Onimusha on Switch Review

Onimusha on Switch review

Onimusha: Warlords is the first M rated game I ever played. I remember sitting in the dark of my cousin’s basement, seeing my first serious amount of pixelated blood, with my cousin telling me to “shhhh” while I was  laughing at the fun of forcing a demon down so you you could stab it with your suped up Katana while it was on the ground. I don’t know if I ever beat the game since it was at my cousin’s but I remember having so much fun as we both tried to figure out our way through swarths of demons with the tank controls of this wonderful PS2 game. So when I saw Onimusha on the Eshop for preload last month, I purchased it without hesitation. I had full confidence I would enjoy this port and I was not wrong.

Onimusha Warlords is about our boi Samanosuke as his life gets turned upside down when he goes to rescue his princess friend as she is kidnapped by Demons. His ancient ancestors or something like that decide to help him out and give him an amulet that lets him suck up demon souls and use them to power up himself and his trusty swords. Now the plot isn’t too important to this game but it keeps you going as you search the princesses’ keep for better upgrades and ultimately close the door to hell so the demons will stop breaking through. It’s a very simple video game plot but it works and the well done (for a PS2) HD cutscenes really bring the story and the creepiness across. It is not exactly a gorgeous “HD” port but the game looks way better than it did on PS2 and I appreciate the effort to make the game look the same but update it.

Now Onimusha is not a super heavy RPG. You do use the souls of demons to upgrade your equipment and make your swords look dope but its a simple system that seems inevitable to be max out by the end of the game. The main action is about hacking and slashing demons, with perfecting your timing to take them down without taking damage by way of blocking or dodging. I wouldn’t say it is DarkSouls like but the act, react nature is there. The action makes every encounter with a each unique demon a fight, you can’t just slam through a bunch of demons, you need to take down each one and I loved how involved each fight could get.

This game was originally a Resident Evil game, with a ninja twist, that is why the whole plot takes place in the keep kind of like the original Resident Evil mansion. This is also why you are met with some fun puzzles throughout your jount through the keep. Onimusha originally  had tank like controls like early Resident Evil’s but here in this port they really smooth that out. It’s not exactly buttery like Bayonetta 2 but that adds to the charm of the combat. It still has the fixed camera that early RE games have but they ironed out the movement, which improves this game immensely. This port makes the game easier to play by adding some modern touches but keeps what makes the game design so great in this game.

Just a cool thing about the original Onimusha, there was a bug that made it so when you hit a demon it flew into the air, making you able to “juggle”monsters. Capcom loved this but saved this to be used in another Resident Evil game that got turned into its own franchise, The Devil May Cry series of games. Isn’t that cool?! Videos games development is dope.

So even if you didn’t have a blessed childhood like mine and played Onimusha, this is a real fun game with great atmosphere and well designed action. The game is only 5 and half hours long to beat the story with all the equipment pimped out and legendary sword in hand. That might be kind of short for some but I had such a great time in those five hours that I can’t really fault the game there. The game looks good on both handheld and on your TV, so take your demon slaying on the go and get this game on switch.

8 out of 10 shuffling demons

GoG Break Down

Console: Nintendo Switch

Price Paid: $20

Hours played: 5 ½ hours to beat the story and max equipment (2 or more hours if you want to 100%)

Amount of Demons stabbed on the floor for the Kill: as many as I could

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