Onimusha: Warlords

Short which is kind of a positive these days. The infamous water puzzle is a bit annoying but beyond that the game's a smooth experience. It's probably much easier with modern controls since it was designed around tank controls. Good piece of video game history here.

I never played Onimusha, so before I start with Onimusha: Way of the Sword I have to play the other available ones. Onimusha: Warlords took me 04 hours 28 minutes to complete for a first blind playthrough on normal. (A few other stats: 14/20 Fluorite, 71120 Souls Absorbed, 911 Enemies defeated, 20 Dark Realm Floors, A Rank, 38/55 Achievements.) I didn't play on Hard because I read this is basically "one hit, you die mode" and for a first playthrough I didn't want to torture myself. The Game holds up surprisingly well. The controls (I didn't use tank controls at all) worked well enough, it was a bit choppy sometimes and the camera angles could get a bit annoying as well, but it was very playable. I had no technical issues whatsoever. And yeah, gameplaywise it is totally fine. Hack & Slash with fixed camera perspectives just worked. I had a few small gripes with the Game, but this is actually just nitpicking. One was the camera as mentioned, second you can't skip in Game cutscenes (only the FMV ones) which could be annoying when you died. But overall the Game was pretty easy (at least on normal). I could've gone for a few more Achievements like not using herbs (I didn't use any healing until there was this Dark Realm Gauntlet where I just had to use healing) or finishing the Game in under 3 hours (which is more than possible since it took me only 4 1/2 hours for a first ever blind playthrough) but I think I will move on to Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny since I am most hyped for Way of the Sword. Story wise Onimusha: Warlords was just ok. Everything seemed typical Capcom, which is not a bad thing at all and I am kind of glad that the Game was this (surprisingly) short. Voice acting (played in japanese with english subtitles) was also good. Nice pallet cleanser, fun Game overall. On to the next! ...

The game was quick but enjoyable. However, the water puzzle is not great if you fail it, you are forced to watch an unskippable cutscene.

Very uncanny for a game such as Onimusha to have so many design philosophies modeled after the survival horror genre, but they surprisingly work very well! I love the parry system and quick-weapon swapping, and I never really felt cheated out of any combat encounter I came across. This game is awesome as hell

Needless to say, this is a very aged game. The visuals are dated, the physics are dated, the design is dated. I do not count any of this as a knock against the game because it is a product of that time. I am a series snob, even if the games aren't connected, so I HAVE to play the previous Onimusha games before Way of the Sword arrives. This remaster plays well, I had no technical issues, and for it to be a game that originally launched on the Playstation 2, it holds up extremely well. Controls. I very much appreciated them giving you the option of tank controls or full analogue stick controls that you can move between by simply using the thumbstick or the D-pad. That simple. I remembered the english dub being rough back on PS2 so this time around I immediately went with Japanese with english subtitles. Much better. The story isn't ground breaking but it's a cool story nonetheless. I look forward to jumping into part 2 before Way of the Sword. If you can handled dated controls and combat to enjoy a really good game, I recommend Onimusha: Warlords. It runs great, with no technical issues, the story is good, and it's fun! Thank you for reading.

The first Onimusha game remastered. It is a lot like an old Resident Evil game, but with no guns... scratch that, mostly no guns. The fixed camera angle, exploration and puzzles are very similar to the Resident Evil formula, so if you enjoy that, you will probably enjoy this. Performance wise it is running great on the attached configuration, as well as the Steam Deck. I did have some input issues, even after finishing, I could not figure out how to shoot the bow/gun on the controller (I did it via mouse every time), same with quitting the game from the main menu with the controller, I was only able to do it by pressing ESC on the keyboard.

goldie but goldie