Things We Wish We Knew Sooner About Onimusha: Way Of The Sword

Published Sep 8, 2026, 3:56 PM EDT Alex is a gamer at heart. He started his journey on the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) and has been playing games since. While he enjoys difficult games like Dark Souls, he also likes to cuddle up with a cozy game, too. Alex loves completing games 100 percent and getting all the achievements so it's only natural that he enjoys flex-... uhhh... SHARING that gaming knowledge with the world. Alex has a Master's degree in English but his love for games has made him into a writer he is today. He's written for websites like Destructoid, TheEscapist, ProGameGuides, and DotEsports before starting his career here at TheGamer. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is out, and there’s a lot going on. While living as a Samurai/Oni is pretty self-explanatory, there are things we wish we knew before we started playing Capcom’s Genma-slaying game. Most of the time, the game explains things very well, but there are a few things that we wish we knew sooner, or just things we didn't realize we could even do. To help you play more efficiently, we made a list of eight tips that we think will help you during your stay in Kyoto. Explore Kyoto, But Don’t Go Too Far Many areas will be locked to you during your first playthrough, so you may want to hold off on collecting everything until later in the game. If you love 100 percent games and are hoping to do the same in Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, go for it, but you may want to hold on until you get some abilities. As you open up more areas in Kyoto, the game will tease you about new chests, collectibles and stuff on your map, and some of those you just won’t be able to get… yet. Just get whatever’s on your way, as you progress throughout the main story. Once you hit the “point-of-no-return” at the end of the game, do a thorough sweep. By then, the game will pretty much show you where everything on the map is, and you can just take a nice long walk and collect everything you missed (or couldn’t reach). Speaking of things you can’t reach… Use The Sparkling Light As Needed The map marker guide feature can lead you to wherever you want to go, even if it’s through a maze. While you’re out there collecting things, such as chests, you’ll likely come across ones that are just over the fence next to you. Annoyingly, the main protagonist, Mushashi, can’t jump, so you’ll always have to take the long route. Unfortunately, with so many locked gates and hidden areas, it can be quite annoying to figure out how you can get to those chests. That’s where the sparkling light comes in. Open your map Mark the annoying chest so you can track it Close the map Press the LT+RT or L2+R2 A light will appear, which will lead you exactly to it Follow the light We wasted so much time circling buildings until we started using the light, so don’t be like us. The light can’t tell how far you’ve progressed in the story, so it can lead you to a locked door you can’t go through yet, but otherwise, it’s a lifesaver. Don't Forget To Absorb The Souls When you see souls floating, absorb them. If you don't, the enemies will. Don't let them. As you likely know by now, in Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, when you kill enemies, they drop souls which you need to absorb into your gauntlet. Absorbing souls is important because they are your main currency in the game. To absorb the souls, you need to hold the LT / L2. While it may seem arbitrary, you really shouldn't forget to do this. Why? Because, if you don't, the enemies will om-nom-nom on the tasty souls instead of your gauntlet, and you'll lose them for good. So, just get into the habit of absorbing souls ASAP. After all, why let other enemies collect your currency and XP? When you get hit by enemies, you can also drop some souls. Try to absorb them back, but be careful, as this leaves you vulnerable to another attack. Buy Your Missing Upgrade Items At Yorimasa If you're missing an upgrade item, and have some Red Souls to spare, buy upgrade items at Yorimasa. Upgrading Musashi's is fairly straightforward. Most of the time, after each major battle, you'll have earned just enough materials for the next one or two upgrades. However, if you want to go a step beyond, you can always buy the missing upgrade items at Yorimasa. You unlock this shop shortly after an early boss fight. You might even forget about it, since you don't really need to buy consumables in the game since you'll collect most of your items out in the open. Well, Yorimasa may just have that last material you need for the sword upgrade, so it doesn't hurt to pay his shrine a visit. The Bow Can Make Battles Easier The Bow can interrupt an attack and break an enemy’s limb, making them easier to defeat. You will mainly use the bow to hit out of reach objects, and maybe an occasional archer in the distance, but you can use the bow for so much more. It can break the armor of tough enemies or even interrupt them. If an enemy is about to launch a deadly attack which you can’t seem to avoid, you can usually interrupt them with a Bow hit. Seriously, don’t sleep on the Bow, it’s way too convenient. If you use Oni vision, it can highlight weak parts of bosses, which you can break using the Bow. Swap Fighting Styles Often Different enemies will be easier to defeat using different methods, so don’t just rely on one. Before we started playing Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, we were ready to create unique builds that focus on certain types of moves and defenses. However, as we kept playing we figured, the only way to be good at this game is to use … well… everything. While you might prefer using Issen, Parries, Bows, or Deflects, the game will expect you to use all of them at some point. For example, we were mostly parrying our enemies, but when we encountered a Chimera, our parries were useless... so we switched to dodging. Each enemy (especially bosses) has a certain counter they are weak against and while you can brute-force them using your preferred method, it’s always more satisfying to mix and match your play-style. Your Consumables Aren’t Lost If You Die If you use consumable boost items during a fight and die, you can simply retry, and your items will be restored. We blame Soulslikes for this one. Basically, in Souls games, once you use a consumable, like an Attack boost or Status immunity item, it’s gone whether you win the fight or not. Well, despite looking like one, Onimusha isn’t a Souls game, and you don't lose your items when you die. You just try again. Go nuts with the consumables. If a boss is giving you a hard time, boost yourself with all the temporary buff items you can, and if you die… just do it again with the same items, until you win. The items will only be gone if you use them during a fight, and win (survive). Prioritize Defense Over Offense Last, but not least: Don’t spam the attack button and expect to win. Play the game defensively and you’ll dominate any battle. We can’t stress this enough. If you go in, blades swinging like a Sous Chef who's gone rogue, you’ll die to even the most basic mobs. However, if you let them attack you first, anticipate said attack, and react to it, you’ll win every time. So follow these steps: Lock on to an enemy Wait for it to attack React: Dodge, Block, Parry, Issen The enemy misses Attack the enemy Rinse and repeat It’s so simple, and so satisfying. Best of all, it’s really not that hard to pull off. Spamming will get you nowhere, but waiting and reacting is necessary for any Onimusha. Onimusha: Way Of The Sword isn’t a hard game. In fact, compared to games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it’s a breeze… but that doesn’t mean it will just let you waltz through it if all you do is the light attack button.