Capcom is finally releasing a new entry in theOnimushaseries withOnimusha: Way of the Swordin 2026. Since it was first announced at The Game Awards 2024, developers have given players glimpses into the upcoming title. The latest, of course, was at Summer Game Fest.
Capcom shared a new trailer forOnimusha: Way of the Swordshowing off protagonist Musashi Miyamoto in action. At the event, Game Rant spoke with director Satoru Nihei and producer Akihito about the challenges behind adapting a beloved franchise to modern gaming trends as well as designing a dark fantasy world based in Edo-era Japan.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How the Concept of Onimusha: Way of the Sword Came to Life
Q: Congratulations on being here at the Summer Game Fest. I wanted to get a sense of the journey to get here. When did discussions about making thisOnimushastart? What were the kinds of feelings about bringing this franchise back? What have you been hearing from fans in terms of their response and their desire to see it come back?
Kadowaki:Within Capcom, there have been a lot of people who really wanted to make anOnimushatitle for a very long time. However, the timing just hadn’t worked out becauseCapcom produces a lot of titleseach year, and it’s very difficult to get the right people and the right amount of people at the right time. This didn’t happen until the beginning of 2020 when we were able to get the key members of the team together to start production on the game.
Coincidentally, this was also around the time when RE Engine was really coming into its own, so we were able to use the engine to its fullest to createOnimusha. We released the first bits of information about the game last December at The Game Awards and got a great reaction from the fans. We’re really glad to see how happy everyone was. On the other hand, we also felt that now we had a lot of pressure on us to deliver on fans’ expectations, so we’re working our hardest to make sure we make an extremely good game for them.
Q: Since the lastOnimusha, the genre of sword combat with fantastical elements has risen a lot. Was the team paying attention to that response? How did this influence development?
Nihei:We weren’t really referencing or paying attention to what other titles were doing. The main reason for this is that the franchise has been dormant for 20 years now, quite a long time, and we had the goal of bringing those elements of theOnimushaseries back to modern gaming. The focus was: “What is anOnimushagame and how do we make those elements palatable to modern gamers?” That was our main mission without looking at what other games were doing at the time.
Q: What did the team settle on for what a modernOnimushagame looks like?
Kadowaki:There are three tenets of what makes anOnimushagame unique and standalone. The first is that the protagonist has the Oni Gauntlet on his arm, allowing him to absorb the souls of fallen enemies, so we wanted to focus on that and give it a modern game take. The second is the dynamic and satisfyingsword action gameplaythat only Capcom can deliver. The third also ties into the sword combat and updating the mechanics from the older games. We wished to ensure that this really stood out and made the game unique in its own right.
Q: Has the development team been paying attention to the appetite for challenge that exists in character combat games? Has there been consideration for those who, in addition to accessibility and making things easier, also love to just be challenged?
Kadowaki:We’re not looking to make an extremely punishing game. What we want to do is an action game that is challenging but not frustrating. It’s a fine line for us to walk. We understand there are a lot of people who really like the challenge of an action game, but there are also those who like action games but aren’t necessarily good at them. There’s a wide range of people that we have to appeal to, especially when bringing back a franchise that has been dormant for such a long time.
It’s important for us to attempt to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. In terms of the actual difficulty of the game, it’s something that’s still in development, so we’re still fine-tuning everything. But we want to make very clear that this won’t be one of those super-punishing games.
Q: Regarding the design of the different enemies and the combination of familiar architecture with this kind of grotesque world, what has been the fun of finding whatOnimushabrings to its art style and design?
Nihei:You’re exactly right. We wanted to make something that feels like aJapanese-style gamein terms of the artwork, but add some darker elements to give the feel that there’s something off about it. A kind of feeling that there’s something that you, as a player, are not seeing immediately, so you have to delve into it just a little bit more to understand what’s going on. That’s one of the fun mysteries about the game when you take a look at it.
Q: I want to ask about choosing Toshiro Mifune as the face ofOnimusha: Way of the Sword, and if it influenced other elements. Did cinema in general influence the game?
Kadowaki:The reason for choosing him as the face model is that, when you think about who is the quintessential samurai action actor, there’s only Mifune. His performance is unparalleled, and he has this aura that is just unmatched by anyone in the film industry. Another reason is that we’re using Miyamoto Musashi as the main character, and he, as a human, has a charm and particular mannerisms. We thought: “Who can actually do these kinds of mannerisms if they had to play him in the movie?” We could only think of Mifune; it felt like a perfect match. Because we chose him, there weren’t any other parts of the game that needed to change. From the very start, Mifune was our only pick for the face model.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s New Approach to Sword Combat
Q: In terms of technology, both software and hardware, what is possible withWay of the Swordthat perhaps wasn’t in previous games? What is the development team doing with the technology available to them?
