Onimusha: Warlords

If you're skimming reviews, then at least get this one takeaway from mine: I STRONGLY recommend modding the game to have the original soundtrack. Please don't play the game with the remastered soundtrack. As a lover of the game, it was making me fall asleep.
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One of my favorite games out there, but I also fell in love with it as a five-year-old, so nostalgia easily plays a part in it. This is an old PS2 game that got a remastered port. I've played the game on normal, gotten all achievements, and finished the game on Hell Mode (a difficulty mode where you die in one hit from literally anything). And my hours with the game on Steam aren't counting the amount of time I've played it as a kid or on my own PS2 disc that I own. So I have a lot of experience with this game.
This is a survival action horror game. It is action survival at its core, but the horror elements are definitely there. I've heard this described as "Resident Evil but in Feudal Japan" and that's mostly accurate, I think.
It is a very difficult game when you first start. I grew up with only tank controls, so that's all I ever use. They did add in analog stick control, but the game uses the old-style fixed camera angles, which always mess up my ability to use analog sticks, personally. Though you can bait enemies into dropping healing orbs, healing items (herbs/medicine) are finite in the game, and only so many exist. So know that sometimes it's better to let yourself be low HP and bait out healing orbs than to use your precious healing items. Tip: Healing orbs are far more likely to show up if your HP is low (below half)!
I must say though, I could be biased, but the 'remastered' soundtrack is... just very bland and lacking any unique style. They created a new soundtrack for the game because of some controversies involving the original composer being a ghostwriter and someone else claiming it was their work (it's a whole thing you can look it up if you want to learn more). But I believe the original soundtrack is far superior to this remastered one. As someone who loves this game, I was falling asleep out of boredom to the remastered soundtrack, It was so bad to me that I preferred the game with its music turned off, which I feel really mean saying, but that's how it was. I eventually found a mod that restored the original soundtrack and it made the experience a lot better for me. You never expect how much the music of a game will affect you...
I STRONGLY recommend modding the game to have the original soundtrack. Please don't play the game with the remastered soundtrack, it'll make you fall asleep.

Originally released in 2001 and then remastered in 2019 for modern platforms, Onimusha: Warlords is an utter thrill of a game where you get to fight against demons in Sengoku period Japan with gameplay and design inspired by Capcom’s early Resident Evil games.
The story is about Samanosuke Akechi, a samurai who received a letter from his cousin, Princess Yuki, requesting to get rescued after suspecting monsters are killing off maids and servants at her castle. Samanosuke, along with his kunoichi partner, Kaede, makes their way to the castle Yuki is held captive in. After splitting up from Kaede, he gets defeated by one of the demons residing near the castle, but suddenly, Samanosuke gets given a mysterious gauntlet by a group of Oni. With the gauntlet’s power, Samanosuke is able to fight against the demonic forces that stand in his way and goes on a journey to rescue the princess.
Given the game’s very short length, the story isn’t particularly too detailed, but it’s fine enough for what it is. It helps that I really liked what I heard from the Japanese voice acting (which is actually redone with brand new recordings for this remaster), as I feel it made me more invested in the cutscenes. In particular, Takeshi Kaneshiro’s voice acting as Samanosuke is absolutely fantastic to listen to, and I think his voice alone makes the game worth playing with the Japanese voice cast any day over the bland English dub. I also find myself interested in the game's historical setting mixed with a supernatural theme. Despite not being able to skip the in-game cutscenes, the game itself is surprisingly short, even for a blind first playthrough.
The gameplay is fun, albeit a little janky given its age. Onimusha essentially plays like it’s a faster-paced, classic Resident Evil game, with it even having the exact same style of presentation with fixed camera angles and use of pre-rendered backgrounds. I’ve previously struggled to get into similar Capcom games with the fixed camera and tank controls, but thankfully, there is the option for free analogue movement newly added to this release of the game, which genuinely makes it feel more comfortable to play. Once I got adjusted to how the game works, Samanosuke felt satisfying to play as, and I really liked his variety of weapons that you could use to slash away the demons. Killing enemies with Samanosuke grants you different coloured souls that you can absorb with his gauntlet. Yellow souls recover your health, blue souls recover magic that is used for hard-hitting elemental attacks, and red souls function as a currency which allows you to upgrade Samanosuke's arsenal of weapons. If you time it correctly, you can also parry enemies with your weapon, and you get rewarded with extra souls, especially with more yellow souls, so you're encouraged to be more patient when dealing with enemies.
Additionally, there are various puzzles, such as decoder boxes that require you to find items that list out the text that you need to answer encrypted questions and boxes where you have to match the numbers in order under a limited number of turns. The majority of these are optional; I personally thought they were designed well and not overly frustrating. When you solve those puzzles, you are rewarded with items that can really aid you on your playthrough, so it’s recommended to try to finish as many of them as you can.
You also get to play as Kaede during specific portions of the game, but unfortunately, I find those moments to be rather half-baked considering the short amount of time you’ll be using her for, and there’s less depth to her gameplay. You certainly feel weaker using her compared to using Samanosuke, who has all these extra tools at his disposal to help him take down the demons, whereas Kaede only has a knife, kunai and a smaller health bar that you can’t even upgrade. I think her segments could have genuinely benefitted from having additional gameplay mechanics and making those playable parts with her last longer to increase the overall game’s very small length.
Due to controversy surrounding the original release’s credited composer, Capcom decided to completely replace the soundtrack with an entirely new score composed by Rei Kondoh, known for his work on Okami and various Nintendo games. From what I’ve heard while playing the game, I thought the new music fits the game’s overall setting really well, and you truly feel like you’re part of an epic demon-slaying adventure while listening to the background music. Whether it’s better than the original soundtrack or not is purely down to personal opinion, but as a new player, I really enjoyed listening to the newer music for what it is.
The PC version works perfectly fine. It ran out of the box for me with no technical issues at all. The new accessibility additions to the game, such as the free analogue movement and being able to swap weapons without having to use the menu, are super helpful and will definitely help a lot of players get hooked on the gameplay. Despite that, content-wise, this remaster does not include the additions and alterations that came from the original Xbox version of the game titled Genma Onimusha, which I find their lack of inclusion to be particularly odd given the extra effort Capcom has invested in regards to the new voice acting and music. As mentioned above, there’s no original soundtrack available, but you have the option to mod it back in, so it’s not much of a problem, at least on PC.
Onimusha: Warlords is a blast to play and definitely a classic worth checking out if you don’t mind the older Resident Evil-based gameplay. It has a few shortcomings, but I do not feel that they’re bad enough to detract from the overall enjoyment you gain from playing the game. Given the game’s age and how it was originally designed, I was pleasantly surprised by my time playing it, and I will be looking forward to trying out the other games in the future.

