It’s been nearly fifteen years since the last mainline title in Capcom’s samurai and horror mashup series Onimusha. In that time, the gaming landscape has changed a lot. New entries from Capcom and other publishers have pioneered new ways to play and new genres as a whole, and if Capcom ever plans to resurrect the Onimusha franchise, there are some major games that Capcom would do well to learn from.
Onimusha began life on the PS2 way back in 2001 as a fun melding of Resident Evil’s horror themes and tank-control style with traditional Japanese folklore and samurai gameplay. The game spawned three sequels, with the last title being Onimusha Dawn of Dreams, and it skewed more towards the action-centric gameplay of another one of Capcom’s supernatural series: Devil May Cry. While many fans enjoyed the fast-paced gameplay and options for co-op play, many others were left disappointed by the move away from Onimusha‘s horror roots. Now, since Capcom renewed the Onimusha trademark back in 2018, fans have wondered if another game was in development.
Fans were given hope about a new Onimusha game after a leak surfaced that hinted at such a project being in development, but this isn’t concrete proof. Oftentimes, publishers like Capcom will renew trademarks in order to prevent losing rights to certain characters or to prevent the production of copycat games. The leak was major and included information about many other Capcom properties, but any information obtained in such a way should be taken with a grain of salt.
Many players would find news of a new Onimusha welcome, but in a vastly different gaming landscape from 2006, Capcom would do well to learn more from the success of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and other than its own Devil May Cry series. The Sekiro developer FromSoftware has games that many players love, and Capcom should take note of its success in designing a new Onimusha. The atmosphere, gameplay, and progression systems from the souls-like games are all things that could benefit the return Capcom’s samurai-horror series.
Devil May Cry is one of Capcom’s most popular franchises, as the special edition of DMC5 released for PS5 and Xbox Series X to much success recently (as a recent example). Back in time closer to Dawn of Dreams, the success of Devil May Cry 3 likely influenced the move toward more action-focused gameplay in Dawn of Dreams. But the success of souls-like games like Sekiro should give Capcom a hint at what would be possible with a new Onimusha.
Sekiro showed that the traditional Japanese folklore including demons and oni and other such mythological creatures can translate well to modern games. The foreboding atmosphere of Sekiro and other souls-like games like Demon Souls and Nioh could be a great way for Capcom to transition Onimusha back towards its horror roots. The cramped corridors, hideous monsters, and overwhelming anxiety of the original Onimusha games could be well implemented in a souls-like formula, while allowing Onimusha to carve out a niche of its own with Capcom’s penchant for character/enemy and story design.
Dawn of Dreams was a big departure from the other Onimusha games in a lot of ways, including the atmosphere of the game at large. The more hack-and slash-nature of the game necessitated larger environments that lacked the anxiety of earlier games. The same overbearing presence of the threat of player death that pervaded Resident Evil was on full display in the early Onimusha games, as players were just as likely to be cut down by a shuffling skeleton in a hallway as any of the games bosses. The foreboding atmosphere and ambiguous threats of Sekiro and Bloodborne go a long way to establishing the tone of those games, and Capcom should study this for a new Onimusha.
Speaking to the gameplay, Onimusha has had a focus on strategic and precision combat since its outset, where avoiding damage and delivering powerful critical strikes with precise timing has helped the Onimusha protagonists like Samanouske and Jubei survive against demonic hordes. The Souls formula fits these gameplay concepts almost perfectly, and Capcom is famous for crafting incredibly tight combat both in melee-centric titles like Devil May Cry and in modern shooters like Resident Evil 4 and the recent remakes. Many long-time fans would love to see a modern take on the Onimusha gameplay with the blistering difficulty of games like Sekiro.
Another more modern feature from titles like Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls that would go a long way in improving the Onimusha formula is the way those titles handle character progression. It is hard to find games without RPG elements here in 2021, and largely that’s for a good reason. Dawn of Dreams included new weapons and some trinkets that players could obtain in order to power up their characters, but a full fledged system for skills, attributes, and gear could greatly improve the overall experience.
A full system for progression would also go a long way in improving replayability for a new Onimusha title. Overall, if Capcom is indeed planning a new Onimusha, it might be able to find great success in emulating what has made the souls-like genre and games like Sekiro so popular. With many next-gen games from Capcom in development, it would be a big task, but Capcom is known for adapting its properties with changing trends to great effect. So, a simultaneous look at the modern souls-like trends and look back to Onimusha’s roots in the horror genre could add up to a strong return for Onimusha.
While many fans believe that Onimusha has been shelved by Capcom, the recent leak has given many fans new hope for the return of Onimusha. And if Capcom does actually have plans for Onimusha, it would make sense for the company to learn from games that have taken a similar approach.
A new Onimusha game is not known to be in development.
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