It has been years since I last played Onimusha 2, and part of me was hoping that we would have gotten it soon after Capcom brought the first game back in 2019. But here we are over six years later and the second game in the series has finally been given some love, after putting a bit of time into the game, was the wait worth it?

Before I talk about this new, or is it old release, this new version of an old game, I figured it might be nice to explain what the Onimusha series is all about, as there are a number of gamers who have likely never heard of it. The quickest explanation is if you take the gameplay design of the old Resident Evil games, but mix in Japanese history and mythology, with sword-based gameplay. That is the layman’s way of explaining it, but it does provide context for what you get. Each of the mainline games have told their own story and while they are loosely connected, you don’t need to pay Warlords, in order to understand what happens in Samurai’s Destiny. Right, so with that out of the way, what is new about this version of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny.

While I could just say the visuals and call it a day, there is more done there, so we will come back to that. The gameplay improvements are what really make this feel like a fresh game, because there were some issues with the original release. The first change that I can fully get behind is the fact that you can swap weapons, without needing to go into the menu. If you are someone who is used to that, you can still choose to do that, but now you can use some button combinations to do it in the world and it feels so much nicer. The other major gameplay addition, at least that I liked, was that the game now has an autosave function. It is not perfect, there were times when it would ask me if I wanted to load, after I died, but it would put me back a fair distance away from where I was. I am not expecting it to autosave in each room, but you might think that the room before a boss fight would be fine, but it was not.

In addition to those gameplay tweaks, there are a few extra ones, like an easy mode. The game did not let me choose this when I started, but after I died a number of times against Gogandantess, the game mocked me by offering the easy mode. The game has also added a new Hello difficulty, which will only be for those crazy, I mean enthusiastic about it, because if you take a single hit, from any enemy, it is game over. This mode only unlocks after you have been the game on Hard and Critical modes, so it will be a real test. Needless to say, that I did not get to try this mode in my hands on with the game.

One area that I know people are keen to know about is the presentation, because the game originally released in 2002, for the PlayStation 2. Things look ok here, the game won’t be winning any awards for its beauty, but it is not a remake, so that it to be expected. Now the game could surprise me in the final moments, but for now I will say that it looks nice and leave it there. The developers have replaced almost everything with high resolution assets, so characters, the world and even the text is much clearer, but that highlights all the issues. On the PlayStation 2, it would not have been easy to spot a character standing in the spot that should not be possible, but you can see that here. The characters look good now, but the game, or at least the areas available to us for preview, give off this weird PlayStation 3 HD release vibe. If you recall in the PlayStation 3 era, there were a number of PlayStation 2 games that were brought to the console, all of which were given a HD treatment, this has that same vibe. Now by the time the credits roll, that might not be an issue, but it is a weird to see right now. There is a nice touch though, that you can swap between the new and classic aspect ratios, if you want to relive the original look.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is still as fun as I remember it being on the PlayStation 2, though I played it on a PlayStation 3. The updates to the gameplay, namely being able to swap weapons without needing to go into a menu, is such a simple touch, but one that gives the game some real flow. The auto save is great to have, though I hope they tweak it before the game launches in full, in order to make it feel like it’s really helpful. The graphical updates are nice to have, but in these early stages, do feel like they help expose some of the original games development shortcuts, but that could fade away in the full game. Much like when Onimusha: Warlords got its remastered treatment, there is good and bad, but that one turned out good in the end and so far, this is feeling very much the same.

Thanks to Capcom for providing access for the preview. Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is set to release on May 23rd for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game will be available on its own and can be pre-ordered today, or in a double pack with Onimusha: Warlords on release day.