk/high reward (issin). And at its best, you’re fighting enemies where the risk/reward has some fluidity. Deflection is literally tap-parrying, built in as a game mechanic. Hold down LB and tap A to deflect. You’re blocking the whole time but get the benefit of knocking down their stamina if you get the timing right. You don’t even need to mash LB! The tapping action is on your right hand! Dodges and parries are medium risk/reward, as your stamina or health will take a hit if you mistime, but there’s some mitigation. Issin, meanwhile, is triggered by attacking your enemy at the same time as their attack is about to land, within a very tight window, and you’ll execute a quick counter attack.
So why shouldn’t you just always deflect? It’s because of that low-reward, a very small amount of stamina damage… Unless you’re in the “blazing” state. The blazing mechanic creates a whole lifecycle of engagement tactics within a fight. Enemy attacks are not the only thing that determines your best response. The enemy could throw the same attack at you, but depending on your situation, it may be better to parry or deflect. You’re not always doing the same things to advance the fight. Compare this to Sekiro, where your action is usually dictated by enemy actions, and your options throughout a lifecycle of a fight is determined by what attack the enemy uses. Way of the Sword’s suite of options within a more grounded combat style represents the best marrying of Souls action and more traditional 3D action games I’ve seen.
The ultimate pulls the whole package together. Normally I don’t like ult style effects in these games, but I think this system is very elegant. Your ult does 2 main things. 1. Like we’ve seen in other games, when in ult form damage taken only reduces your ult length instead of reducing health, and 2. The ult form increases the issin window. I almost never use the issin mechanic during boss fights. It’s just too risky. But with the ult, you receive this double-dipping of encouragement to issin–you won’t take health damage and they are easier to hit–and having that 10 second window to tear up a boss feels incredible. I also appreciate that the ult doesn’t build passively or with normal attacks. You do have to work for it.
I do want to address my criticisms of this game. Again, I think they are obvious, so I won’t spend too long on them:
Visually really nice, except for Kyoto! So much of this game is running past boxes, pots, and busted up wooden carts.
Speaking of Kyoto, what a boring open-zone. It’s just streets and alleyways, but with none of the character or flair that makes something like Yakuza’s Kamurochu pop.
Needs so much better mob diversity. The non-boss enemy design doesn’t juice the intricate combat system nearly enough.
Structure and pacing are wonky. Sometimes you’ll have back-to-back bosses, then you’ll have a linear level, then you’ll have to run around Kyoto for a bit. The game never found a way to intelligently structure or signpost player expectations for what they’ll be doing next.
Level design is transparent and odd. The game has bizarrely few proper levels. And many of those levels feature extended linear segments. I think the swamp zone towards the end is maybe the only level with an open-ish area to explore. Other levels, like the underground lab, read like an amateur designer’s first attempt to make an intricate, mazey Souls-like area.
I wish combat created moments of rewarding aggression. This maybe has more to do with enemy AI rather than the combat system. I like the occasional standoff, circling my opponent before dueling. But in Way of the Sword enemies are too slow. Especially mobs. They’ll just stand around slackjawed.
The game is too easy. I am not very good at these games. I have played a lot of them, but I die a lot and take a long time to internalize attack patterns. Way of the Sword is so fun that I wanted to have to grind against a boss for hours. Maybe not Malenia level, but like Ornstein and Smough. Beating some of these bosses on the second or third try was honestly disappointing. I wanted to be forced to dig deep. If the bosses were balanced closer to how the final boss is, I would have been much happier.
Nextlander somewhat recently had on Jordan Middler who talked about his review. I liked how he articulated that this is a game with some 4-5 star elements and some 2 star elements. And that's partially why, as much fun as I had with Way of the Sword, what I’m really excited for is its future. I want a hard mode patched in so I can replay bosses. I want DLC with thoughtful levels. I want a follow-up– and if they spend some time solving these bumpy flaws I think we could have a very special sequel.