The other half of my quick trip to the Capcom booth at PAX West 2025 contained the game I was probably most excited for on the entire show floor. Onimusha: Way of the Sword may possibly be my most anticipated title announced for 2026 because I was a huge fan of these games growing up.

I ran through Onimusha: Warlords so many times, and while most people played Mario Party as their go to four player party game, in my apartment, it was always Onimusha Blade Warriors. Does Musashi live up to the hype? Find out in our Onimusha: Way of the Sword preview!

Diving into the Onimusha: Way of the Sword preview, the booth attendant asked me if I was familiar with the series or with action slashers in general.

I told him proudly that I’d been a big fan of the series since I was a teenager, even enjoying the buddy cop Parisian romp with Jean Reno in Onimusha 3: Demon Siege.

Just by the look of the game from the initial seconds of movement, I could tell that this game is definitely striving to appeal to fans of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so when the attendant asked me if I had ever played it, I slyly grinned and told him I platinumed it on PS5.

He laughed and said “then this demo should pose no challenge to you, enjoy”. I fully admit that it was tipping a fedora levels of cringe, and I’m a officially a goofy old loser.

Navigating the area felt familiar while being brand new, and there were similar vibes of exploration that reminded me of Nioh.

The further I played, the more I started seeing that good old Onimusha flavor that I was expecting. I dashed around trying to slice up everything in the environment, stumbling upon packs of enemies.

Almost instinctively, I went to use my Oni Gauntlet to vacuum up souls before the game even had a chance to tell me to. It was familiar, comfortable, and felt like coming home.

While this wasn’t my first time seeing Musashi Miyamoto (as he was in Onimusha Blade Warriors) Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s Musashi isn’t quite as reserved as Samanosuke was.

Musashi’s Oni Gauntlet is possessed by the spirit of a woman who angrily reminded Musashi that she won’t be addressed as “gauntlet lady”.

While I don’t mind a clever quip every so often, I hope that Onimusha: Way of the Sword isn’t full of these Marvel-esque wise cracks and it’s just meant for character building.

Combat is a dream, though a slight bit clunkier than I expected. The parry system works very well and is easy to pick up the timing, though I assume if there are varying difficulties that this window will be tightened up to increase skill requirements.

I was able to parry most of the enemies I encountered with relative ease, including the boss battle that caps off the end of the 15 minute long demo. Parrying a boss can lead to a struggle system, where you mash buttons to win the struggle.

Staggering stronger characters gives you the option to choose critical strike paths when weakened so you can either release some healing souls or some currency souls if you’re still good on life. 

I got dangerously close to death one time during the final boss encounter because I wasn’t watching my health bar, but quickly healed and continued to stomp this dude into dust.

I completed the boss fight on the first attempt which drew some compliments from the attendants who were watching and the initial attendant came back to say he was impressed at how quick I got through the demo.

All I could say was that playing Onimusha: Way of the Sword and solid action games like it, it’s like riding a bike and once you’re familiar, you’ll at least be competent at it forever.

The biggest takeaway I have from my time spent playing Onimusha: Way of the Sword is that despite feeling more modernized, this game is still very much Onimusha at the heart.

You still gather red/blue/gold souls, use your gauntlet to increase your powers/abilities, and there are still locked paths that you must unlock by appeasing those creepy looking strand things that block your way with red and blue gates.

If given the time, I probably would have run this demo three or four more times just cause it was so much fun to play. Onimusha: Way of the Sword was absolutely my “game of the show” for PAX West 2025 and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the full game next year.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is in development for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 with a release set for 2026.