Samurai, zombies, Jean Reno and Time Machine. Onimusha 3 offers an unforgettable mix of genres

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October 21, 2024, 03:03

Once upon a time, when there were no battle passes, photorealistic graphics or open worlds and the industry was just taking off, what I consider to be one of the coolest samurai series of all time led the way – Capcom’s Onimusha.

The samurai gore horror that started out as a spin-off of Resident Evil before evolving into something much more original. What Onimusha didn’t have: mysterious forces, zombies, a time machine, a steampunk hideout for higher spiritual beings, great music and heroic warriors in cool armor who were afraid of nothing. The series impressed me so much that I still wonder if categorizing this game as fantasy fully captures its narrative scope.

In my case, each of these games (not counting the last part of the series) could be completed in about three hours (other players preferred to spend more time in the world of). Onimusha; via HowLongToBeat). Not too long, not too short: the action was fast-paced, the martial arts were spectacular and mysterious (from the perspective of a child growing up in the early 2000s) The Far East beckons with its oriental flair, with its katanas, spears, kimonos and pagodas with rolled-up roofs.

At its most basic level, however, it was a story about brave samurai employed by the Oni Demon Clan as destroyers of the Genma monsters hostile to the clan. Her Chosen ones were called Onimusha (literally: demon warrior) and had a magical gauntlet that absorbed the souls of defeated opponents. The game gave the user access to weapons with enchanted elemental powers and protection from death in the most critical moments.

A few words about context

If none of this means anything to you, that’s probably why it is Onimusha suffered a sad fate due to the platform on which it was released. It started on the PlayStation 2 and ended there too. It was originally planned as a trilogy and was supposed to end with the third part.

Currently the first part is available in the form of a remaster on various platforms and on Netflix you can watch an anime series inspired by the series, but that’s basically it. Some fans were hoping for a revival of the series with the remaster, but it wasn’t all that convincing and the franchise is once again fading into obscurity before our eyes.

Onimusha 3, in turn, the hero of this text, premiered in 2004 – two years before the official premiere of the PlayStation 3. Although it was also available on PCs (the port came to the platform a year later), most fans experienced this They can do it on the consoles and remember it from there too.

The first part of the series – Onimusha warlords – was a huge success on the PlayStation 2 console and went down in history primarily for that reason. Sales reached two million copies, and people fell in love then especially with the revolutionary (for that time) graphics (we are talking about 2001) and the magnificent choreography of the fights. The second part of the series – Samurai’s Destiny – did not repeat this result and its failure in the West convinced the game’s creators to change their strategy and creative vision.

The enemy is located in Honno-Ji Temple, the Japanese historical fantasy

It was therefore decided to set the story on two temporal levels. Onimusha 3 takes place simultaneously during the Sengoku period (the great Japanese civil war that took place in 1467 – 1615) and Paris in 2004. Genma’s previous attempts to subjugate humanity failed, and so, led by the demon scientist Guildenstern (yes, that’s a reference to Shakespeare), they attack present-day France using a time machine.

Frightened civilians scatter in all directions, blood flows and screams and screams fill the air. But since the technology is unstable and Guildenstern himself doesn’t fully understand it (he stole it from the Oni demons – the same ones that gave us our gloves and magical powers), The main character of the first part of the series also comes to the present – the samurai Samanosuke Akechi (played by the star and idol of Asian cinema Takeshi Kaneshiro), who came directly from the battlefield near the Honno-Ji Temple to the streets of Paris.

Together with his uncle Mitsuhide Akechi, he hoped to put an end to the cruel and bloody reign of Nobunaga Oda, whom the player was allowed to meet in the first and second parts of the series. The incident went down in Japanese history as one of the most pivotal events in the country’s history, ending the ruthless rule of Nobunaga. The man spread fear so effectively that he was nicknamed the “Demonic King.” Onimusha plays on this trope by placing him as the main antagonist at the head of an army of monsters.

At the same time, a police officer named Jacques (Jean Reno) patrols the streets of the City of Lights, who is sent to medieval Japan for a change and from there has to somehow return to his time. He reluctantly accepts the task and So begins this epic tale of overcoming the boundaries of space and time, where magic, samurai honor and science fiction come together.

Brilliant conceptual maneuver

The division of the narrative into two time levels is also the basis of the game mechanics in the game itself. What one hero does in their timeline can affect the other’s progress. The bridge that connects them is a small tengu named Ako, who has the ability to move through time and space through special mirrors. She is sent to Jacques – a barbarian from the West – by one of the Oni demons currently on duty.

Thanks to it, the characters can pass items to each other and exchange information. This allows them to work together while moving the plot forward. The rest of the game revolves around solving puzzles, opening encrypted chests, and defeating hordes of enemies to the beat of epic music – typical hack-and-slash RPG fare.

Nothing complicated or particularly original; it was First and foremost, the parallel timelines played the biggest role here in terms of the freshness of the gameplay. I still believe (after watching, reading, and playing dozens of science fiction books, movies, and games) that this is, at least on a conceptual level, one of the most original examples of the use of the time travel motif in pop culture.

Action film stars on set

The strength of Onimusha 3 was primarily its plot, but the game itself also made history for another reason – It had one of the most impressive opening sequences in video game history in terms of direction and execution.

Studio ROBOT was responsible for this scene and did a fantastic job, but few people know that the motion capture for the character of Samanosuke in this scene was done by Donnie Yen himself – a legendary martial arts actor (you may know him from the IP man series) and currently also one of the best action scene choreographers in the world.

The scene boasts Yen’s spectacular skills and is impressive in its scope, but that’s not the only such treat in the game. At one point, Jacques performs a very ambitious motorcycle jump in pursuit of a departing ship. Few scenes can match its epicness.

How do I play Onimusha 3 today?

Collectors can still purchase a physical copy of the game through various auction services. It can be found on eBay for between $9 and $100, depending on the version (PC/PS2). To run the game on a PC, a DVD-ROM drive is required (although there are reports of problems with the latest Windows).

At some point, a port of the game appeared on Steam, but it failed due to compatibility issues and was removed from Valve’s service in 2014.