There’s perhaps few game franchises out there right now that have such a celebrated legacy but are mostly inaccessible quite like the Onimusha series. It took around 15 years since the last proper Onimusha game for Capcom to start re-releasing them for modern platforms with Onimusha 1 in 2019, and now, six years later, they’ve finally dropped Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. By this rate, we’ll be playing Onimusha 3: Demon Siege on the PS6 in 2031, and I don’t want to wait that long — not when the remasters are this good, anyway.
Set a few years after the events of the first game, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny follows a new protagonist in the form of Jubei Yagyu, who seeks to the avenge the destruction of his village and clan at the hands of a now demonic Oda Nobunaga. Jubei isn’t alone in his quest though, as he’s aided by the ninja Kotaro Fuma, the gunman Magoichi Saiga, the spear wielding drunkard Eiki Ankokuji and a mysterious woman by the name of Oyu. Quite how much Jubei is aided though depends on how proficient you are at gift giving.
Gameplay is much improved over the first game, and that’s without talking about the features and enhancements that the remaster has thrown in. Jubei has a healthy selection of melee and ranged weapons, and like the first remaster, you can actually swap weapons on the fly instead of farting around the pause menus, which is nice. The weapons themselves are also improved, as Onimusha 2 gives players more moves to play around with like launch attacks, charge attacks and even secret techniques that need to be found within the game to unlock.
Something else that was introduced after the original game too was a gifting/relationship/scenario system, which sounds like a bit of a mouthful but all three things are connected to each other. Jubei can give gifts to his four allies, each gift having certain affinities with each ally, with the goal to build your trust between the four of them. Depending on your gifting choices and the relationships cultivated, you’ll encounter different scenarios throughout the course of the game, allowing you to learn more about the motivations and backgrounds of the side characters. Because of this, you can only experience a set amount of scenarios per game, which means there’s plenty of replayability beyond your regular unlockables and modes to keep coming back to Onimusha 2.
Graphically, Onimusha 2 is a looker of a remaster, with every aspect of the game upgraded in high definition. The backgrounds and character models are so much better looking than the previous remaster, and while part of that is due to the improvements made between the original release of the first two games, it definitely seems like Onimusha 2 looks way better. It still looks like a PS2 game of course, but one that looks good in HD at least.
It’s the remaster improvements over the original game that make this version really sing though. Capcom’s elegant solution for analog versus tank controls makes a return from the previous remaster, with old school purists given tank controls on the d-pad while the analog stick allows for full 3D movement. It lets Capcom have their cake and eat it too, giving everyone what they want without sacrificing the needs of either camp. Alongside the weapon improvements, Onimusha 2’s remaster even introduces a change from Onimusha 3, with Jubei no longer automatically transforming into an Onimusha when he collects 5 purple orbs.
Something that’ll make people who keep forgetting to save happy is that an auto-save feature has been introduced, meaning you’re able to restart from decently placed checkpoints instead of worrying about losing an hour or so of progress. Plus, you can even skip cutscenes now, which was a huge frustration when playing the first Onimusha remaster. Granted, that frustration was caused by idiot players forgetting to save, but it’s nice that Capcom have us covered this time around.
With Onimusha 1 and 2 now available on multiple platforms, it feels like a matter of time before 3 and maybe even Dawn of Dreams are added too, and if the quality of Onimusha 2’s remaster is anything to go by, we should be very excited by the prospect. Even without the potential third remaster on the horizon, Onimusha 2 HD is worth playing on its own merits. Still, don’t make us wait six years for the next re-release. We all want to see Samanosuke slashing demons through modern-day Paris again, right?
Xbox Series key provided by PR for the purposes of this review.
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