Five Important Tips For Staying Alive In Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
The first Onimusha game was remastered for modern consoles back in 2019, and it was only a matter of time before the second one was too. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is a nostalgic trip back to the classic Capcom PS2 era with fixed camera angles and linear gameplay. Don't expect any complicated mechanics like ones found in modern games like Sekiro or anything like that. However, there's still plenty of fun to have with Jubei as he sets out to defeat Nobunaga. Let's go over a few tips
Whenever Jubei downs his enemies, you have the opportunity to walk over to their bodies and impale them with a downward stab simply by pressing the attack button while standing on top. This move is an automatic OHKO (one-hit-knock-out) and prevents enemies from getting back up. Enemies don't have any health bars so it's impossible to know how much more health they have until they disappear. But with the downward stab, you'll know they're gone for good.
Just be careful, though, as you can still be hit by other enemies in the middle of the animation. Sometimes you won't get the chance to impale them. But either way, if you have the opportunity to do so, definitely take it as it's one less enemy to deal with.
Early on in the game, Jubei will get the ability to absorb souls from enemies that he's defeated. Red souls can be spent upgrading Jubei's weapons and capabilities, while the yellow and blue ones replenish Jubei's health and magic, respectively. Jubei can also transform into a powerful and invincible demon for a short time if he collects five purple souls.
In this remaster, players can now control when Jubei enters this powerful mode whereas in the original, it automatically activated once the fifth soul was collected. So definitely take advantage of it to unleash hell at opportune times.
Also, souls disappear after a while if they aren't absorbed, so make sure to not leave them hanging or you'll regret it.
In Onimusha 2, there are plenty of weapons to collect, each with their own unique effects. The Buraitou is a lightning sword that's both fast and powerful, making it a fantastic all-rounder. The Hyojin-Yari is an ice lance and it has the longest reach out of all the weapons. Use it if you want to keep a safe distance.
The general idea is to switch between weapons so that you can maintain an advantage over your enemies. The wind sword, Senpumaru, might be the weakest in the game, but is incredibly useful for hitting flying enemies while the slow but powerful earth hammer, Dokoutsui can smash through enemies defences like they're made out of paper.
When you're killing enemies and (hopefully) impaling them, they'll drop valuable gold, which is needed to buy things such as healing items, weapons for companion characters, and collectibles like artwork. This will help you prepare for the challenges ahead.
Additionally, scour rooms for treasure chests. They can provide valuable items like green herbs for Jubei to heal himself. Due to the fixed camera angle, treasure chests can be hard to see sometiomes, but take the time to look at your surroundings and you won't be disappointed.
Modern technology means that the remaster of Onimusha 2 doesn't need memory cards like the original did on the PlayStation 2. But there are still multiple save slots.
The game has autosave, so you don't have to worry about potentially losing hours of progress if something happens like your power going out or the game crashes (which didn't happen to me, to be clear). But saving often and using the slots gives you the ability to go back in case you want to replay a certain segment or if you missed something.Follow these tips, and you'll be breezing through Onimusha 2 in no time. They'll be helpful no matter what difficulty you play on and how many playthroughs you do.
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and Windows PCs.
