Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and after traveling to Osaka, Japan, last month to visit Capcom’s HQ, play the game, and interview the team, I’m excited to bring you weeks of exclusive coverage. Subscribers can read my cover story right now, but you clicked on this link because you want to read about minigames.
Minigames were more abundant in previous generations of games, and considering all four previously released Onimusha games launched between 2001 and 2006, it’s no surprise they featured these gameplay tangents. Onimusha: Warlords featured Oni Spirits; Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny featured the Puzzle Phantom Realm, The Man In Black, and Team Oni minigames; Players could play the Genma Puzzle Space, Oni Target Practice, and Adventures of Heihachi minigames in Onimusha 3: Demon Siege; and finally, Onimusha 4: Dawn of Dreams featured just one minigame in Arena.
While these minigames might be relics of game development past, I was still curious if Onimusha: Way of the Sword would continue the lineage when it launches this September. Director Satoru Nihei quickly shattered my hopes and dreams, stating I won’t find any “minigames that you associate with” previous Onimusha games. “We really wanted to focus on the swordplay action there, so we didn’t put any extra time into minigames,” he says.
Bummer, but, as any Onimusha fan knows, the Phantom Realm is a bit of a minigame itself in these games. As far back as Onimusha: Warlords, you start on a floor in the Phantom Realm and demons/Genma/Oni arrive to kill you – you must kill them all, collect the potential rewards that drop, and advance to the next floor. Reaching and completing the final floor comes with a powerful reward.
When I ask Nihei if the Phantom Realm is in Onimusha: Way of the Sword in this capacity, he looks at producer Akihito Kadowaki beside him, they smile, and then he says, “Hmm, we’ll see.”
While not confirmation, it’s exactly the kind of cheeky answer that tells me I might be onto something, so I’m choosing to let the copium flow through my veins.
I’ll be diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
What’s your favorite minigame in the Onimusha series? Let us know in the comments below!
