Onimusha is finally returning to the action space next month after a 20-year hiatus at developer-publisher Capcom. Though a lot of the series’ trademarks are returning, like an intense focus on swordplay action, hordes of demons, a samurai protagonist, and the Oni Gauntlet, there’s plenty of new, too. There’s an “open-town” section of Kyoto, which is where this early Edo-period adventure takes place; there’s historical Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi as the protagonist this time, using the likeness of the late Toshirō Mifune; and there is also a mysterious woman living inside Musashi’s Oni Gauntlet.
That mysterious woman is named Shizuka, and despite her ethereal appearance, she often speaks with Musashi during this adventure. In case you missed it, Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and for my cover story (which subscribers can read right here), I traveled to Capcom’s Osaka HQ to play hours of the game and interview the team making it. Naturally, I asked about Shizuka and her role in the story.
Previous Onimusha heroes like Samanosuke Akechi and Jūbei Yagyu welcomed the powers of the Oni on their quests in Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, respectively. Musashi, a warrior through and through who wishes to become the greatest swordsman in Japan on skill alone, despises the additional strength the Oni Gauntlet stuck on his arm yields to him. “Musashi is a hero who wants to rise to the top on his own strengths, so him being paired with the gauntlet – this power that he doesn’t want – we thought, provides an interesting contrast to the previous heroes we’ve had,” Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei tells me.
Though I don’t exactly know how Musashi comes upon the Oni Gauntlet, it’s very clear he wants it off and believes killing more Genma and collecting their souls will make that happen. “But, as the story progresses, and as he moves on, we kind of see some growth, and he starts to change his opinions on the gauntlet,” Nihei adds.
Shizuka, somehow stuck inside the Oni Gauntlet, likely has something to do with that. I learn little of her motivations during my time playing the game, but I do note the soft simmering of something between them. Perhaps camaraderie, perhaps romance, perhaps something else entirely, but I suspect the generally solo-minded Musashi will come to appreciate her presence. And for what it’s worth, she’s sorry to have brought him into this mess, despite needing him to one day be freed from the gauntlet’s confines.
As for how the idea of Shizuka came to be, Way of the Sword lead writer Hiroshi Yamashita tells me she’s there to help the global audience Capcom intends for the game to have. “On a game design level, with the setting of Kyoto, not everyone is familiar with the setting, especially a global audience,” Yamashita tells me. “So, when we were making the game, with Musashi coming to Kyoto on his own, we kind of wondered, ‘How are we going to convey a lot of that information to players?’ We thought we could just have Musashi walk in the streets, talking and mumbling to himself, […] but that would be very unnatural and strange. So that’s where the idea of having a support character […] like Shizuka came from, to explain to him what’s going on, tell him about the Genma, and teach these things.”
The team didn’t just want a companion inside the Oni Gauntlet there for functional game design reasons, though, so the story team integrated her into the narrative. “There is actually a reason,” Yamashita continues. “Something happens to her and she ends up escaping to the gauntlet, so she is in this position where she has something that she wants to achieve, she has a goal, but she doesn’t have a physical form, she can’t fight for herself, and so she’s having to entrust Musashi with this duty.”
Yamashita says Musashi and Shizuka are quite distant with each other in the beginning of Way of the Sword, butting heads often, but notes that “as the story progresses, we see that relationship change a bit as she is quite key to the story itself.”
I did ask Yamashita about ensuring Shizuka doesn’t fall into the annoying companion trap, and he says the team was cautious about this, looking at other game companions to see where they go right and where they go wrong. I’ll have to take his word on her for now, but in my three hours of playing the game at Capcom HQ, she wasn’t annoying as a presence in the slightest.
We’ll all soon learn more about her, though, because Way of the Sword launches in just a few weeks on September 4.
I’ll continue 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 do you think Shizuka’s role is in Onimusha: Way of the Sword? Let us know in the comments below!