Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny Review – A Solid Blast from the Past

Onimusha is a series dating back to 2001. Its first title, Onimusha: Warlords, was a spiritual spin-off to Resident Evil, featuring fixed camera angles, prerendered 2D backgrounds, and a horror story set in 16th-century Japan. It truly was one of a kind when it came out and instantly became popular, ensuring that Capcom had another hit series on their hands. Fast-forward only one year, and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny would arrive on the PS2. 

While it followed in the footsteps of Warlords in many ways, it introduced exciting new gameplay mechanics that further evolved the formula that Onimusha would become famous for. Multiple playable characters and a branching story ensured players wouldn’t get tired of Onimusha 2 as quickly as they did with the experimental but creative Warlords just a year prior. 

This is the context we need to have in mind when reviewing Onimusha 2, as it certainly doesn’t stand up to today’s heavy-hitters like Devil May Cry 5 or even remakes like Resident Evil 4. It was always intended to be a faithful remaster, preserving the original experience as much as possible while introducing tiny improvements here and there. 

And with the original game’s director leading the remaster project, Capcom knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish with Onimusha 2’s rerelease. So, how did it work out? Is the game worth playing even if you don’t have any nostalgia for the 2002 original?

TL;DR

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny accomplishes its mission. It’s a faithful remaster of an early PS2 action game inspired by classic Resident Evil. It’s a short game with plenty of replayability, but it may feel a bit too ‘retro’ to those who never played Onimusha before.

Story – A Fantastical Revenge Tale

The story of Onimusha 2 takes place after the ending of Onimusha: Warlords. However, the team at Capcom decided not to continue Samanosuke’s story just yet and focus on a different character altogether. The story begins with Jubei Yagyu, a samurai returning to his village of Yagyu during an attack by Nobunaga Oda’s forces. 

Onimusha uses Nobunaga, a real-world historical figure, as a literal ‘demon’ that haunts Japan and leads the forces of evil. It’s an elegant way to lend some realism to Onimusha’s world while also addressing the fact that Nobunaga Oda made an unfortunate mark on the country’s history. 

As Jubei investigates the attack on his village, he meets like-minded warriors who have also been wronged by Nobunaga in one way or another. With each of the five warriors having personal motivations that bring them together to one cause, they set out to fight Nobunaga’s demon forces and eradicate evil once and for all. 

Very High Replay Value

Onimusha 2 doesn’t have a deep, intricate plot. What it does have is a ‘branching’ plot with various scenes and gameplay sections you can completely miss out on depending on your actions. This is where the game’s Gift system comes into play. While Jubei acts as the primary character, there are others you can control throughout the 8-hour-long campaign. 

Giving certain items to specific characters will build Jubei’s relationship with them. They will, in turn, give him valuable equipment and items, show up to help him during combat, and even become playable characters. This means that Onimusha 2 offers many ways for you to replay the same story but experience it in slightly different ways. 

By focusing on different characters every time you play, you can unlock cool new gear, items, and gameplay sections you would have otherwise completely missed out on. Despite its short length, this is a great way to increase the game’s replayability, just like early Resident Evil games used to do.

Gameplay – Classic Resident Evil with Swords & Magic

Onimusha is a third-person action game where you play as a samurai. The basic premise of the series never changed, however, the first two instalments stand out from the rest of the series. The main reason for this is that Onimusha 2 relies on prerendered 2D backgrounds for its environmental design. 

If you ever played the original Resident Evil games, you’ll be right at home here. The game even lets you play with tank controls if you feel nostalgic. For everyone else, Onimusha features 3D character controls in 2D backgrounds, with fixed camera angles always dictating what you can or can’t see. This is both a blessing and a curse, as you’ll often be attacked by enemies you can’t see because they’re on the next screen over. 

Likewise, moving from screen to screen can cause you to move back to the previous screen depending on which direction you’re pointing with your analogue stick. This can be frustrating, especially during fast and deadly combat encounters. But it’s a feature that’s baked into the DNA of Onimusha 2, and it would be difficult to fix without a full remake of its gameplay. 

As far as weapons, each of the five characters comes with their own playstyles and equipment, but Jubei’s is the most diverse by far. He has elemental weapons fit for different enemies and puzzles, allowing you to diversify and focus on the ones you like the most. 

Given the game’s short length, you can also play the whole game with a single weapon before switching it for another the next time around. Onimusha 2 wants you to replay it several times and unlock new stuff every time you do it, extending its runtime beyond what you might expect at first.