Nihei:The main accomplishment we achieved withWay of the Swordis related to the Issen system. We brought it back from the previous games and updated it for the newest, but on top of that, we also added the dismemberment system that goes along with the Issen. That’s something that we put a lot of effort into. It uses vector technology so that, wherever Musashi actually strikes his opponent, it’s going to accurately cut through them. It won’t be a canned animation that happens the same every time. It’s going to be different every single time, depending on where Musashi hits the enemy.
Q: We saw in the presentation this ability to target specific parts of the bosses that would affect the battle. How deep does that go in terms of influencing the choices players make in boss fights?
Nihei:The Break Issen element is going to evolve over the course of the game and depend on the enemies you face. As seen in the presentation, for Ganryu and Byakue, there are only two body parts to target. For other enemies, you can target maybe three or four body parts, and each part is going to have its own unique reaction from the enemies. They’re also going to have completely different effects from each other, so it’s going to play into theplayer’s strategyfor each boss fight: which body part they want to target and in which order.
Kadowaki:For the Break Issen, we have some really cool animations for each body part. We’re not using canned animations that repeat for different bosses. Instead, each animation has been designed specifically for that boss so that nothing will look the same when you fight boss after boss. They’re all going to look different.
Q: The presentation that we saw was fairly linear. Is that indicative of the larger game being a progression from point A to point B, or are there going to be open areas?
Nihei:It’s going to be a pretty standard linear action title, as you saw in the presentation. However, depending on the area you’re in, you’re going to have to go off the beaten track. you may go for a side mission and pick up some bonus content, but for the most part, it’s going to be linear action.
Q: Capcom’s been kind of on a roll for a while, and I’m curious if Capcom’s successes have had any impact on the game itself in terms of development. If it was able to garner more resources or give the team confidence in certain decisions?
Kadowaki:Because of the success ofother titles at Capcom, we actually felt more pressure from the company to continue that success. But we didn’t really get any more money for the game, nor any suggestions of the “Do this or do that” kind of thing. We understand our vision, and we understand our assignments. The only thing that Capcom said was: “We’re on a roll. So keep the ball rolling.”
Building Compelling Characters
Q: In the presentation, we learned that the main character is in conflict: he doesn’t want to own an Oni Gauntlet. Can you talk about how that conflict manifests in the story itself beyond not wanting the gauntlet on his wrist?
Nihei:Without getting too much into details, you’re completely correct. Miyamoto doesn’t want the Gauntlet. He wants to get rid of it because he wants to show he’s capable of becoming the best swordsman in Japan without its power. However, he understands that certain circumstances are happening around him that will call for him to use the power of the Oni Gauntlet. And there’ll be some characters around him that, because of these circumstances, he’s going to have to do some things he doesn’t want to do. So that’s going to play into the narrative, and players are going to see him grow as a person. Not only as a hero but also as a human being. He learns more about himself as the story goes on, and because of these situations, they restrict him from living the way he wants to live.
Q: About designing characters, bosses, and enemies, what was the biggest challenge there? From an art direction perspective, what was that process like?
Kadowaki:It’s actually kind of difficult this time. Usually, what happens with the art design for a lot of characters is we’re allowed to design whatever we want and present it to the team, then the director gets to take what they prefer. However, this time we’re making designs based on real-life figures and we also have to keep in mind that this is aJapanese-themed game, so we can’t go into, for example, European and other countries’ tastes.
A lot of designs, especially the character you saw at the end of the demo with the talismans on them, are based on Japanese mythology and Japanese monk design. So we have to keep all of those little details in mind while designing the characters. It is particularly challenging because of these restrictions.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword Aims to Satisfy Both Veteran and New Players
Q: TheOnimushaseries has an avid fan base, but it has been dormant for a while. There’s this conversation about how to bring in new people, but satisfy the old. What was it like to strike that balance?
Nihei:It was a pretty interesting challenge. to appeal to longtime fans of the series, we emphasize the exciting and satisfying swordplay that only Capcom can deliver. The visuals also use the latest technology with RE Engine, which is going to be a key point for fans of the series. We can bring some of the older, familiar designs back, but represent them with the latest technology. For new users, we focused more on creating a new original story with interesting,relatable charactersso that people can really get into the narrative. Once they’re into that, they can enjoy the same kind of sword-based action game that veteran fans enjoy.
Q: What is your favorite thing that you can talk about that exists in the game?
Nihei:The one thing that I really enjoy, from the information that we’ve released so far, is the battles with larger enemies and how heavy all the action feels. It doesn’t feel like you’re just cutting through paper. Instead, it is very satisfying and feels like the kind of action game that only Capcom is capable of making. We believe that we’re the top-tier action game maker in the industry.
Kadowaki:We want to focus on delivering an experience that’s going to be fantastic for both new players and longtime fans of the series. We want to make something different that has a little bit more global focus. This is why we went with the relationship and story between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Ganryu. Those two characters both have the Oni Gauntlet, and they take very different paths with it. We think that building that kind of narrative into the game is something that’s going to be very appealing, and we feel satisfied with the results and hope that players will feel the same way, too.
