If I had to summarize my overall experience of playing eight hours of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, it would include two words: seven and a half hours worth of old-school fun, and thirty minutes worth of frustration.
The sequel to 2001’s fixed-camera Samurai action-adventure game, Onimusha 2, finally escapes its sixth-generation shackles after fourteen years. And much like its predecessor, it comes with some modern quirks to fit its remaster moniker.
However, similar to recent Capcom remasters, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny comes packed with extra goodies, which fans and newcomers will undoubtedly appreciate.
Onimusha 2 setting and story
Onimusha 2 takes place right after the end of Onimusha 1. After Fortinbras, the main antagonist of Onimusha 1, dies at the hands of Samanosuke, Oda Nobunaga takes over the forces of Genma in his quest to conquer the entirety of Japan. In his pursuit of absolute power, Nobunaga annihilates the Yagyu village, from which the protagonist Jubei Yagyu belongs.
With a thirst for revenge and armed with the Oni powers, Jubei goes on an adventure to stop the tyrant, while meeting four eccentric characters who decide to work together to bring down the evil for good.
In many ways, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny structurally feels like an anime. It starts slow, letting everything set up while giving you plenty of time to get used to the robust combat system, and then it starts ramping up the storyline as it slowly reaches the climax.
In many ways, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny structurally feels like an anime. It starts slow, letting everything set up while giving you plenty of time to get used to the robust combat system, and then it starts ramping up the storyline as it slowly reaches the climax.
The storyline closely follows the structure introduced in Onimusha 1, but the new supporting characters and the intense action add a fresh personality to it. It keeps everything as it was in the original 2002 release.
The only confirmed case of censorship that I could notice was a portion in the opening cutscene, where Oyu’s back was covered with a cloud of steam. Otherwise, everything else remains intact; nothing has been removed. So, you can enjoy Jyuubei’s adventure as is.
Onimusha 2 Gameplay
Before I delve more into my overall gameplay experiences, keep in mind that Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny remastered comes with various gameplay changes, which warrant a separate write-up in itself.
Hence, I’ll be dividing it into two sections: the fundamental gameplay, which covers the overall unchanged gameplay system, and remastered changes, which introduce the brand-new quality-of-life (QoL) improvements.
The fundamental gameplay experience
The core gameplay experience of Onimusha 2 Remastered has been largely unchanged. It is a fixed-camera action-adventure game, where you primarily control Jubei through the story. As such, you fight the forces of Genma, the demon troops controlled by Oda Nobunaga.
Through each level, you slash your way through the enemy forces using five different weapons collected throughout your adventure. You can further improve the strength of these demon arms by upgrading them using the energy you collect from downed enemies. It’s a simple system that feels fulfilling to the teeth.
While Jubei won’t be wielding the cool-looking Oni gauntlet from the first game, since he is part Oni, he does have access to new tricks. Collecting five purple energy orbs dropped by the enemies occasionally allows Jubei to turn into, well, Onimusha, a powerful demon that hits harder and has a few special moves up his sleeve.
Jubei meets four individuals right at the beginning of the game, namely the sharpshooter Magoichi Saiga, the tank Ekei Ankokuji, the ninja Fuma, and the mysterious lady Oyu. These four are your companions, one of the new features that you’ll see in this remaster.
Throughout the game, you can gift each of these characters specific items to improve your standing with them. In turn, you get rewarded with gifts, and the companions will assist you in the fights when you are near death.
So, if your companion bond is strong with, let’s say, Magoichi, he’ll appear during mid-fight to assist you by shooting enemies from a distance, distracting them. Similarly, Oyu will assist Jubei by appearing with her sword and shield and fighting beside him.
This system further adds a new gameplay layer where, instead of dealing with hordes of enemies all by yourself like the first game, you can now have a companion to make the fights quicker, fairer, and faster.
The core gameplay experience is shrouded in the familiarity of Onimusha 1, but it has undoubtedly been refined around the companions and the bond you create with them. It is more action-heavy compared to the light survival horror-esque combat from Onimusha 1, making it a good entry for people who don’t want to play the first game, but certainly want to take a look at the second one.
