The Onimusha franchise is set to make its return in 2026 with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, marking the first new installment in the series in twenty years. While remasters of earlier titles and an upcoming addition to PlayStation Plus' Classics lineup have kept the series in recent memory, this new entry represents a significant revival. Director Satoru Nihei and producer Akihito Kadowaki discussed the long road to Way of the Sword's development with Game Informer.
Producer Akihito Kadowaki explained that the prolonged absence of new Onimusha titles was not due to a lack of internal interest. "Whilst Onimusha was always well-received, there were, at Capcom at the time, other major series like Monster Hunter, Resident Evil games, and Street Fighter, but there were also up-and-coming developing titles," Kadowaki stated. "And as development became more difficult, needing more time and more people, with all those people focused on those titles, it was very difficult to get a team together to make a new Onimusha game, despite wanting to internally for a long time."
The resurgence of Onimusha was made possible by the maturation of Capcom's RE Engine and a strategic planning reset in 2020. This allowed the company to align its development schedules with the new generation of hardware. The team has been working on Way of the Sword for six years, with a deliberate focus on preserving the series' identity. Kadowaki emphasized the effort to ensure the new game retains "everything that makes an Onimusha game an Onimusha game."
Director Satoru Nihei, who was specifically chosen to direct the project due to his history with the series, identified the "Issen" mechanic as a foundational element for the new game. The Issen, a powerful counterattack performed by striking just before an enemy attacks, has been a hallmark of the franchise. Nihei described it as critical to the satisfaction and feel of the period action.
Nihei further elaborated on the core of the Onimusha experience, stating, "This was one of the critical parts of that satisfaction and the feel of the period action, and the Oni Gauntlet, the tactical elements of it in terms of soul absorption, kind of weighing when to use those abilities and when not to, and then also the elements of the historical ties to the real history of Japan." He noted that while previous titles were set in Japan's Sengoku period, the series' essence lies in blending historical elements with dark fantasy.