A good boss battle is one of the most sublime feelings in the world, like pulling your blanket out of the dryer so it’s all toasty. Amazingly, my favorite boss battle of the year might come from a game that doesn’t even release in 2025, but from Capcom’s long-awaited revival of the Onimusha franchise, Way of the Sword. At a recent preview event, I had the chance to go hands-on with Way of the Sword, and ended up playing the demo three times just to go through the boss battle at the end again. It’s made me more excited for the game than anything else, because it finally made me realize what this Onimusha is going for in terms of combat — it’s a game about duels.
Onimusha has long been one of Capcom’s most fascinating franchises because of how uniquely different every single entry is. The first Onimusha was a straight-up copy of Resident Evil set in Feudal Japan, while Onimusha 3 transformed into more of a Devil May Cry action game with a bizarre time travel story. But those drastic differences have proven to be Onimusha’s biggest strength, and it’s already starting to look like Way of the Sword knows it.
