It’s laborious to image a extra stunning metropolis than Kyoto. Nestled within the Kansai area of Japan, the sprawling landmass is populated with historic Buddhist temples, gardens, and imperial palaces. Its unrivalled scenic magnificence even has the ability to make would-be attackers suppose twice. In 1945, the then US Secretary of Warfare demanded that American forces drop the atom bomb elsewhere in Japan, so struck was he by Kyoto’s magnificence after honeymooning there.
Sadly for its Edo-era inhabitants, nevertheless, it seems that historic demons are proof against Kyoto’s charms. For Capcom’s first Onimusha in many years, its creators flip again the clock to the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, the place I discover the previous Japanese capital overrun by a horde of nightmarish creatures.
Fortunately for its terrorised denizens, there’s a legendary samurai available to kind issues out – Miyamoto Musashi. Put within the picket clogs of the well-known real-world swordsman – and protagonist of Netflix’s latest Onimusha anime adaptation- it’s as much as gamers to reside as much as Mushashi’s appreciable legend. No strain, then.
My demo begins with Musashi roaming this as soon as idyllic area because it’s engulfed in darkness. Infested with demons crawling out of the underworld – generally known as Genma – it’s as much as poor previous Musashi, a katana, and his speaking glove to cleanse the evil from this land.
As I take my first steps onto its eerie streets, I see its residents operating helplessly away from Genma into the night time, earlier than being struck down and emitting one final blood-curdling scream. Armed with the Oni gauntlet – enabling the rugged ronin to slay demons the place others can’t – Musashi can kill the unkillable, utilizing stated gauntlet to soak up the genma’s souls, restoring his life and stamina within the course of.
As you run round a gray atmosphere, cleaving enemies and accruing souls, the From Smooth comparisons write themselves. But the place Miyazaki embraces masochism, Approach of the Sword already appears like a extra fun-loving beast. As I dash throughout cursed Buddhist temples, fight is quick, fluid, and enjoyable.
There’s a distinctly PS2-era high quality to Approach Of The Sword’s satisfying sword play – fashionable sufficient to really feel exact, foolish sufficient to really feel nostalgic. Sword blows strike flesh with a pleasingly Soul Calibur-esque KSCH!. Flurries of assaults land with the graceful buttery cadence of Satan Could Cry. Even the anticipated addition of a parry feels welcomingly overpowered, with every profitable block sending foes flying.
There’s an enthralling anime-esque goofiness to fight lurking underneath the sport’s grim-dark demonic exterior, regardless of the foes you face all trying pleasingly macabre. Taking inspiration from Japanese folklore, enemy designs are uniquely horrifying, trying in contrast to something I’ve confronted earlier than in a online game. From floating boar heads that snarl as they rush at you, to armour-clad demonic zebras, every new eyebrow-raising monstrosity is a welcome shock.
There’s a pleasingly cartoonish violence permeating by means of encounters, and witnessing how every new foe will fall to my blade turns into an elicit, blood-soaked delight. Skulls break up in two, severed wrists fall limply from their arms, and enemies’ torsos cleave in half as you carve up the plethora of splendidly bizarre demonic forces seething in direction of you.
“There’s an enthralling anime-esque goofiness to fight lurking underneath the sport’s grim-dark demonic exterior, regardless of the foes you face all trying pleasingly macabre.”
Very like within the traditional Satan Could Cry video games, development in my demo is extremely linear, seeing me carve and stab my approach throughout a collection of straight paths earlier than exploring demon-infested temples and burning villages. Exterior of the core fight, gameplay is damaged up by gentle puzzle parts courtesy of that historic gauntlet. Miyamoto has a detective-esque Oni Imaginative and prescient, utilizing the legendary Ono Gauntlet to information him to hidden objects and factors of ethereal curiosity littered all through the world.
Whereas the story specifics are laborious to parse on this out-of-context demo, all through my demon-carving journey, Musashi is dragged into Eerie spirit-filled flashbacks to the traumatic occasions that befell the land. Onimusha has lengthy been a horror-infused tackle historical past, taking pivotal figures from Japan’s previous and chucking them right into a samurai-led ghost story. Whereas this enigmatic demo gave little away concerning the wider plot threads, I’m trying ahead to seeing which different historic figures find yourself inevitably battling the undead.
My demo culminates in a reflex-testing, anime-esque samurai showdown with a legendary historic determine – Sasaki Ganryu. Dealing with off towards this cackling lengthy haired samurai, it’s on this tense encounter that Approach of the sword strays closest to being soul-like.
Because the grasp sword man flies at you from throughout the stage, good parrying and cautious stamina administration grow to be important to survival. But the place From Smooth’s equal would really feel weighty and tktk, even in a difficult 1v1 setting, fight stays refreshingly nimble. With therapeutic gadgets available and the prospect to soak up well being and special-move restoring ‘souls’, there’s a uniquely flowing cadence to this boss battle that units it aside from its soulslike friends.
The important thing to defeating Ganryu lies in fastidiously studying his strikes. As he glides throughout the crumbling temple veranda in direction of you, his assaults, dodges, and guard-breaking blows move with spectacular grace. These are a number of the most spectacular fight animations I’ve seen in latest reminiscence, permitting you to learn his patterns with ease as he strikes with convincingly human class.
There are a number of Monster Hunter veterans on Approach Of The Sword’s dev staff, and it’s on this ultimate showdown that I see the beast-slaying DNA coursing by means of Onimusha’s veins – every carefully-telegraphed inform feeling simply as readable as a Rathalos battle in Capcom’s monster-slaying epic.
All in all, I left my first Onimusha expertise longing for extra. From what I’ve performed up to now, there’s an surprising b film schlock to Approach Of The Sword, a refreshingly maximalist goofiness to its samurai motion that feels akin to what may occur if Platinum had been allowed to make a Sekiro sequel. It’s Satan Could Cry meets Resident Evil, with a sprinkling of Miyazaki magic. Whereas Soulslike fatigue is undoubtedly setting in for a lot of, Approach Of The Sword seems to be to borrow From Smooth’s sense of problem and satisfaction whereas nonetheless conserving a welcomingly arcadey spirit. Welcome again, Onimusha.
