Onimusha Way of the Sword gets a lot right—especially when it comes to its tight, satisfying combat. But despite the hype and heated debates across community forums, the game falls well short of masterpiece status.
While the action is top-tier, the overall experience is dragged down by frustrating design choices and artificial padding. Here is a breakdown of the main issues holding the game back:
1. Excessive Repetition & Reused Bosses
One of the most noticeable issues is the lack of enemy and boss variety. You’ll repeatedly fight the same mini-bosses and standard enemy types (often just in slightly tweaked forms), forcing you to re-tread familiar areas without fresh challenges.
2. Aggressive Handholding
Exploration and problem-solving are severely dampened by your gauntlet companion. She constantly chimes in to direct you through challenges, stripping away any rewarding sense of organic discovery or player agency.
3. Padded Quests & Uninspired Loot
To make your build stronger, you’re forced into tedious, MMO-style fetch quests—from petting dogs to shooting distant targets—that interrupt the pacing. Worse, the loot rarely feels exciting; you’re mostly chasing upgrade materials rather than game-changing gear.
4. Frustrating New Game+ Resets
Perhaps the most demotivating flaw is how New Game+ handles progression. Entering NG+ resets your gauntlet upgrades and material investments, forcing you to repeat hours of tedious resource grinding all over again just to enjoy higher difficulty runs.
5. Immersion-Breaking AI & Weak Hub Design
Kyoto functions more like a bland central hub than a living world. Additionally, the enemy AI leash mechanics are easily exploitable—you can back past invisible aggression boundaries and shoot enemies with zero risk as they slowly walk backward.
The Takeaway Onimusha Way of the Sword succeeds as a fun, combat-focused action game, but these cumulative flaws keep it far from perfection.