Onimusha: Warlords review — Let’s do the time warp

The year was 1997. Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise was a worldwide phenomenon, and the designers wanted to capitalize with a game set in the Sengoku period. After beginning work on a PlayStation 1 title, progress was scrapped, and the project was moved to the PlayStation 2. Released in 2001, Onimusha: Warlords successfully launched a new franchise, showing the world you don’t need guns to slaughter monsters effectively. With an HD remaster in 2019, Capcom brought the franchise into the modern era. Thankfully, classics like this are well-loved for good reason.

The game opens with a huge battle raging across the landscape. Hundreds of horseback samurai charge into warriors on foot as far as the eye can see. Acclaimed warlord Oda Nobunaga leads the attack, but his victory is short-lived as an arrow slams into his neck. Our hero, Samanosuke, rushes to Princess Yumi’s fortress after receiving a concerning letter. He arrives to find her taken. With the help of a ninja named Kaede, he sets out to save the princess, only to discover demons conquering the land led by a revived Nobunaga.

As with the Resident Evil games, the story is a little goofy. You have to give Capcom credit, though. A lone samurai taking on a demon army led by one of Japan’s greatest daimyos was a unique premise for its time. Now, nearly a quarter-century later, Onimusha: Warlords still presents a fun adventure. Sure, the story is a little kitschy, but in the same way beloved classic films like Big Trouble in Little China or Maximum Overdrive are; It’s goofy and endearing. The dialogue can be a little rough at times, and the voiceover work is pretty hit-or-miss, but it makes for a fun ride.

One of Onimusha: Warlord’s most memorable aspects is its gameplay. Conceived in a gene pool full of Resident Evil DNA, the game’s inclusion of similar structures should come as no surprise. You’ll run around zones as static camera angles switch depending on your location. As you progress, you’ll have to discover clues and solve puzzles to unlock doors and get new items. Bestowed with the Gauntlet of the Giants, Samanosuke will fight and slaughter demons, absorbing their souls to become more powerful. Throughout the game, you’ll be able to unlock and upgrade three weapons with corresponding elemental magic. This magic can also open special doors. Even a couple of decades after its inception, the combat feels smooth and responsive while keeping the upgrade paths rewarding. Exploring and solving puzzles feels excellent, too, even to a fogey like me that somehow never played the franchise growing up. I’m glad I got the chance to come back and experience the game. For those of you who enjoy crazy challenging combat, the one-hit-and-you-die Hell difficulty was added in a patch, too.

For a game released in 2001, Onimusha: Warlords boasts a notable variety of enemies and bosses. You’ll fight everything from zombie samurai to giant homunculi and more. They mix and match things in a way that never feels stale, though that could be thanks to the game’s shorter length, which took me less than four hours. By the time credits rolled, I felt satisfied to have enjoyed the whole experience.

From an aural perspective, nothing here is going to blow you away. The game’s soundtrack remains atmospheric and engaging. Monsters grunt and groan as you slash away at them. It was a big deal to have voice work done for the whole game in 2001, and some of those offerings can be a little rough-hewn, but they get the job done.

With regards to the game’s remastered nature, there are some things to consider. I love the sharper character models, which look surprisingly good after a two-decades-long overdue coat of paint. It was a little sad to see that cutscenes still look dated and grainy, and the environmental backgrounds remained low-resolution static images. It would’ve been nice to see a bit more effort put into modernizing these aspects. The addition of a weapon quick-swap button was nice, but as far as quality-of-life improvements go, it feels like they left a lot to be desired. This feels like a fairly spartan HD remaster, but in truth, that’s all it needed to be. It’s a heck of a lot of fun to experience.

Character Samanosuke Akechi by © Fu Long Production
Guest Creator Takeshi Kaneshiro