Game Design from a Bygone Era

In terms of world and gameplay design, Onimusha 2 is an early 2000s game from top to bottom. You’ll travel through linear corridors with very little in terms of branching paths. There are no side quests, optional missions, or dialogue choices here. 

This is an action game that doesn’t waste your time or drag out its runtime by introducing grindy elements into the mix. In many ways, it’s a game that wouldn’t get made today because of how much gameplay design has evolved (or devolved, depending on who you ask). This also comes with its shortcomings, however. Healing items are sparse, and you’ll rarely find them in the world. 

The game wants you to master its controls and block, parry, and counter enemy attacks. Health restoration isn’t difficult once you learn how to counter enemy attacks, as they’ll drop healing orbs as a reward for doing so. But these moves aren’t easy to learn, especially for players who are used to more forgiving gameplay in modern games. 

If Onimusha 2 clicks with you, you’ll discover one of your favourite new games of all time. If it doesn’t, you’ll feel like it’s unfair, unbalanced, and untested for a general gaming audience to enjoy. Your mileage will vary depending on what you expect once you boot it up for the first time.

Visuals – A Faithful Remaster for Better or Worse

Onimusha 2 still looks like a 2002 game, and you’ll either love it or hate it. The team at Capcom made it their task to bring the game to modern systems with as few visual alterations or ‘improvements’ as possible. This meant scaling the game’s resolution, locking the framerate to 60 FPS, and doing very little more than that. 

Onimusha 2 even lets you play the whole game in a 4:3 aspect ratio if you’re nostalgic for the original release. We tested the game on the Nintendo Switch and experienced virtually no bugs, crashes, or framerate drops. But what does this mean for players who never had a chance to play it in 2002? The game heavily relies on prerendered backgrounds, with most of its environments having no interactive elements apart from an occasional barrel or box to break. 

You’ll also travel from screen to screen, fading to black as you enter new rooms, doors, or interact with switches and puzzles. Onimusha 2 was released in an era where developers still tried to figure out how to transition from prerendered backgrounds to full 3D environments. 

The remaster fully honours its roots by not changing anything that made the original game iconic. This also means that character models lack finer details and can look very archaic by modern standards. Once action starts and you’re swinging your sword at 60 FPS, you won’t care about it much, as it’s mostly noticeable during prerendered and in-game cutscenes.

Audio – Corn Straight from the Early 2000s

Unfortunately, Onimusha 2 hasn’t aged as gracefully in the audio department. The early 2000s were a time when video game developers were still trying to figure out how to approach voice acting. 

Hollywood actors who did voice acting in video games were still sparse, and professional industry voice actors still didn’t refine their craft as they did in later years. This means that Onimusha 2 can be tough to listen to at times, and the script also isn’t helping it. The game is a substantial improvement on Onimusha: Warlords in every respect, apart from the story, which, thanks to five distinct playable characters, has a lot of ground to cover. 

Character motivations are black and white, there’s very little subtlety, and everyone recites their goals and feelings without any nuance or mystery to it. Paired with poor lip-syncing for the English voice acting (the game lets you play with Japanese voices as well), and you’ve got a perfect recipe for second-hand embarrassment. 

But, Onimusha 2 is loveably corny, which works out in its favour. So, if you’re looking for a game that’s truly representative of the early 2000s and the one that’ll show you just how far the industry has come since then, this is the title for you.

Conclusion – Should You Play Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny?

Capcom has done a wonderful job preserving the look and feel of Onimusha 2 and making it playable on modern platforms. They’ve gone further than that in recent years, with titles like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess offering early 2000s vibes on modern systems. 

With Onimusha: Way of the Sword now in development, the series is making a long-overdue comeback, and we’re happy to see it. Before that, however, we’d love to play Onimusha 3: Demon Siege and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, remastered just like Onimusha 2 was with this release. 

These games are emblematic of the time they were released in. They’re not ‘modern’ by any standard and will frustrate players who are used to more quality of life features, customisable difficulty levels, and plenty of ‘second chances’ in their action games. If you’re looking for a more traditional, 2D/3D action game that won’t take more than a single weekend to finish, this is the game for you. 

And if you haven’t played Onimusha: Warlords yet, you can also start there as it’s an amazing remaster in its own right. Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is now available on Xbox and PlayStation platforms, the Nintendo Switch, as well as PC.

Big thanks to CD Media for sponsoring our review!