Capcom has been one of the absolute best developers over the past decade or so alongside being one of the historically great developers ever. Capcom loves their history with them bringing back many of their classics for fans to experience again or for new fans to experience for the first time. Now, Onimusha is reentering the spotlight with a brand new game finally releasing a some point next year. Thus, Capcom is bringing back one of the classics from the series with the remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. We got to preview the early part of the game a month ago. Now that we’ve finished the game, let’s delve into our thoughts on the complete game.

When I previewed this game a month ago, I was enjoying what the game was setting up during its early stages and couldn’t wait to dive into what the rest of the game had in store. The story is a classic tale of revenge and puts you into the role of Jubei Yagyu the only survivor of his clan after demons ransack his village. The story doesn’t evolve much from there as Jubei aims to bring down those responsible. However, Jubei as a protagonist and a few of the other characters have their own charm that keep you engaged in a story we’ve seen plenty of times over the past twenty plus years since this game released.

As I mentioned in my preview, combat is where Onimusha 2: Sanurai’s Destiny really excels. The game throws so many enemies at you at a near constant rate that you start to learn to master the game’s combat system. The biggest perk of it is the counter move that allows you to one shot kill an enemy when they go in for the attack on Jubei. The game also has gives you access to a wide range of weapons to experiment with and upgrade, so you are able to find the weapon that fits your playstyle with most having their own magic ability.

As you learn to master the game’s combat, you are also able to switch the game to the new difficulty mode known as Hell Mode. This mode allows any one hit to kill you instantly, and when I tried this during the preview I was overwhelmed immediately. However, while I have yet to come close to beating the game on this difficulty, playing the game on this difficulty reminds me of the Soulslike genre and how you slowly see yourself improve at the combat even if you die over and over.

The visual upgrades done to the game look great even if the character models still look a bit funky or blocky. I’ll never get over how wonky Jubei’s face looks. Where the game shines visually is with the environments. Some of the towns you go to feel like they have way more life to them and draw you into them more than towns you see in modern games. Plus, you get to play this game without the tank controls of the original version of the game. Unfortunately, this is still a game that released over twenty years ago, so there are downsides that come with that. The switching between screens can be disorienting when you’re running through an area as directional controls can change or you can lose your sense of direction easily. The big downside of switching screens is in boss fights as walking too far in one direction may switch the camera to a different screen, and, thus, causing you to lose track of where the boss or you are. This was a big pain during my time in Hell Mode as I would be fighting a boss and move too far one way causing the screen to switch and giving the boss an opportunity to hit me and causing me to restart.

For those who want to experience what the Onimusha series was during its heyday over twenty years ago, this is a great game to jump into. However, as aforementioned this is an early PlayStation 2 game through and through. That comes with all the good and the bad of playing a game pulled straight from that era of 3D gaming which you have to get accustomed to. If you can put up with that, then there is still a special game for you to enjoy.

Score: 7 out of 10

Reviewed on PlayStation 5