It's weird a game that is so short, was worth every penny. Played the ps2 version a few times, but still enjoy it 25 years later.

Pre-rendered backgrounds are great and never should've fallen out of fashion. For a port of a PS2 game, this does a decent job of preserving the quality of them. The game otherwise is decent though only about 4 hours long if you don't want to engage with the bonus game mode or challenge runs.

Oh man, this is fun.
This is FUN!
A light melee action adventure with top-of-the-line fixed multicam treatment. There's very little here that'll truly challenge you (unless you skip the upgrades), but that makes it very snackable.
It's a delight! I am no student of Japanese history, but the game does not require such knowledge - there's a little historical table setting in the first 10 minutes or so and then DEMONS ATTACK and we're off to the races. I have enjoyed samurai comics / movies in the past (Lone Wolf and Cub / Babycart Assassin etc) and if you have that same light familiarity with the tropes you'll be very comfortable here. SHWINNG! KA-TINGG! Sound and voices are excellent and the music (though not to my taste) is very well made.
The story is very straightforward, but a supporting cast brings some variety and intrigue to the proceedings. I played with Japanese audio and english subtitles and had no trouble following the events, though one character's continual breathless utterance of the main character's name had me giggling at points. "Samanosuke! The castle is on fire - we must go! Samonuske! I put my hand on a wooden railing and now I have a splinter! Samonuske! How do I install Microsoft Word on a Linux laptop?!" That sort of thing. It's never intrusive or repetitive enough to be annoying, but it did amuse.
Combat is mostly melee and relatively simple compared to it's younger-by-a-hair brother, Devil May Cry. Swing your sword, parry, dodges and the odd combo, with critical attacks as a reward for perfectly timed strikes. Throughout the game you'll have the opportunity to acquire and power up new weapons, which will slowly ease (to the point of potentially erasing) the gameplay challenge. If you find the game getting too easy, just hold off on applying upgrades.
But the special treat for me has to be the luxurious Capcom fixed multicam. Oh man, it's done RIGHT. It's not as good as in Resi 1 Remake (which it preceded by one year), but the game delivers beautifully composed, locked-off camera angles that guides the player through Inabayama Castle showing off the period environments and character models with cinematic confidence and style. You're in really good hands - Jun Takeuchi and his team can choose a camera angle.
The only really downside to this game is the fact that the cutscenes seem to be unskippable - which can be a little troublesome if you're having issues with a boss. ...But I don't think you'll have issues with any bosses for long. If you're encountering an impassible roadblock, take a walk around the castle for a bit, upgrade and return - you will flatten your foe.
I don't know why it's taken me this long to play this (I mean, when it came out originally I was NOT a fan of fixed camera, so that probably covers it...!) but if you enjoy the fixed multicam approach, I can highly recommend this to you. The puzzles, scenarios and mechanics aren't elaborate enough to make this a true classic, but you WILL have a good time.
"Samanosuke! Remember, hit the enemies with the sharp end of your sword! Samonosuke--!"

Resident Evil in feudal Japan is a great experiment in the mixing of genres that come together great.
Combat is surprisingly deep with perfect counters and dodges, although the latter can be difficult to practice within the classic RE movement system. The environments are bright and colorful. Reds, greens, and blues combined with the gore of combat are a joy to fight in.
It's definitely worth playing through as a classic horror game fan. I'm excited to play through the rest of the series.

Pretty decent little ps2 game. Its very resident evil adjacent with its feel the puzzles are (mostly) fair and designed in a way where you can figure them out what to do without a guide. its very very short about 4 hours or so but i don't think thats bad if the game was much longer I think it would drag.
This is as basic as a pc port can get no remastering no remaking so it does retain its ps2 jank
-the fixed camera pre rendered backgrounds are cool looking but the control implantation can cause you to accidentally keep running back and forth between areas because one direction on the joystick can mean forward in one area and back in another.
-Sometimes the solution to something is really obvious but the place to use/engage with the thing is odd or sometimes nonsensical for example you'll see something on the ceiling but you have to be near the wall or pretty far away to use it and it lead me to think i needed another item or something when i didn't
-The game just doesn't tell you how to do important and useful things and it can be kinda frustrating and its impact can range from a bit extra time in the menu to making fights significantly harder
-Also checkpoints are placed BEFORE the unskippable cutscenes so if you die you have to watch them again and there some places where this is particularly a issue.
But overall it was pretty decent