At The Game Awards last year, we got the announcement of Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Then, earlier this year we got another trailer. Now, at Summer Games Fest we got to see a good look at gameplay for the upcoming return of the series. Every time we have seen this game it keeps looking better and better. This time was no different, and, while we didn’t get to go hands-on with the game, what we saw will make fans who have been yearning for the series to return happy.

The decently sized part of the game that we saw was a bit into the game and saw protagonist Musashi entering a temple to cleanse it of the Genma (demons) that have taken over. Musashi already has the gauntlet in this demo, but he is not a fan of it and were prefer to earn his samurai title the old fashioned way through his own efforts. That is built upon by the small interaction between Musashi and the spirit within the gauntlet being more antagonistic than friendly.

What we say of the gameplay is were this game shines. The game is an evolution of what the series was two decades ago without veering way into something else. As someone who played Onimusha 2 for the first time recently, this game looks exactly like a modern version of that. It still has the classic hallmarks such as spirit orbs and Issen counterattacks. Issens can even be chained together naturally with the input of a button when dealing with groups of enemies.

When you aren’t performing Issen counters and just slashing your way through the Genma, Mushashi has omnidirectional blocking and can perform deflecting and redirecting parries. Deflecting will cause attacks to bounce back which is highly effective against ranged enemies, and will lower their stagger gauge. Redirecting will cause an enemy to stumble and they can even be pushed into environmental hazards. Musashi can also interact with the environment and help himself in combat such as by lifting a table to block incoming attacks. We also got to see some of his special powers at work. Musashi has access to Oni Vision which allows him to see hidden Genma among other things that may be blocking his path. There are also things called Black Mass which allows him to view events that happened in the past.

The demo ended with us encountering two separate bosses. The first being Musashi’s rival Ganryu who also has a gauntlet and enjoys using it. The other was a giant Genma to end the demo. The boss fights looked great with plenty of action to keep players on their toes. Deflecting boss attacks causes their stagger meter to go down, and, once its empty, you are able to perform a Break Issen which allows you to perform one of two attacks. The first is a targeted purple attack which gives you more souls which could be needed to get your health or magic back up, and the second is a targeted red attack that deals massive damage.

Overall, the game is looking fantastic, and fans who have been waiting nearly two decades will finally get their hands on it next year.