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Yahoo
4 days ago
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Five Important Tips For Staying Alive In Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
The first Onimusha game was remastered for modern consoles back in 2019, and it was only a matter of time before the second one was too. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is a nostalgic trip back to the classic Capcom PS2 era with fixed camera angles and linear gameplay. Don't expect any complicated mechanics like ones found in modern games like Sekiro or anything like that. However, there's still plenty of fun to have with Jubei as he sets out to defeat Nobunaga. Let's go over a few tips Whenever Jubei downs his enemies, you have the opportunity to walk over to their bodies and impale them with a downward stab simply by pressing the attack button while standing on top. This move is an automatic OHKO (one-hit-knock-out) and prevents enemies from getting back up. Enemies don't have any health bars so it's impossible to know how much more health they have until they disappear. But with the downward stab, you'll know they're gone for good. Just be careful, though, as you can still be hit by other enemies in the middle of the animation. Sometimes you won't get the chance to impale them. But either way, if you have the opportunity to do so, definitely take it as it's one less enemy to deal with. Early on in the game, Jubei will get the ability to absorb souls from enemies that he's defeated. Red souls can be spent upgrading Jubei's weapons and capabilities, while the yellow and blue ones replenish Jubei's health and magic, respectively. Jubei can also transform into a powerful and invincible demon for a short time if he collects five purple souls. In this remaster, players can now control when Jubei enters this powerful mode whereas in the original, it automatically activated once the fifth soul was collected. So definitely take advantage of it to unleash hell at opportune times. Also, souls disappear after a while if they aren't absorbed, so make sure to not leave them hanging or you'll regret it. In Onimusha 2, there are plenty of weapons to collect, each with their own unique effects. The Buraitou is a lightning sword that's both fast and powerful, making it a fantastic all-rounder. The Hyojin-Yari is an ice lance and it has the longest reach out of all the weapons. Use it if you want to keep a safe distance. The general idea is to switch between weapons so that you can maintain an advantage over your enemies. The wind sword, Senpumaru, might be the weakest in the game, but is incredibly useful for hitting flying enemies while the slow but powerful earth hammer, Dokoutsui can smash through enemies defences like they're made out of paper. When you're killing enemies and (hopefully) impaling them, they'll drop valuable gold, which is needed to buy things such as healing items, weapons for companion characters, and collectibles like artwork. This will help you prepare for the challenges ahead. Additionally, scour rooms for treasure chests. They can provide valuable items like green herbs for Jubei to heal himself. Due to the fixed camera angle, treasure chests can be hard to see sometiomes, but take the time to look at your surroundings and you won't be disappointed. Modern technology means that the remaster of Onimusha 2 doesn't need memory cards like the original did on the PlayStation 2. But there are still multiple save slots. The game has autosave, so you don't have to worry about potentially losing hours of progress if something happens like your power going out or the game crashes (which didn't happen to me, to be clear). But saving often and using the slots gives you the ability to go back in case you want to replay a certain segment or if you missed these tips, and you'll be breezing through Onimusha 2 in no time. They'll be helpful no matter what difficulty you play on and how many playthroughs you do. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and Windows PCs. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Digital Trends
20-05-2025
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Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster proves that they don't make them like they used to
'They don't make them like they used to.' As a movie buff, no phrase in the English language gets my eyes rolling more than this. For decades, I've had to hear that phrase repeated to bemoan the state of cinema. I've always found it to be a silly statement. For one: Of course they don't. Art, and the tools we use to make it, changes. What gets me more is when the phrase is used to tear down modern film. The implication that the art we grew up with is inherently better than what's around now always feels like a hard-headed snap take that only shows how resistant we are to change. Recommended Videos But after playing — of all things — Capcom's new Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster, I find myself coming back to that phrase. Returning to the PS2 classic in 2025 is like digging up an ancient artifact. It's a hypnotic time capsule that feels unlike any new release I've played this year. Its cinematic ambitions, paired with the limitations of video games at the time, creates an unmistakable texture that can't easily be replicated. In this case, they truly don't make them like they used to. Back to 2002 Before diving into the remaster, my relationship to the Onimusha has always been at a distance. I didn't have a PlayStation 2 growing up, but I was an avid reader of magazines like EGM and knew about every big game on the system. From that perspective, Onimusha always felt larger than life. It had the feel of a prestige game, right alongside works of the era like Shadow of the Colossus. Magazine screenshots left me to imagine a dark, serious action game that probably looked a lot like Elden Ring does to me