Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (Remastered) Review – Leave the Past Behind

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (Remastered) on PS5 Pro

When judging a sequel, there are many different ways of approaching it. You could look at the differences between the two games, the continuation of solid foundations, or come into it blind. After 23 long years since the original arrived on the PlayStation 2, Capcom‘s latest stab at nostalgia, the remastered Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, I found myself looking at the game with fresh eyes, for better or worse.

As much as I loved the original Onimusha: Warlords with Samanosuke Akechi, it was always a struggle going back, even with the updated 2019 version. It should come as no surprise, then, that Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny suffers a similar fate. A survival horror game masquerading as an action adventure, this 8-12 hour romp through ancient Japan comes with plenty of quirks that many would find hard to enjoy.

Leaving Samanosuke behind, players will follow Jubei Yagyu instead, who is brought to life with the likeness of the late Japanese actor, Yūsaku Matsuda. As a member of the Yagyu clan that has been wiped out by the returning and much more demonic Nobunaga Oda, it is now up to you to collect five magical orbs of human virtues and end the supernatural menace once and for all.

Without going into too much detail, the narrative paints an intriguing picture of what you must do and what awaits you along the way. There is a colourful cast to meet, dangerous enemies to fight, puzzles to solve, and lots of learning to do as you enter a feudal world that is somehow also home to mechanical horses and a gigantic flying turtle battleship. There is a lot to enjoy about Onimusha 2, but it takes a certain appreciation of how things used to be to do so.

For example, while there are CGI cutscenes and dialogue sequences to break up the action, the writing has definitely not aged well. The English voiceacting is hilariously bad, and takes away from what could be tense and pivotal moments. At some point, I definitely loved every moment when Gogandantess proclaims himself to be the Greatest Swordsman of all the Demons. Now, the campiness is much more pronounced and unbearable.

Moving has gotten much smoother with the analog stick now, which makes more sense as you are navigating 3D spaces. But, when you are trying to aim your ranged weapons, the original directional controls are much more useful. This is similar when it comes to the melee combat, even moreso when there are multiple enemies. There is a semblance of a lock-on system in the remaster, however, trying to change targets can be finicky, and it will likely cause you to swing at nothingness as the rest of the demons converge on poor Jubei. Trying to counter with Issen is also much easier if you use the D-pad.

That said, putting the monster to the sword is still a satisfying process in Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. Hacking and slashing while learning the intricacies of the different weapons is a good time, so is the magic attacks. As you obtain secret documents, you can unlock more powerful charge attacks and even combos as well.

The varied roster of demons remain a nice touch, keeping you on your toes in order to find the best way to counter them. For boss encounters, the mileage varies much more starkly, with some clearly being much more difficult compared to the others. Ginghamphatts has nothing on the Jujudormah fight, and that’s not a good thing.

With each defeated foe comes souls, which Jubei must absorb as a means of progression. You have your yellow ones for health, blue for magic, giant purple ones for the superpowered Oni transformation, and red ones as currency. The more you have of the latter, the more you can upgrade your weapons and armour pieces, making our hero stronger.

Compared to the first game, the sequel can be considered tedious and unbalanced, requiring much more red souls in order to move beyond even the basic equipment level. This means players will be spending more time grinding instead of pushing forward, unless they want to be ill prepared for the challenges. The years may have passed, but the game is still a little too demanding, even with the various Dark Realms gauntlets to help with the process.

At least, with the early grinding, you can be sure to build up a hefty war chest, which comes in handy with the character relationship system in Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. Each of the supporting NPCs that Jubei allies with can be won over with item trading, with said items either obtained out in the world or bought from the game’s only shop vendor.

By catering to their likes and dislikes, you will become better friends with them. This comes with several benefits, including valuable items that can help you in the fight or perfect gifts for others. These relationships also work in diverting the story path, where your best allies will join you at different junctures, affecting how the tale plays out and what scenes you’ll see. They will even join you for certain fights when you are close to death, providing one more chance to turn the tides.

The added replayabilty is something to admire, but it is also contingent on you wanting to see what happens with everyone during the main story. If the writing isn’t your cup of tea by the end of your first run, it is highly doubtful for a second adevnture with Jubei in Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny to be worthwhile.

From the visual standpoint, even with the HD overhaul, temper your expectations. The textures are definitely in higher resolution, and character models look better, but together with the pre-rendered backgrounds, they hardly come close to what many would see as the base level of fidelity in modern games. The less said about the CGI cutscenes, the better as well. The updated visual effects do look good, though.

While looks will always be superceded by gameplay, the way the fixed camera angle works just doesn’t cut it. It might invoke a sense of dread in more conventional survival horror titles, but for one about killing demons, it becomes a hindrance. Your sense of direction is always in danger of being twisted and flipped, enemies can be right next to you but are obscured by the environment and angle, and it makes fights more testing in a worse way.

Looking at the quality of life updates, new additions like the gallery and Hell Mode, where a single hit spells death, will be popular with hardcore fans returning to the franchise. The inclusion of the mini-games is well worth a few hours of mixed fun, and newcomers can enjoy skippable cutscenes and the auto-save function that were missing from even the latest remaster of the original.

There is something to be said about cherishing the classics, and for what it’s worth, I did enjoy my time with this remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. It provides a lens back to when things were much more simpler and straightforward, where being able to complete a run in 6 hours and still having a good time was more the norm than the exception. Capcom could have made more significant changes to bring the game up to modern standards. Yet, in this form, we get to see how far games have come, albeit with a tinge of sadness at the missed opportunity to build even more hype ahead of Onimusha: Way of the Sword.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny launches on May 23 on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S ,PC, and Nintendo Switch.