Would you have a look at me humorous if I mentioned that Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Future remains to be among the finest wanting video games to ever exist? There’s one thing in regards to the textures of the PS2 period that also look superb to me, and this Onimusha 2 remaster does a stellar job making certain it is proven right here in all its glory – simply crisped up. Certain, there’s rather a lot that has aged this supernatural samurai hack and slash, nevertheless it’s definitely not arduous to have a look at.
I do know conceptually that, say, Demise Stranding 2: On The Seashore has a sort of absurd graphical constancy that places Onimusha 2, launched in 2002, to disgrace. I am not utterly deluded. However this recreation nonetheless seems so good that if any fashionable launch simply appeared like this, I might be very happy with it. Possibly I am simply an growing older gamer, however there is a allure to the period’s stabs at realism the place stylization has to satisfy it midway. However I additionally nonetheless assume Shenmue is breathtaking so take it with a pinch of salt (from Tom’s Sizzling Canine Stand, after all).
Polished metal
Quick Details
Developer: In-house
Writer: Capcom
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Change
Launch date: Could 23, 2025
It is not simply the preservation of the visuals that I respect within the Onimusha 2 remaster. It runs buttery clean. You possibly can play with out tank controls – a management scheme I believe works approach higher in Resident Evil than, erm, a samurai hack and slash. You possibly can shortly swap weapons, although not as shortly as within the first recreation’s remaster (maybe for balancing causes). There’s large display screen, after all. Even the unique’s bonuses and mini-games are intact and unlocked from the get-go. It won’t fairly attain the thorough highs of Digital Eclipse’s work, however Onimusha 2’s remaster approaches a gold normal for PS2 re-releases.
Whereas Capcom have taken their time with this remaster – Onimusha: Warlords’ remaster launched in 2019, whereas Onimusha 2’s is in 2025 – this wasn’t the cadence of the unique releases on PS2. The primary recreation got here out in 2001, and its sequel launched a smidge over a 12 months later in 2002. To not point out each had been initially meant for PS1, and improvement throughout them partially overlapped.
The short launch meant the event group had loads of modifications for Onimusha 2. It is a state of affairs much like 2001’s Satan Could Cry and 2003’s Satan Could Cry 2 – each sequence share loads of historical past as each had been conceived as methods to shake up the Resident Evil sequence itself earlier than changing into their very own tasks. With Onimusha 2, you’ll be able to really feel the modifications in path fairly clearly, and although it does not really feel like the new mess Satan Could Cry 2 ended up being – as a fan of the unique Onimusha: Warlords it feels prefer it loses its approach a bit.
“The weapons Jubei will get all through his journey really feel extra diversified than Samanosuke’s.”
Choosing up after Samanosuke’s battle with demonic forces that ended with the encroaching menace quelled however a revived, warmongering Oda Nobunaga escaping, the story now facilities on samurai Jubei Yagyu. After Nobunaga razes his village, Jubei units out for revenge beneath the prompting of his village’s yokai protector to defeat the warlord’s now really hellish military. The cutscenes are surprisingly violent, and Jubei is an instantly likeable successor protagonist – and innately in a position to suck up demon orbs simply as Samanosuke might.
Jubei’s fight expertise, a minimum of, really feel like they evolve properly from Onimusha: Warlords (one thing I can not say about Satan Could Cry 2). The weapons he will get all through his journey really feel extra diversified than Samanosuke’s, and all have an ideal assortment of various strikes that may match completely different conditions – even when generally simply mashing to stun lock weaker foes can stay the best choice from time to time. Working via areas with fastened digital camera angles and loads of loading zones, Jubei will continuously be combating, so it is a good job there’s loads of selection in how you are able to do it.
It is a disgrace, then, that the precise fight eventualities typically really feel so stale. There are a few screens in Onimusha: Warlords that also annoy me a bit, the place enemies continuously spawn in and, straightforward to dispatch although they’re, it may turn out to be a slog. There, it is the exception to the rule. In Onimusha 2 it is the rule. Nearly each display screen slowly spawns wave after wave of enemies that take many hits to kill.
Certain, you do not at all times need to slay all of them to progress, however improve speeds are glacial in comparison with the primary recreation, that means nabbing sufficient assets is an actual grind and skipping fights will depart you underpowered. On prime of crimson orbs, enemies now drop gold foreign money as effectively, which mind-bogglingly cannot be absorbed from a distance like demon essence, that means you continue to need to trudge throughout anyway. A lot of the sport is sort of linear, with little or no to discover for big chunks of the sport aside from repeating samey hallways.
City life
“I am much less prone to replay this than the unique Onimusha even with out a number of routes.”
That gold comes into play within the recreation’s RPG-like cities. These are nice little areas, however do not add a lot. A present system lets you develop nearer to Jubei’s companions who he befriends, and occasions can play out in another way relying on how a lot they such as you. A pleasant concept, nevertheless it’s gradual and clunky right here, and is one space that feels prefer it’s aged much less elegantly. A few of that is dropped later within the recreation because it turns into extra centered – however quite than a reduction it simply contributes to a sense of strange pacing.
Simply as Samanosuke would generally want assistance from his shinobi ally Kaede, management shifting to her with a barely pared down ninja moveset, Jubei additionally must name on his playable allies every now and then. None of them are as enjoyable to play as in comparison with Jubei. Whereas there could also be extra choices, none of them are significantly good.
It is one other instance the place extra finally ends up feeling like much less, I might have quite had an improved single companion than a slew of middling ones – however I assume that is from the period the place having a number of characters was a particular advertising bullet level. In reality, I simply grabbed the again of the unique EU launch and it is proper there as level primary: “a number of characters”. Who helps out when is a part of the branching path construction besides, much less enjoyable as Onimusha 2 is, I am much less prone to replay this than the unique Onimusha which does not have a number of routes in any respect.
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Future’s remaster nonetheless presents it because the odd, messy, and infrequently over-bloated sequel it was, an odd followup that did not actually know the best way to evolve the centered fortress exploration of the unique. Leaning extra closely on fantasy components than horror, it is tonally in all places and paced weirdly, with even its improved sword clashing deployed in lower than thrilling gradual waves of enemy encounters. Gogandantess remains to be an superior boss design although, I’ll grant it that.
But, I can not deliver myself to hate it. It is not as enjoyable to revisit as the unique, nevertheless it’s nonetheless fairly the looker, and the remaster’s enhancements are actually properly completed. I am glad that whereas some enhancements are current, that is nonetheless Onimusha 2 faithfully reproduced. Now, when can we get Onimusha 3 remastered?
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Future was performed on PS5, with a code supplied by the writer.
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