Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny - Review

In 2001, Capcom released a game called Onimusha: Warlords and that would kick off a series that spanned a decade and got a number of entries, but then the series went away. In 2018 it got a spark of life when Capcom remastered the first game and many had hoped the series would be back for good, but nope. Then 2024 delivered news of two games coming, one was a brand-new game, and the other was a remaster of the sequel, now that Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny has arrived, was the long wait worth it, or would waiting for the new game be the better option?

As a remaster it is important to note that there are no story or gameplay changes here, almost everything about this release is graphical. Now there are a few small tweaks to the gameplay, but the core of it is the same. So, what gameplay changes have been made, mostly control and weapon swaps. That is pretty much it, the original release required players to access the games menu in order to swap weapons, now you just pull the left trigger and then cycle through with the d-pad. This works for both your main weapon and secondary, which makes it a wonderful addition, because there are some fights where weapon switching is needed and no menus is great. The only other major change to the gameplay is that you can now run around without using tank controls, if you want to. It is not an either-or scenario, if you want to use tank controls you just use the d-pad and if you want stick controls, you use the stick, but there is a concern with the latter.

The new controls feel good when you are in larger space, but when you are in tight spaces it can become an issue. This is due to the Resident Evil nature of the game. The series began as a take on the Resident Evil formula, just swap out zombies for ninjas and it grew from that. That is also why tank controls are in the game. The reason for the issue with using the stick is that the slightest touch to the stick and your character turns in a different direction. This is nothing to be worried about when you’re in an open space, but when the game has 3 or 4 camera swaps in the span of 2 meters, you will find yourself often going in the wrong direction. When this happened during exploration, it was annoying but nothing more, when it happened in boss fights, it was a real pain. Even worse when the boss was just off screen and you needed to move to view them, then you would trigger it while hacking away at them. You can get around it by using the tank controls, but they are slow and clunky, so it is a trade-off that you need to decide upon.

Those are really the only two changes to the gameplay and while both are welcome, it feels a bit cheap compared to the recent Resident Evil Remakes that Capcom have done. The games visuals have been updated, as I said in my preview, it is like when God of War went from PlayStation 2 and got the HD version on PlayStation 3. Everything looks better, but now all the blemishes that were once hidden, are on full display. Each of the games locations look good, they did on the PlayStation 2 and again thanks to the Resident Evil style of pre-rendered backgrounds, they just now look clearer. The game also sports two aspect rations, the traditional 4:3 and the newer widescreen. The game looks fine either way and unless you are playing on a 4:3 display, you will want to stick with widescreen to avoid the empty space beside the game. The updated visuals also apply to the characters, which again look fine, but once you spot the blemishes you will always spot them. The reason you will spot them is the game just has so many cutscenes and while the story and acting feels like daytime soap quality, due to the amount you get, you will have plenty of time to see the issues.

The games audio is pretty much the same here as it was in the original, just now you can check out any of the games music tracks via the music player. The voice work is the same, so the less than impressive voice acting for some characters is still present, ensuring you know it’s a product of its time. The only issue I had with the games audio is that the voice work has this hissing quality to it, not like white noise, but like it is a low-quality audio that now on the modern hardware stands out.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is a good game, the problem is that no matter what it looks like, it’s an old game. Now if you are old like me and played the game when its new, then you will likely enjoy the hit of nostalgia that it gives you. However, if you have never experienced a true tank control-based game, there is a learning curve that you might not enjoy. The fixed camera perspective also falls under that same understanding, there is a reason most games don’t use it today, even as a gameplay hook after all. For those who enjoy the series or the original, it is worth playing again, but the really isn’t anything new here to give you a reason that you have to play it.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Capcom

The Pros

The gameplay is still fun, exploring the world, finding items and solving puzzles

The new weapon swap option makes the game far more enjoyable…

The Cons

… but the new control scheme can be problematic in tight spaces

The games story and performances are the same as they were originally and they are not the best