For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be perfect for 10 seconds. To write the perfect sentence. One that sings, captures hearts, evokes emotion. To make the perfect play, to eradicate the gap between body and mind and live a complete life in an instant of pure movement. To be, for just a moment, free. There are moments in Onimusha: Way of the Sword where everything else fades. The controller falls away, the universe collapses, and the distance between you and Miyamoto Musashi is annihilated. There is nothing but move and counter move, sword clashing against sword, call and response. You will risk everything for another moment, another chance, and do it again and again until you claim victory or your chances are spent. As long as Musashi stands, you have a chance. Onimusha challenged me, and I used it to challenge myself. I found a connection to its hero I did not expect and will carry with me. It is a remarkable video game.
Strange as it may seem, Onimusha is a work of very loose historical fiction. Miyamoto Musashi, and his rival Sasaki Ganryu, both based on real samurai who share their names, are attacked and killed by monsters called Genma after Musashi bests the master of a rival school of swordsmanship. A strange man in hell then brings Musashi back to life and forces him to wear an Oni gauntlet that can absorb the souls of fallen foes – one that already contains the spirit of a woman named Shizuka. Now imbued with the power to stand against the Genma, Shizuka has Musashi join forces with fellow Onimusha Takamura, who guards the Oni Gate separating Earth and hell, and his assistant Okuni, to protect the city from the corrupting Malice that’s twisting everything in sight. But Musashi isn’t the only one the old man gifts with a gauntlet. Ganryu gets one, too, and it can feed on human souls just as easily as Genma ones.
There’s more, but I really do think you should discover Way of the Sword’s story for yourself. It’s more of a character-driven tale than a plot-driven one, and this cast sings. At the center of it is Musashi, as compelling and outright cool a character as you could ask for. He resents the gauntlet and the strength it has given him because he didn’t earn it himself. He’s not a hero by nature; he just wants to hone his skill with a blade and prove himself against the best the world has to offer, but his circumstances have left him no other choice. The only way to get the gauntlet off is to feed it enough Genma souls that it heals him. He’s crude and his confidence can border on arrogance, but it’s part of what makes him so interesting. He can give as good as he gets with both his mouth and his sword, and it’s incredible to watch him talk mad smack to demons as he cuts them down in the coolest ways you’ve ever seen. There are cutscenes here that are so insanely well done they've seared themselves into my brain, and watching Musashi do his thing often had me and my wife (who became so invested in the story that she watched my entire playthrough) saying “Oh my God, he's so cool” out loud what felt like every five minutes.
But it's not just Musashi's skills and swagger that endears him to you, it’s also the relationships he forms with the other characters. Watching him go from calling Shizuka “Gauntlet Lady” to forming a ride-or-die partnership is a joy, and I understood it because I cared about her, too. Musashi is the kind of guy who is smart enough to respect and listen to Takamura and a good enough man to mentor Okuni where he can. These relationships form Onimusha's emotional core, and as I watched its characters change and come to care about one another, I did, too. It doesn’t hurt that Way of the Sword has some of the best facial animations I’ve ever seen in a video game, effectively selling every second of how they feel. Musashi’s is based on the likeness of legendary Japanese actor Toishiro Mifune, who played Musashi in films directed by the equally legendary Akira Kurosawa, and Capcom has done a remarkable job of translating aspects of Mifune's on-screen mannerisms, right down to his habit of scratching the back of his head and the way he walks. Using the likeness of a dead actor is always fraught, but Capcom navigates it with aplomb here.
Onimusha treats its characters with respect, but it's never scared to have fun with them, either. Musashi is a brilliant swordsman, but it’s hilarious to watch him get into a boat to help Okuni and realize he doesn't know how to steer it because he doesn't know what an oar is – something Okuni rightfully roasts him for. But he gives it right back when Okuni volunteers to play “the most beautiful girl” in a nearby village so they can use her as bait to sneak into a fortress.
And Shizuka… man. If Musashi is Onimusha’ heart, Shizuka is its clear-eyed, iron-willed soul. It would be easy for the spirit of a woman trapped in the Oni gauntlet to be reduced to a supporting character, there solely to make Musashi (and by extension, you) feel good about himself. And while she does gas you up when you pull off something impressive, she's never presented as anything less than Musashi's equal. He may be the one doing the fighting, but he can only do it because he's borrowing her strength. They need each other, and their journey is one they could only undertake together.
The writing is impressive, but what truly elevates Onimusha is its voice acting. I played Way of the Sword in Japanese, and the performances are incredible across the board. The English cast does fine work, too, but everyone sounds like they're from some part of London, and it distracted me – besides, playing a game set in feudal Japan in English seems just as wrong as watching Seven Samurai or Yojimbo dubbed. And after rolling credits, it is impossible for me to imagine anyone other than Yoshimasa Hosoya as Musashi or Aya Endō as Shizuka. If you can get past the subtitles, it’s absolutely how I recommend playing.
Onimusha isn’t just an excellent story; it’s also a damn fine action game. Since Takamura’s duty is to protect the hellgate, he can’t leave it alone for long, lest a bunch of Genma pour out. That leaves Musashi to take the fight to them. Kyoto serves as your base of operations, but it’s also the city you’re fighting to protect. You’ll spend much of your time here killing Genma, closing the Rifts that spawn them, and destroying the Malice-producing plants infesting the city, which opens up more of it for you to explore.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/onimusha-way-of-the-sword-review
