Onimusha: Way of the Sword is finally out, and if you were considering picking it up – you should! It’s great, and you can read why in my review for Game Informer here. Now, if you’ve read any reviews for the game, or even previews leading up to its launch, you’ve likely heard about its difficulty, particularly its boss fights. While standard mob enemies have you feeling powerful, bosses absolutely put you in your place. There’s one boss I died more than a dozen times trying to defeat. But, if that scares you, don’t let it. Onimusha: Way of the Sword features the perfect easy mode for a game like this.
Capcom calls it Story (Storyline Focus) mode, a difficulty that lets you focus on the story and is recommended for action game beginners. That’s true in that, yes, it is a much easier difficulty mode compared to the Action (Combat Focus) mode that aims to test you at all times. Enemies do less damage, you do more damage to enemies, parry windows are wider, and other similar features are what tune the Story mode difficulty down, but the most interesting part of it is the Action Prompts feature.
This is on by default in Story mode, and I am blown away by how transformative it is. Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s combat is intricate and complex. You must parry at the right time, complete Issen Breaks within even tighter timing windows, dodge at the right moment to avoid damage, deflect incoming attacks, and more. Capcom has created one of my favorite sword-based melee action games ever, and it’s all these moves that protagonist Miyamoto Musashi has in his kit that make it so fun.
However, I know what all these terms mean and how these timings work. If you don’t, well, there’s basically no hope of getting through Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Its later bosses demand near-perfection to win, and that means nailing every parry, deflection, and dodge. The game features tutorials but ultimately, it’s still on you to learn these timings and that can be difficult when you’re getting your face kicked in every time you miss one. The Story mode’s action prompts fix this entirely by showing you exactly the button to press and when to press it on-screen – it’s incredible!
It’s such a simple feature, and though I’m blanking on it right now, surely other games have done this, right? Regardless, it’s exactly the kind of feature newcomers to this type of game need. It goes above and beyond the beginning tutorials and shows you, in real time, exactly what to press and when. This gives you all the satisfaction players who intimately know and love these types of games feel when they play Onimusha: Way of the Sword in its Action mode, for example. You can turn off the prompts too within the Story mode once you have a grasp on the timing, but you can also keep the prompts on from beginning to credits and beyond. And have no shame doing so – Onimusha: Way of the Sword is great, and you should do what you have to in order to reach the end (because its final hours rule).
And hey, maybe after enough time learning the dance of swords that is Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s combat, you might try the Action mode and find success!
If you’re a newcomer, try Story mode because it will teach you everything you need to know about timing, parries, deflects, dodges, and more without feeling like you’re stuck in an extra-long tutorial. If you’re a character-action veteran, try Story mode because it’s cool, and I bet you’ll hone your timing in doing so.
For more, read Game Informer’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword review, and then head to Game Informer’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub for all kinds of exclusive behind-the-scenes features, interviews, videos, and more.