What do you think about new Onimusha port?

I plan on picking it up after work today but I was wondering what are people’s opinion on this port? Is it worth the money or should I wait for a sale? Also how does it hold up?

@conky_samsquanch: I've watched the Jim Sterling video on it and he says that as a fan of the series he is happy with the port simply for having the series revived in modern day to some capacity. That said he mentions it's kind of anemic where they just spruced up the graphics a bit but controls etc remain as they were back in the day without extra features.

If you want to play Onimusha again without digging out old hardware then it seems like it does the job, but doesn't appear to go above and beyond that.

Never played this game, but I just finished it in about 4 and a half hours. I leveled up everything in the game and found all the armour and collectibles in about 3 hours (without looking stuff up), and finished all the puzzles. It's definitely an intuitive game compared to others in this RE style; I never got stuck once, as there's no obscure solutions or multi-layered item combining required. It's all very sensible and never hinders your flow.

The passive abilities you get make a lot of sense, too, serving to reduce how much time you spend combing rooms or farming for upgrade orbs. The systems are only there to be fun, interesting or helpful, and it feels like the devs wanted to have the elements that made RE good without the headaches or time-wasting. It's also a breezy experience in terms of combat, especially with the modern controls they've added in, which is what I was hoping for. Laying into dudes with lightning/fire/wind attacks never got old, and, despite being a short game, the enemy variety constantly evolves in a natural way that keeps your hands and eyes interested in what's happening. The weapons feel significantly different from one another, too, so I found myself switching constantly between them.

Story-wise, it's clear they wanted to set you up with a very simple but effective narrative via a good old-fashioned princess kidnapping with some demonry and classic samurai shit thrown in. A neat sub-narrative is found in the scrolls you come across, some hidden well, which describes a survivor who is trapped within the castle with many oni, and is painting their horrifying behaviour and rituals on these scrolls to be discovered posthumously. His ordeals are written in a simplified way that reminded me most of Lovecraft, in a good way. They're interesting, and dig into some fundamentals of oni legend. Much like the mechanics and gameplay, it's efficient -- never too short or too long -- and gives you some fantastically ugly monsters to detest. The designs all 'round are quite something, actually, not that it's a surprise 2000s Capcom were at the top of their game. One scene made me gasp and gawp like a dumbass it was so gross, yet fucking awesome. I've re-watched it on YouTube about eight times. The traditional Japanese architecture mixed with the Arkham colour palette and meaty, bony, ribbed quality of some of the content makes for a genuinely great look.

The characters are strong, too, especially with the Japanese VA. I enjoyed the two controllable characters very much, and how their differences change the gameplay in terms of speed, flow, abilities, etc. No pathos or deep interactions or anything, but it works for what it is as well as it needs to in the time it has.

Cons:

I would've liked it so R2/L2 switched weapons in real-time instead of having to go into the menu.

I don't dislike backtracking when it involves interesting shortcuts that loop back, which this game totally has, but I would've liked an easier way to go back to earlier puzzles once I had the right clues, even though it's an optional side thing. Perhaps a warp system via the save mirrors?

You have to hold L1+ R1 together to block, which I was never told how to do, and didn't figure out until I was almost finished.

The princess and her young adopted brother are unfortunately nothing more than captives with some very basic backstory tacked on. Again, it's an extremely short game, so I totally get why.

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Overall, not gonna lie, I absolutely loved this game. Dope monsters, some crazy and creative cutscenes, novel item upgrades, Game of Death-style combat trials, fun swordplay, surprisingly crisp graphics that totally hold up better than DMC 1-3, likeable characters. Just a real good Capcom-as-fuck videogame. I wanted more, so here's hoping the rest of the series gets this treatment over the next couple of years.

8/10 any day of the week for me!