Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (PS4, PS5) Review
Summary: A solid remaster of Capcom's cult classic.
3.8
Samurai shuffle
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny remains one of my favourite PS2 games; it’s bold, brash, and crazy, a strange artefact from a glorious and creative period for both Capcom and the games industry in general.
Which is why its remaster is such a tricky one to review. At the time, I thrust it into my friends’ hands and said You need to play this. I mean, “it’s Resident Evil with demons and samurai” is a pretty easy sell, right?
Skip forward to my knees not working like they used to, and tastes changing a lot, and I find it’s a much harder sell. It’s tank control, Resi, with demons, samurai, and some antiquated views towards its female characters.
Do I lean on nostalgia, or do I stick to the fact that it’s still campy and dumb, like most AAA games don’t even attempt now, and the combat still holds up surprisingly well. (Though that may be because of the modernised controls.)
Ultimately, this version of Onimusha 2 is a fairly hands-off port of a game from over twenty years ago, for good and ill. The fact that it’s still a great time, despite its digital equivalent of creaky knees and not being as hip as it once was, is testament to the fact that Capcom created something special.
Following on from the events of Onimusha, with Nobunaga Oda’s defeat and subsequent ascension to demonhood. Onimusha 2 follows a new protagonist, Jubei Yagyu, the last surviving member of a clan wiped out by Oda. He’s gruff, quiet, and is very much the straight man of the piece. Sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the goofy cast of samurai and demons that help and hinder him on his quest for revenge.
Though the tone can shift on a dime. One minute you’re duelling the relentlessly queer coded, absolutely fabulous demon swordsman Gorgandantess, then in the next your usually jolly, often drunk companion Ekei Ankokuji is having flashbacks to his wife and infant daughter being burned alive during a raid on his estate.
Then you’ll be riding a robotic horse with Jubei’s love interest Oyu bundled up in your arms in one of the cheesiest ‘romantic’ moments I think I’ve ever seen in a game.
Bonkers narrative aside, this being a remaster, it’s safe to say that some of the rougher edges have been smoothed off.
The graphics have been given a nice boost. Textures have been replaced and models slightly tweaked, which lets the incredible designs by Keita Amemiya shine. (There’s also an obligatory gallery with all that delightful concept art to pore over)
Unfortunately, the pre-rendered backgrounds aren’t given the same love, as Onimusha 2 suffers from the same issue that streaming early episodes of The Simpsons in widescreen has. Rather than stretching the image, the developers have opted to zoom in and cut the top and bottom off the frame instead. As a result, you’ll often miss details in the environment, and some enemies will leap out of parts of the environment you should easily be able to see. My advice is to hit the 4:3 button as soon as you can.
The movement controls have been rejiggered too with proper 3D movement on the analogue stick, though you can still use the old tank controls on the D-pad if you hate yourself, although admittedly the game was made with those controls in mind, and the fixed camera does result in you turning around whenever the angle changes when you’re using the analogue controls.
Combat is a slick affair with Jubei using a handful of enchanted elemental weapons to tear a path through the endless waves of demons that respawn every time you enter a new area. Each weapon feels distinct, and you quickly find a favourite. There’s a lightning sword, an ice spear, a swanky double-ended sword that creates tornadoes, a mighty warhammer, and a devastating flaming broadsword.
Each weapon has a simple combo, a hard hitting magic attack, and balance out by either being faster and weaker or stronger and slower, however the best part is your ability to parry pressing attack just before a hit from a demon lands which sends Jubei rushing forward often cutting down multiple enemies and granting you additional rewards.
Fights also have a nice flow to them, with you blocking and reposting and even breaking guards with a solid boot, though it does reward aggressiveness. Its always satisfying to hack down a whole heap of monsters before the buggers even have a chance to swing their blades.
Every time you kill an enemy they’ll drop soul orbs which Jubei needs to suck into his hand before they float away and disappear. These come in three flavours: health, magic, and experience, used to upgrade your weapons and gear. However, when Jubei sucks in orbs he is completely defenseless. This creates a nice risk vs reward scheme. Especially when you’re low on health and an enemy just drops a nice juicy health orb. Do you try battle on regardless, or do you risk gaining extra health at the risk of being cut down?
When you’re not fighting demons, or engaging in one of the Onimusha 2s fantastic boss battles, you’ll be solving one of the games rather nifty little puzzles, this being a Resi offshoot there’s still plenty of place jewel in socket type puzzle, but, there’s also a whole slew of chests that are locked with some fun slide puzzles and even a couple cases that require you to flex your sudoku skills.
Outside of the main game, there’s also a decent suite of extras. All the additional minigames are now accessible from the main menu from the start, including The Man in Black, Team Oni, and Puzzle Phantom Real, which each twist the gameplay experience in different ways. The Man in Black lets you unlock making of films while attempting a pacifist run of a small part of the game, Team Oni has you play as Jubei’s allies in a mode akin to Resi’s Mercenaries mode, and Puzzle Phantom Realm sees Jubei working through a series of sliding block puzzles for rewards.
Among the extras you’ll also find the obligatory galleries, and making of materials (though some of these need to be unlocked by playing the previously mentioned minigames) as well as several new difficulty modes, including the one-hit kill, hell mode, and the story-focused easy mode.
Final Thoughts
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is a fantastic follow-up to a bona fide classic, that handily also doesn’t require you to have played the original to enjoy. The fixed perspective may have felt antiquated even in 2002, but its flamboyant cast, penchant for melodrama, and fantastic combat and boss battles more than make up for Onmiusha 2’s shortcomings.
Though a Remaster, in many ways it’s closer to a solid port as it’s been touched up with a deft hand that understands that sometimes it’s the quirks of a game that make it so engaging in the first place.
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