now. I was in for an adjustment as soon as I started Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. An opening story explainer comes out the gate swinging as I'm told that Nobunaga Oda is a.) dead and b.) commanding an army of demons. That detail is delivered so straight-faced in a dramatic voice over that I couldn't help but crack up. It's totally absurd, a B-movie premise treated with the gravity of a historical epic. That attitude continued throughout my playthrough. Capcom's ambitions were lofty for 2002, aiming to create a truly cinematic experience nearly a decade before tech allowed for it. If this were a movie, you'd likely label it as 'amateur.' The script is filled with hacky jokes as characters constantly 'hubba hubba!' over women. Cutscenes are shot through stiff camera placements that never quite feel like they're in the right place. The voice cast has big high school theater energy. And to be very clear: It's positively awesome. Like many games of its era, Onimusha 2 feels otherworldly. It's just off-kilter enough in every respect that it approaches surrealism. A fierce demon will pop up out of nowhere, give a hammy monologue, and then start sprinting in and out of bushes like a Scooby Doo villain. It's purely comedic on paper, but there's a serious reverence for the lore and world that Capcom created. It's a tone that's always oscillating between wacky and serious, two feelings that many modern games tend to keep separate. It's not a tone that's unique to Onimusha either; it's a running theme of the era. I have the same feeling when I play Capcom's early Resident Evil games. They're full of stilted acting and awkward one-liners, and yet, I'm able to take that world seriously instantly. Games like this were exceptional at crafting strange languages and making players fluent in them as quickly as possible. That idea doesn't just apply to cutscenes, but gameplay too. It's very clear that Onimusha came in the wake of Resident Evil's success. It has fixed camera angles that build tension by hiding what's around every corner. Rooms are lined with random puzzle boxes that I need to solve to reveal hidden ladders. I learn about the world through plain text item descriptions that flatly pop up on screen. All of those design touchstones of the era create a texture that's both hyper specific and hard to put to words. It's remarkably atmospheric, claustrophobic and eerie even in its silliest moments. I'm not escaping into another world that is under my full control; I have fallen into a mysterious place dictated by the laws of a creator, and I must learn how to abide by them to make it out alive. It's the same feeling as entering a hedge maze on a foggy evening. Video games don't feel like this anymore — at least not the biggest ones. Developers have finally cracked how to actually make a game feel 'cinematic,' with the bar raised for acting, writing, and cinematography. That leads to digital worlds that feel more familiar, grounded in a visual language that's recognizably human. Even this year's Dynasty Warriors: Origins trades the series' oddball acting and head-scratching wackiness for something that feels comparatively grounded. Playing Onimusha 2 feels like watching a 1930s Hollywood drama that deals in stage acting and larger-than-life gestures. That's perhaps why I'm so bullish about the current remake and remaster craze. Onimusha 2 is special because it's a product of its time. It is defined by the weird quirks that redos like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered so often attempt to flatten. Capcom is thankfully light with its adjustment here, giving it a clean resolution bump, reworked controls, and auto-save. The latter is more trouble than it's worth, as dying loads the auto save. If that has left you in a bad position, you'll have to quit and reload your proper save from the main menu. The rest of the package is filled with extras like at galleries that leave the main game untouched in all its glory, giving me plenty of space to appreciate it for what it is — a strange adventure that's still swimming around my brain while so many new games go in one ear and out the other. This doesn't make Onimusha 2 better than today's prestige games, just as I reject the idea that no modern movie could go toe to toe with Gone With the Wind. Playing its remaster now more just highlights how different game design is two decades after its original release. The medium is more defined, with established design rulebooks that prioritize immersion and emergent storytelling over airtight direction. I feel like I know exactly what Capcom's upcoming Onimusha revival will look like, taking the form of a traditional third-person acting game with blockbuster production value. It'll be a product of its own time just as Onimusha 2 is now. Maybe today's young adults will reminisce on it in 20 years and say that 2045's games just aren't the same as the ones that launched in the now fabled PS5 era. I hope that happens, because that will be a signal that the medium has moved. They shouldn't keep making them like they used to; yesterday's games should always feel like historical documents that tell us something about the artistic landscape of the time. Onimusha 2's remaster is a perfect opportunity to travel back to 2002 and soak in all the oddball energy of a medium in an experimental creative peak. The Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster launches on May 23 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Remaster Hands-On: Slick And Polished
