Onimusha: Way of the Sword Reviews Are In — Capcom's Samurai Reboot Lands at 85 on Metacritic

Capcom quietly moved Onimusha: Way of the Sword's release date up by three weeks back in July — from September 25 to September 4, 2026 — and the game is now in players' hands. The first reviews landed this week, and the verdict is solid: an 85 on Metacritic, with reviewers overwhelmingly praising the combat while flagging a narrative that doesn't quite keep up.

What the Game Is

Way of the Sword is a third-person, single-player swordplay action game on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. It's a full reboot of the Onimusha series — a franchise that peaked in the early PS2 era and then went quiet for almost two decades. Capcom has brought it back with an entirely new protagonist and a combat system built from scratch around the idea of precision swordsmanship: reading enemy attacks, deflecting at exactly the right moment, and opening clean windows for counterattacks.

The Sixth Axis called the combat system one of the best in action games this year, noting that it "scratches at the very edge of the perfect." Several reviewers used variations of the word "surgical" to describe the feel of a clean deflect into a killing blow.

The Strengths

The game's boss fights are consistently praised as highlights — highly readable, choreographed encounters where everything you've learned in the prior hours gets tested cleanly. The new protagonist lands as a charismatic lead, and Capcom's art direction across the game's feudal Japanese settings is visually stunning.

The game is also explicitly designed to work as a jumping-on point for newcomers. There's no continuity with older Onimusha titles required, which is the right call for a franchise revival after a 20-year gap.

The Weaknesses

The consistent criticism is that the narrative doesn't match the combat's quality. The story is described across multiple reviews as middling and predictable, and the open-world sections — a design choice that feels grafted on rather than native to the experience — slow things down without adding much. Some reviewers also noted that minor boss fights in later hours recycle enemy types in ways that feel like padding rather than escalation.

PC Gamer and The Gamer both land around the same conclusion: excellent action game, acceptable everything else.

Worth Playing?

An 85 Metacritic for a franchise reboot nobody was sure Capcom could actually pull off is a genuine success. If you bounced off the earlier games in the 2000s or never played them, Way of the Sword's fresh start and outstanding core combat make it the easiest possible entry point. If you're specifically looking for a rich narrative or meaningful open-world design, the reviews are consistent that this isn't the place you'll find it.

The game is available now on all platforms. A free demo is available on PC and consoles, and completing it with a saved file unlocks the Kubi Akari charm in the full game — a low-stakes way to decide whether the combat click for you before committing.