Samurai’s Destiny Remastered Review – Forgotten Classic Reborn

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny Remastered Review

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is a remaster of a third-person action PS2 classic. The Onimusha series is one of the early Resident Evil gameplay spin-offs that Capcom made, along with Dino Crisis, and Devil May Cry. The Onimusha games have the visual aesthetics of the early Resident Evil games, but put them in a medieval Japanese setting, and have a stronger emphasis on melee combat. This sequel to Onimusha: Warlords has several interesting gameplay ideas that had to be left on the development room floor from the first game. It veers a bit further from its Resident Evil roots, and is far more interesting because of these changes.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny’s plot takes place after Onimusha: Warlords’, but the game has a different protagonist. The villain, Nobunaga, remains the demon leader of the Genma. We don’t find out what happens to former protagonist Samanosuke in this second title. Instead, the plot takes place from the point of view of legendary samurai Jubei Yagyu, whose village is destroyed by Nobunaga. Anyone who cares about the story shouldn’t play Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny before beating Onimusha: Warlords. There’s even a spoiler-filled recap of the first game’s events at the beginning of Onimusha 2, so start with caution.

Evolution of Warlords

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny mirrors Onimusha: Warlords in a lot of ways. Jubei is given the Onimusha power to battle Nobunaga, just like Samanosuke. The third person Resident Evil framework with samurai combat gameplay remains the same. There are still fixed camera angles, although Capcom has changed the tank controls to normal movement. This change makes Onimusha 2 feel very satisfying to play.

The third-person combat revolves around square as a melee attack. Pressing circle causes Jubei to absorb souls of defeated enemies. Red souls are experience points, yellow souls recover health, blue souls recover magic, and purple souls transform Jubei into a powerful Onimusha demon. Different weapons have different spells that can be used by pressing triangle. There are some ranged weapons, in addition to the usual melee ones, which can be used by holding R1. Weapons can be cycled by holding L2 and pressing the d-pad. Attacking right as an enemy is about to strike performs a critical counterattack. It’s a simple combat system, but I never got bored because of all the options.

Imasho Village

The major gameplay changes in Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny come from a hub area called Imasho Village. It’s a bustling town with lots of NPCs, which is a stark contrast to the abandoned fortress of Onimusha: Warlords. There are optional sidequests to take on. Time passes when Jubei is out on missions, and villagers’ positions change. Jubei can even go shopping, although not for weapon upgrades, just for gifts. These gifts are key to Onimusha 2’s most interesting system.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny introduced side characters that affect the game’s narrative. They all have unique weapons, and play very differently from one another. Depending on Jubei’s interactions with these characters, and which gifts he gives them, different characters accompany him in different sections of the game. There are also side sections where players control the side characters. Some of these story paths can be quite different, and potential partners could even betray Jubei, depending on player decisions. These meaningful changes and branching paths were very ahead of their time, and create great replay value for Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny.

That Second Half Though

There is a major flaw with Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny’s structure though, and that is the second half of the game is much more straightforward, and feels like it might have been rushed. There’s no more returning to Imasho Village, and no more use of the side character gift system. All of the areas and cutscenes feel very random and disconnected. And the sometimes frustrating, but also charming fixed camera becomes just plain unfair in certain late game boss battles. I loved all of the late game environments, and bosses, but the game clearly needed a bit more time to maintain its systems, and not end feeling like a series of levels.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny has an unexpectedly deep Options section. The regular Options menu allows players to choose from multiple menu languages, but the audio is only in English This is a big deal because Onimusha 2 famously didn’t have Japanese language options, like the first game, and the English dub was often unintentionally hilarious. Capcom please patch the game with a Japanese audio option! There’s a choice to play in widescreen or original 4:3, and full controller settings. There’s also a Special Features menu that has an art gallery with concept art and a soundtrack jukebox. There are 3 mini games, built-in trophies called “Honors”, difficulty selection, and costume options.

Still Gorgeous

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is still a gorgeous game. The graphics in the remaster really crispen up the image for modern consoles, but don’t mess with the character models, or environmental design. Just taking appearance into account, the fixed camera angles mixed with 3D environments create a very detailed world. The CG cutscenes are incredibly well-animated and directed. The score is a mix of modern film orchestration and traditional Japanese instruments. My modern eye can really tell that Onimusha 2 was a blockbuster PS2 game, in terms of its production values. It’s just such a shame there’s no Japanese audio option.

A special aspect of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, is that the likeness of Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda was used for Jubei’s character model. Matsuda passed away in 1989, 13 years before Onimusha 2’s release. Western audiences probably know Matsuda best as the inspiration for Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, or as the villainous yakuza in Black Rain. The importance of this casting was lost on Western audiences, and advertisers, in the early 2000s. But it’s an interesting example to show the kind of high production values Onimusha 2 had.

Hope for the Future

I was surprised how much I enjoyed revisiting Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. I hadn’t played it since it first came out on PS2. And I didn’t even realize there were multiple paths at the time; I just beat it while renting it over a week-long period. But I will happily buy a physical copy of the remaster if one is announced. I appreciate high production values from this PS2 era, so I found Onimusha 2 incredibly aesthetically pleasing. With Onimusha 4 on the way, I hope Capcom finds the time to remaster Onimusha 3 as well. Despite the sometimes frustrating fixed camera angles, goofy voice acting, and rushed second half, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is one of my favorite games I’ve played this year.

***PS4 code provided by the publisher***