Onimusha: Way of the Sword devs talk Musashi, haunted Kyoto, and reinventing combat

Capcom is bringing Onimusha back after nearly two decades without a mainline entry. Onimusha: Way of the Sword launches September 25, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PS5, with Xbox Play Anywhere support meaning one purchase covers both console and PC.

Director Satoru Nihei and producer Akihito Kadowaki have been talking through the key creative decisions. The protagonist is a fictionalized Miyamoto Musashi, modeled after the late actor Toshiro Mifune, who gets dragged into a demonic conflict when the Genma invade Kyoto. He's unwillingly bound to the Oni Gauntlet — a powerful heirloom that can talk and identifies itself as Shizuka — and the two make an unlikely pair. The camera has shifted from the classic isometric view to a close third-person perspective, and combat has been rebuilt around parrying and countering as its core loop. Enemies carry both health and stagger meters, and landing parries chips away at both while opening foes up for follow-up attacks. Nihei confirmed the counter animations were captured using a real-life sword expert via motion capture, and projectile attacks can be deflected straight back at enemies. The Oni Gauntlet lets Musashi absorb Genma souls and unleash flashy special moves — The Two Celestials rips souls from defeated foes, while the Wind-Whipper spins twin blades into a tornado around him.

Both Kadowaki and Nihei were candid about the pressure they're under. Capcom already shipped two well-received games this year — Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata — and the producers of those titles apparently wish the Way of the Sword team good luck whenever they cross paths at the office. On top of that, this is the first proper Onimusha game in years, which means fans who've been waiting a long time have high expectations. A free demo is already live on the Xbox Store, and the game was playable at Summer Game Fest.

The setting is Edo-period Kyoto soaked in supernatural horror, and the demo leans into the unsettling side of that. One village section is bathed in a dreamlike golden glow, populated by disturbingly cheerful residents whose wishes have been grotesquely granted — a man's knee pain solved by amputation, a couple's wish to stay together forever fulfilled by turning them into smiling dolls. Cinematic boss fights and strong cutscene production round out what's shaping up to be a confident return for the series.