Onimusha: Way of the Sword arrives on 4 September, reviving Capcom’s samurai action series nearly two decades after its last major entry. Once positioned as a potential companion to Resident Evil, Onimusha gradually disappeared after 2006. Its return comes during a renewed interest in samurai games, but the new adventure is looking backwards as much as forwards.
Director Satoru Nihei says the game’s identity comes from the meeting point between documented Japanese history, traditional folklore and samurai cinema. That approach gives the supernatural action a sense of place, even when the story sends players into impossible realms filled with demons and floating ruins.
Kyoto, folklore and the Genma
Way of the Sword uses Kyoto as more than a historical backdrop. The city’s temples, villages and darker legends provided the foundation for its fictional world. Capcom drew on stories about yōkai and other traditional Japanese myths when developing the Genma, the series’ monstrous enemies.
A preview sequence set in a monster-infested village demonstrated that contrast. The creatures and corruption were fantastical, yet the underlying location retained an authentic character. Nihei’s team used real-world beliefs as a design guide, allowing the supernatural elements to feel connected to the places they invade.
One example is Rasho-gan, an original creature encountered during the demo. The ghostly enemy deceives villagers into surrendering parts of their bodies and is linked to the shrine where the battle takes place. That shrine is associated with wishes to separate people from an unwanted fate.
Capcom translated that idea of joining and severing into Rasho-gan’s design. Scissors represent the cutting of threads of fate, while the creature’s many eyes, hands and arms reflect its connection to the shrine and its disturbing bargain with visitors.
Miyamoto Musashi leads a different Onimusha
For the first time in the series, players take control of Miyamoto Musashi, the celebrated swordsman known for his duels. His reputation also shaped the game’s combat. Rather than presenting an idealised warrior, Capcom imagined a fighter willing to use any practical method necessary to survive and win.
Musashi’s willingness to fight without being bound by convention became a key influence on the action and the character’s rough-edged personality.
Way of the Sword does not adapt a real Musashi episode in which he battles demons. Instead, it places a fictional version of the historical figure inside the established Onimusha setting. His strongest conflict is personal: a talking gauntlet gives him immense power, but he regards relying on it as similar to an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs. Musashi wants to remove it, yet lacks the means to do so.
Toshiro Mifune’s influence
Musashi’s appearance is based on the late Toshiro Mifune, one of Japan’s most recognisable samurai actors. Mifune played Musashi in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy and became closely associated with the genre. The decision was made with input from Mifune’s estate, although it prompted ethical questions when first announced.
Nihei says Mifune was chosen both for his international status as a samurai icon and for the physical match with Capcom’s interpretation of Musashi. The development team studied the actor’s broader screen presence rather than basing the game on one specific film. Nihei identified Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa’s follow-up to Yojimbo, as his favourite Mifune movie.
A classic series returns during the samurai-game revival
When development began in 2020, the current wave of samurai-focused games had not yet fully formed. Since then, titles such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Ghost of Tsushima have helped establish the samurai epic as a major action-game setting.
Nihei sees that timing as fortunate rather than planned. Way of the Sword will enter a genre that has grown considerably, while reminding players that Onimusha helped establish this blend of swordplay, history and supernatural horror in the first place.
Its historical influences extend beyond costumes and scenery. Real locations inform the setting, folklore shapes the monsters, Musashi provides the central character and Mifune’s film legacy guides his presence. Together, those strands give Capcom’s revival a place within both game history and Japan’s wider storytelling traditions.
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