Since its arrival on PlayStation 2 in 2001, the Onimusha series has been recognized for blending a mix of Resident Evil-style action horror with historically inspired Japanese samurai combat. Now, after lying dormant for over two decades, players will soon enter Edo-era Kyoto as Musashi Miyamoto, the new wielder of the Oni Gauntlet, in Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
At Gamescom 2025, I sat down with Akihito Kadowaki, producer of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, to chat about the upcoming Onimusha game, the process of reviving a beloved franchise for modern gamers and how a childhood game of baseball may have led to hunting demons.
This interview was conducted through an interpreter, and the content has been edited for clarity and length.
Read more: Onimusha Way of the Sword Hands-On: Back to the Demon-Killing Samurai Grind
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Onimusha: Way of the Sword takes place in a dark version of Edo-era Kyoto, through the eyes and sword of samurai Miyamoto Musashi. Capcom
Faith Chihil (CNET): How does this game sit with the other Onimusha games?
Akihito Kadowaki (Capcom): Onimusha: Way of the Sword is going to be the newest installment, because the last one was 20 years ago, so it's been a long time, and there are obviously people who do not know the series, and we wanted people to know about them through this title. And that was something we wanted to keep in mind, but we didn't really want to necessarily make it a connected series, a title connected to the past installments that we have, but make it a new Onimusha.
FC: To connect it to that, what makes this an Onimusha game versus another samurai game?
AK: Within the series, we wanted to incorporate elements that were very iconic in the past installments. For example, Onimusha is very well known for its dark setting and the world it has. And we also wanted to incorporate the unique characters you can encounter within the game, and also the iconic, exhilarating action you can experience. And on top of that, many games have featured samurai, but within that, we wanted to really stand out and make Onimusha very unique, so we incorporated soul-absorbing, which is really unique to the Onimusha series.
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