Onimusha: Warlords Review

Onimusha Warlords, the Remaster, completed. Minus the bonus replay content. *This was a year 1 PS2 game?.... Nice.* I didn't realize going into this game that this was such a massive inspiration for so many mechanics and gameplay systems. Even as it itself took from games before it. All I knew was that much like how Dino Crisis was Resident Evil but dinosaurs, this was Resident Evil but samurai. I was off the mark on that, however. What I got played like a precursor to Sekiro. Using it's fixed camera to add to the otherwise perhaps basic or barebones combat system. You are not weak, in fact most enemies fall at your feet with ease. But much like a Souls game it's entirely possible to get overwhelmed if one gets careless, giving combat a delightfully thoughtful movement that makes it more of a dance with the enemy. With magic spells serving as a general use "I can't be bothered with this right now..." The Issen system is the obvious standout, a small frame window for near every attack outside of boss fights that, if attacked during, even from otherwise unsafe recovery animations, leads to an instant kill deathblow on the enemy. It's something that's never explained but you'll inevitably do by accident and try to replicate. Which is such an insanely hard thing to add to a game. But here it works, because if you're *not* doing it by accident, you either didn't need it or are unlikely to reliably pull it off. It's a wonderful mechanic and I can see why later games expanded upon it. (Or so I've heard) The story is barebones, but delightfully cheesy and enjoyable. I like the characterization of the demons through the journals, even if things are clearly left on a semi-cliffhanger for a sequel. All in all, this is a fantastic game in it's own right and doubles as a wonderful remaster in that Live a Live sort of "Look at something *really* influential" kind of way. It's very short, my playtime clocking in at 3 hours. But honestly that's to it's benefit in the modern era. I bet a speedrun of this looks rad.

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