Not Everything Needs To Be A Soulslike, And Onimusha: Way Of The Sword Shows Why

Action games can and should be more than this, but the penchant to follow From Software so intently has narrowed what’s possible. This is in contrast to other types of action games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden, the Holy Trinity of franchises that get brought up when dissecting the genre. The former two are all about freestyling on enemies and using a variety of weapons to create YouTube-worthy juggle montages. Ninja Gaiden, at its best (and it’s not always at its best), prioritizes speed and efficiency, since vindictive enemy AI requires perfection to skirt on by. It’s a rush to execute elaborate, S-rank aerial combos and slice through a room of ninjas unscathed, and even though these are different paths, both roads are paved through the player’s active choices.

Whereas being an active participant is typically defined in the genre through offense, Way of the Sword flips this on its head by primarily using defense to give players a more active role. Blocking, parrying, deflecting, dodging, and the all-powerful Issen all have various uses and have players balancing risk and reward. Regular parrying is relatively easy to do, thanks to a forgiving window, but the payoff is meager. Deflecting is riskier because it requires two button presses and delays the reward by negating the opportunity for an immediate counter slash, but it can melt stamina bars more quickly. The Issen is the most explosive of them all, as it requires near-perfect timing and, more importantly, punishes failure, yet it can lop off a sizable chunk of health and stamina upon success. Dodging is more fruitful for physical, non-weapon attacks, however, it’s tricky to remember that in the heat of the moment when so much else requires a parry of some kind.

This layered process yields layered choices. Is deflecting better when the stakes are high or will parrying suffice? Performing a last-second Issen may put the lanky and ever-annoying Ganryu into an exhausted state, but goofing it up will undoubtedly prove fatal. Players have to constantly make these decisions within a split second and have the skill to actually pull them off. The high skill ceiling also means boss fights can evolve after each handful of retries, as players get more confident with each death. Although it is a little tedious to fight Dohatsu-ten around a dozen times, the repeated attempts are swaggier every time and serve as valid ways to mark your skill progression.

Even with a focus on action, Way of the Sword still has reactive elements. There are blade barrages, blade locks, parry and block breaks, grab counters, and unavoidable attacks, all of which require reactions and often have one correct response. But this breadth is the point. The variety is what keeps players on their toes and duels unpredictable. Players may get used to deflecting an incoming flurry but then a blade lock requires sudden mashing. A boss might look stunned but then whip out a counter stance that spells death if players don’t halt their offense and break out the Oni arms.

As illustrated through this balance, reactive elements don’t automatically make a game lesser. Titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Lies of P, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty are all centered around parries and remain thrilling tests of skill. This also isn’t to say these games don’t have more active elements–that’s where pre-fight weapon and gear choices come into play–but they, with a few exceptions, place a lot of weight on a single type of parry. These three games are just designed well enough so this approach doesn’t feel like a setback or cliché.

And there are some solid to fantastic games that go down the Dark Souls route and abide by many of its restrictions, but the problem here is the sheer quantity of them and how they contribute to the imbalance. Stamina-based action-RPGs have become the default for action games, and no genre should be this narrow. Whether it’s Dark Souls with anime or Dark Souls with Italians, it’s still Dark Souls and not something willing to trek into more uncharted territory. God of War played a similar role in the mid-2000s, as titles like Dante’s Inferno, Conan, Heavenly Sword, Ghost Rider, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow all prayed at the altar of the newly minted Greek deity. Genre titans come and go, but this current trend is much more prevalent and has been going on for a lot longer.

But there has been a burgeoning vanguard of action games that have resisted the urge to conform to From’s template. Hi-Fi Rush was a gorgeous and thoughtful Devil May Cry-like game with a focus on rhythmic beatdowns. Ninja Gaiden 4, despite its bloated runtime and tanky mobs, recalled the series’ glory days well enough. Control Resonant, for all of the valid criticism that could (and should) be leveled at its shallow combat, isn’t even close to being a soulslike. The jury is still out on Phantom Blade Zero, but various leads have repeatedly talked about games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Sifu, Ninja Gaiden, and Devil May Cry as influences or personal favorites, while also explaining how the studio wanted to have a “totally different combat system” to buck the perception it was a soulslike. There’s clearly a smidge of soulslike in Phantom Blade Zero–even the developers don’t deny that–but it is actively trying to be more than Dark Souls in faux China.

The same goes for Onimusha: Way of the Sword. There are some soulslike elements sprinkled in here and there, but Capcom set its sights on something greater. Other developers should take a similar charge and realize there is more than one way to make an action game. It’s quite ironic how Way of the Sword has players sucking up countless souls when avoiding Souls is what makes the game so engaging.