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Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destinyreceived a remaster on the 23rd of May, 2025, allowing players old and new to experience its branching narrative and timing/counterattack-focused combat system. While the game does a great job of introducing players to its world, story, and especially its characters, its opening does skip over certain aspects of the gameplay and combat system.
In thisOnimusha 2Guide, we’ll discuss tips, tricks, and advice that can help new players get into the swing of things in this action-adventure story. From learning to time critical hits/Issen hits to knowing when to backtrack for an early boost to your health bar, there’s much to cover.
Attack Controls
While it’s easy enough to work out which button swings your sword, what the game doesn’t tell you outright is that directional inputs will change the attack performed. Using the sword as an example:tapping the attack button without moving will perform a slashing combo, tapping the attack button and moving towards the target at the same time will perform a lunge that can knock enemies into the air, and tapping the attack button and moving away from the target at the same time will perform a kick.
Utilizing these attacks can make all the difference when facing off against stronger foes, so it’s important to keep in mind. One thing mentioned in the tutorial that is easy to forget is that you may perform a charged attack with any Oni weapon by holding R1 or R2 until the weapon charges up, and then pressing the attack button.
Finish Off Downed Foes
A great way to deal with enemies more quickly is by performing a finishing blow after knocking them to the ground. Most normal enemies will fall to the ground when you hit them with the basic slashing combo mentioned above, and you’re able to then execute them by standing over them and tapping the attack button. This instantly takes them down,allowing you to thin the herd in larger fightsquickly.
You need to be standing right on top of the downed enemy to perform this finisher, and any directional input while pushing attack will cause you to perform a different attack, so it’s important to ensure your character is standing still when you tap attack.
How Movement Works with the Camera
When moving around in-game, the fixed camera can sometimes cause a little bit of difficulty, especially if you’re not used to this camera style. The most important thing to remember is that, even if the camera position changes, your character will keep moving in the same direction they were before the switch until you release the movement controls.
How to Perform Critical Hits
Critical Hits are a fantastic way to quickly eliminate enemies, making a lot of encounters much easier once you learn the trick to them. There are two ways of performing a Critical Hit inOnimusha 2. The first method, and the easiest method, is to block at the last possible moment before an attack hits you, and then tap the attack button right after the successful block. This will cause your character to perform a quick slash (accompanied by a visual flash) that deals a huge amount of damage, usually killing weaker foes.
The second, and trickier, method of performing a Critical Hit is by tapping the attack button just as an enemy is about to lunge forward for their attack. When executed correctly, it will cause a flash as you cut the enemy down with a strong slash. While harder to pull off,mastering this second technique will make tearing through large groups of enemies much easier and much more satisfying.
Extra Loot in Yagyu Village
While you’ll likely be tempted to run right to the Dragon Statue as instructed, near the end of the Yagyu Village section at the start of the game, there are a few secrets to uncover first. Start by backtracking to where you started the game, fighting through quite a few enemies on the way, until you reach the broken gate shown in the image above.
This gate leads into Jubei Yagyu’s old home, and now that you’ve investigated the mysterious voice, you can head inside by interacting with it. Once inside,you can track down several chests containing useful items, including a puzzle-locked chest containing a Power Jewel.This is the first Power Jewel you can find, and these are very useful since they increase your maximum health when used.
Use Your Gift Items
Shortly after arriving in Imasho, early on, you’ll be introduced to your first two allies: Ekei and Magoichi.This is also the point where you’ll gain access to the gift system, allowing you to give certain items you find (or purchase) to your allies to raise (or lower) their opinion of you. Each of your allies prefers different kinds of gifts, which are hinted at in their dialog when you speak to them in town, and they’ll give you items in return whenever you give them a gift.
Giving gifts that a character likes makes them show up to help you in battle more often than characters whose opinions of you are lower, and many of the items they’ll give you in return are very useful. For example, giving Ekei alcohol and food items will raise his opinion of you, and if it’s higher than Magoichi’s,then he’ll show up to help you on several occasions as you explore the mines.Similarly, Magoichi favors books and rare manuscripts, and raising his opinion of you will cause him to assist you in those situations instead.
It’s important to pay attention to your allies and learn what gifts are suitable for each, especially if you’re trying to gain the aid of a particular character. Depending on how you treat your allies, certain key moments in the game can play out differently, and some allies may even betray you under certain circumstances.
Differences from the Original Game
A few key changes have been made to the Remaster compared to the original release. One of the biggest changes is the ability to use an analog stick for movement, instead of the tank controls of the original game, though you can switch back to the tank controls in the menu if preferred. The game now autosaves regularly too, reducing your chances of losing tons of progress by forgetting to save. (Though you should still save periodically, just to be safe).
Another welcome improvement is the ability to quick-swap between weapons without having to go into the menu first, making it easier to switch over to the weapon you need in a pinch.
Important Advice for Achievement Hunters/Trophy Hunters
That said,players looking to nab all the trophies forOnimusha 2may want to hold off on using the Power Jewel.This is because the game has an achievement for completing it without using any items to raise your health or magic gauges. Of course, if you want to use items for now and start a fresh playthrough to get the trophy later on, that would likely make your first playthrough a lot smoother.