The Remastered Changes
And since it is a remaster, it comes with various enhancements to improve the moment-to-moment gameplay. One of the positive changes comes in the form of the movement. Onimusha 2, like Onimusha 1 remaster, now has proper eight-directional movement on the controller.
So, you don’t have to struggle with the tank controls. This is one of my favorite changes in the game, as the combat immediately stops getting frustrating when you can freely move around. And yes, you still have access to the tank controls, and even switch between them in real-time in-game!
Another great addition to the game is the manual activation of the Onimusha mode, which is a game-changer. The original game turned Jubei into his Onimusha mode immediately when he collected five orbs. In the remaster, you get to choose when you switch into Onimusha mode, provided you’ve collected the five purple energy orbs first.
So now, you can either use it against a horde of enemies or save it against a boss. You also get to switch weapons in real-time, which is a great QoL change. So now, you don’t have to enter the inventory menu and manually change, though that is still an option.
Another great addition is the dual-audio option, where you can either play the game in English dub or the Japanese dub. Although the literal translation of some voice lines differs from the actual sentence, but it is an excellent addition for players who want more authenticity.
And for the players who want more challenge in an already challenging game, the new Hell mode is exactly for you. And it lives up to its name, because it’ll end your run if you get hit by the enemies once throughout the game. I did try it a bit for this review, and frankly, it isn’t for me.
Overall, the remastered changes to the gameplay are some outstanding quality-of-life (QoL) additions that further enhance a PS2-era game to fit modern gameplay standards. Under the hood, it remains a fixed-camera action-adventure game with some noticeable jank.
However, that jank is mitigated by these small and smart changes, which leave no room for complaint. The remaster devs knew what they needed to fine-tune and change, and they did that masterfully.
Onimusha 2 visuals and performance
Much like the previous offerings of old Capcom games in remastered format, Onimusha 2 has received a significant visual upgrade. And while many might expect the game to run and perform in a not-so-satisfactory manner, given the current status of many PC ports, the reverse happened.
The game runs and looks better, and in some cases, crisper than the original. Tested on my primary system, with an AMD RX 7600 XT, a Ryzen 5600, and 16 GB of RAM, the game ran well over 120 FPS in most cases.
And because this is a remaster, every piece of background in Onimusha 2 has also received a visual uplift. Every single pre-rendered background looks better, thanks to the upscaling done by the port team. In most cases, it seems better than Onimusha 1, which was evident as soon as we visited the Giza Castle for the first time.
The natural blurring from PlayStation 2 doesn’t exist anymore so that you can see all the pre-rendered backgrounds in their new glory. Even characters look better thanks to newly redesigned textures, which fit the higher resolution.
In case you particularly like playing games like these on a handheld, you can sigh some relief. Based on my four-hour playthrough on Steam Deck, Onimusa 2: Samurai’s Destiny performed and looked better on the small screen.
The 1280*720 display resolution does the visuals justice on the Steam Deck screen. Unfortunately, there’s no option to play the game in 800p resolution, but it isn’t a deal-breaker. In terms of performance, the game achieved an average battery life of 2 hours and 15 minutes while maintaining a consistent 60 frames per second.
Overall, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny pretty much performs like its predecessor in terms of performance, but it is the little things that vitalize the experience over the first game.
The verdict
It isn’t every day that I get impressed with remasters, as most of the time the work is either barebones or disappointing. In the case of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny remastered, I don’t have any room to complain.
This is a great remaster of a 2002 PlayStation 2 game, which retains most of the original systems to give players a glimpse of how the game played, while incorporating quality changes that make it feel modern.
If you ever wanted to jump into the series, Onimusha 2 is an excellent way to introduce yourself to some of the best action-adventure games out there. And without a doubt, I recommend everyone to go and get the game if you have ever wanted to play it.
There’s a lot to love and appreciate here, and I hope Capcom maintains this level of quality for their future remasters and remakes of their old games.
Reviewed on: PC/Steam Deck
Code Provided by: Capcom