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny I'd never played any of the Onimusha games. For whatever reason, I was always under the impression they were relatively mindless hack-and-slash samurai action games so I just didn't really give them a second thought, even though I love so many other Capcom properties like Resident Evil, Mega Man, and Devil May Cry. As it turns out, I was very wrong for all those years. Capcom sent me a download code to check out a preview build of the remaster for Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny and I'm sincerely happy I decided to give the series a chance finally. What lies within isn't a mindless hack-and-slash game at all, it's more like taking the underlying framework of classic Resident Evil, giving it the combat of a more methodical version of Devil May Cry, and layering on tons of samurai flavor and mythology. And it absolutely rocks. In Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, you take on the role of Jubei Yagyu on a quest for revenge against an evil resurrected lord and his demon army. Since Resident Evil is the Capcom series I am most familiar with, a lot of comparisons jumped out at me from the very beginning. For starters, just like in the classic Resident Evil games, Onimusha uses a fixed camera angle. Each time you enter a scene, the camera show the environment and your character from a pre-defined position and you control your character's movement relative to the camera's view. It works well for framing scenes in a more cinematic way and can help setup things like tension or emphasize certain elements like characters or puzzles around the world. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder It can also be extremely frustrating. The first major boss fight is against this sort of humanoid scorpion demon creature and it's positioned in the center of a large room. Instead of placing the camera in the corner somewhere so that you can see the entire space easily, there are two cameras that show only their respective halves at any given time. Once you cross the invisible line separating the sections, the camera angle switches and disorients you. To make matters worse, the boss frequently would backpedal into the blind spot of whichever camera was attempting to show the action. On the one hand, this camera format allows for some beautiful shots and really cinematic action. But on the other hand, it could be incredibly frustrating and it's clear why this style of game design is mostly abandoned these days. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Remaster It's not a deal breaker though, by any means, and this sort of thing is absolutely part of the game's charm. Onimusha 2 is clearly a PS2 game, even as a remaster. And what I mean by that is it's very intentionally and clearly designed to be exactly what it is without much filler. To me, that's a very good thing. Action is fast and fluid in Onimusha 2 and they've done a great job of gradually ramping up the things you can pull off. I appreciate that it starts out relatively simplistic, but before long you're able to pull of Critical Strikes, charged attacks, and more. It took me a little while to get the hang of holding the shoulder buttons to sort of lock my stance so I could pivot and dodge more fluidly, then go for blocks and strikes to interrupt enemies. My hands-on preview of the game covered the first few hours of gameplay, so I got to see a pretty hefty chunk of content. This wasn't just a vertical slice, but an actual full version of the game. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Remaster As far as changes made for the remaster, it's mostly a list of things you'd expect. You can toggle between 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, which is great, but the game really looks sharp in full widescreen so I'm not sure why you'd play it in 4:3 other than for a few minutes of novelty. All assets including character models, visual effects, backgrounds, cutscenes, and even the UI are fully updated for HD displays. They've also thrown in a gallery of goodies for series fans that includes things like art work and music. For longtime fans of Onimusha the most exciting update though is probably the inclusion of 'Hell Mode' difficulty, which is available from the very start. When you play in this difficulty mode, taking any damage at all whatsoever results in instant death, reloading your last save. I have a serious amount of respect for anyone capable of finishing the game that way. There's of course other difficulties included, even an Easy Mode, as well as a new autosave feature and the ability to quick swap weapons without opening the menu. That's extremely handy and heavily incentivizes mixing up your playstyles more often. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny This is a textbook remaster of a game that's over 20 years old at this point. Other than some new difficulty options, improved resolution, optional widescreen support, and autosaving functionality, it's the exact same game. In my opinion, this is the ideal way to do a remaster because it preserves and improves the experience without sacrificing its identity. Granted, if you're not a fan of early 2000s era video games that have a bit of camp, difficulty spikes, and less than ideal UI quirks, then this might be a hard pill to swallow. But if you approach Onimusha 2 with an open mind and understanding that it's a product of its time, you could be in for an extremely fun ride. I could be way off base though. Maybe the rest of the game doesn't hold up as well or loses its luster. Maybe combat gets stale and it's like pulling teeth to finish it. Fortunately, we won't have to wait much longer to find out. The remaster for Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny releases on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch on May 23. You can get it by itself or in a double-pack alongside the remaster of the first game, Onimusha: Warlords. Even though the games are not connected narratively, you do get a bonus cosmetic outfit Onimusha 2 if you have save data for Warlords. Disclosure: A representative on behalf of Capcom provided me with a digital download code for Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny on PlayStation for the purposes of this hands-on preview.
