I somehow missed the original Onimusha games back on the PS2 generation, despite my penchant for the old school, isometric Resident Evil’s of the world. So this remaster – not remake – of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny feels a bit odd to play today; on one hand, it hits the nostalgia bones quite hard in its design and mechanics despite never having played it; on the other, it shows just how far we’ve come, and that perhaps a more action-centric game is not best suited to the fixed camera angles and resource management of the survival horror series.
We play as Jubei who, upon arriving home to find his village in tatters after an attack, swears revenge upon the demon army ruler Nobanagu. What follows is a tale of twists and turns not unlike the RE series, though I must admit to being far less invested here. It’s not a bad story, but it’s very of-the-time, with stilted dialogue and nonsensical scenes throughout. Of course, had I played this way back when perhaps that wouldn’t have been an issue here, but for new players like myself it was a bit jarring considering Capcom’s excellent Resident Evil remakes over the last few years.
But a remaster it is that we get, and for what it’s worth Onimusha 2 does polish up pretty nicely. The much higher resolution brings out the excellent details in the background renders, and the polygonal models of characters are vibrant and chunky, especially as we batter some poor demons with our arsenal of weapons and they go flying about the screen in sprays of claret.
In terms of gameplay, this is pretty much (as I understand it) the same game as the 2002 game. We do get ‘modern’ controls which let us use the analogue stick for movement, though the original ‘tank’ style is still here as well. I personally found that the preferable way to play for the most part as the modern style meant with every camera angle change the sticks would then be realigned, normally making me run back into danger instead of away from it.
Outside of this change, we’ll be exploring the various locales, hunting keys and gems to unlock doors to progress, backtracking and fighting almost endlessly respawning enemies along the way. The combat is a mix of fast action and defence, though it is – once again – far less suited to static camera angles than RE’s slow burn survival horror. Too many times, especially late game when the big guys really show up – I found my view of Jubei completely obscured, or several enemies that were off screen winding up attacks wiped me out before I could even try to react.
The static cameras worked in RE to ratchet up the tension; is there a zombie I can hear around this corner, or am I walking into something even more deadly?; can I run past them to save ammo even though I can’t easily see the room layout?; I’m caught, but at least I have a bit of room and some ammo to try and defend myself. Here, Jubei is far more capable but the static cameras are a hidden extra foe, blocking our view or simply making it hard to judge distances for his melee attacks. It wasn’t until late in the game I really found much enjoyment in the combat because I’d finally upgraded a few decent weapons, but even then one late game boss fight almost got the better of me.
See, while Jubei is a strong fighter, the enemies are able to both attack from off screen and interrupt our attacks. This particular boss had fast, strong projectiles that were hard to block and could also teleport out of harm’s way should we actually manage to get close to them. Like a lot of the harder fights in Onimusha 2, this wasn’t just hard but felt actively unfair at times. Sure, skill issues I’m sure play a part, but paired with a huge healthbar and the need to reload from a savepoint after every death and it soon became annoyingly tedious. I did eventually do it (without lowering the difficulty as the game suggested many time over) but it was more a sigh of ‘thank fuck I don’t have to do that again’ than any sense of triumph.
And again, I know this is just a remaster, but I can’t help but feel this game was crying out for a proper RE2-style remake, with new control schemes and 3D environments. It’s going to be great for older fans to relive this on new hardware I’m sure, but newer players will likely struggle to really get into the game proper I’d imagine. I even had to resort to a guide from the old days at times, not to solve puzzles to but tell me where the hell I was going as there’s no in-game way to know what we’re doing and if – like me – you step away for a few days and forget, well, it’s simply scouring around the areas until something happens.
I’m writing this knowing that some of my issues with this are easily levelled at the old RE games too, but at least they had maps you could explore and see where you haven’t been. The only map on display in Onimusha 2 is the current one we’re in, and if that’s all clear then it really is hard to know where we should be going. The same goes for the tank controls and camera angles, but RE succeeds in making it a vital part of the tension and horror; Onimusha 2 simply makes it more of a chore to get anything done.
There’s also a side hustle that involves trading items with various members of your crew for rewards but with no real explanation and as such, it was something I barely engaged with despite it offering up bonuses which could have helped down the line (or so I read). Resource management is less restrictive than RE in that we can carry as much as we find, but it’s still stingy with health packs and the like, so much so that I barely had enough to scrape by in the final fight (after I did have to lower the difficulty).
Conclusion
Which leads me to my final thoughts. As a remaster, it’s well done if basic; some upspuffed visuals, a few QoL improvements, and an easier way to revisit the game. But unfortunately the game itself is showing its age, with obtuse objectives and maps and combat that rarely feels fun or exciting to engage in. One for old fans, and cautious new players looking to see what the series is all about before the new Onimusha: Way of the Sword next year.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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