Onimusha Warlords

Genre: Action / Spectacle Fighter

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Onimusha 1+2 Pack, along with Onimusha 2.)

Onimusha Warlords is an Action game that may seem somewhat similar to Spectacle Fighters like Devil May Cry and God of War, but isn’t quite like those. This game, originally released early into the life of the PlayStation 2, was actually the halfway point between Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, with this game being envisioned as a Samurai-era take on the Resident Evil formula, but ending up as less of a horror game and more action-packed, and a bug during the development of this game is what spurred the creation of Devil May Cry.

This release of the game increases the screen resolution and upscales the game’s textures and pre-rendered backgrounds to match, but otherwise everything here is much the same as it was 18 years ago when the game first release (jeez, has it really been that long?). What’s really shocking is that for this increase in resolution, this game is apparently a memory-eating monster that will take up 9.7GB. For comparison’s sake, the first Bayonetta game, which looks wayyyyy better than this, only takes up 8.6GB.

You’ll also be dealing with a lot of frustration with the controls, as the game’s designers paired those pre-rendered backgrounds with wildly clashing camera angles, meaning that not only is remembering where everything is located difficult, but the simple act of moving from one part of a room to another is extremely disorienting, which is especially frustrating in the midst of a heated battle.

That combat is unfortunately very limited when compared to the spectacle fighters I mentioned earlier, with only a few attacks per weapon. The depth of this game mainly comes from upgrading your weapons, which… well, involves some grinding. There’s still fun to be had here, but the whole ordeal feels pretty archaic.

In the end, Onimusha is a relic of its time and it feels like it. It’s not bad, but even with the upgraded HD visuals, so much of this game feels dated, and what was done well here was done even better in Devil May Cry (also on the Switch), and then even better than that in the Bayonetta games (also on the Switch). While Onimusha at the very least has the unique setting of Samurai-era Japan as a selling point, I’d argue that those looking for a good action game on the Switch are better off looking at one of those titles.

tl;dr – Onimusha is an Action game that’s a few steps short of being a Spectacle Fighter like Devil May Cry (a game inspired by Onimusha’s development). Its graphics have been improved in this Switch release, but the game overall still feels like an archaic relic of the past, with outdated game design that pales next to more modern games on the Switch. It’s not bad, but there are better options for Switch Owners looking for this sort of game.

Grade: C

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: The “Why is this taking so much space on my memory card!?” Award

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