Onimusha: Warlords

2001 action adventure hack and slash video game

Onimusha: Warlords, known in Japan as Onimusha (鬼武者), is an action adventure hack and slash video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. The first entry of the Onimusha series, it was originally released in 2001. An updated form as Genma Onimusha (幻魔 鬼武者) for the Xbox was released in 2002. The original Warlords version was ported to Microsoft Windows, although it was only available in China and Russia. A remaster for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One was released in 2018, with a Windows version following in 2019. The game's plot is set in the Sengoku period and focuses on the samurai Samanosuke Akechi who fights against the forces of Nobunaga Oda. After Nobunaga's death in battle, Samanosuke goes on a quest to save Princess Yuki from demons working alongside Nobunaga's forces. The player controls Samanosuke and his partner, a female ninja Kaede, in their fight against demons. While the game borrows elements from Capcom's own Resident Evil survival horror series, such as solving puzzles and a fixed camera, the game is focused more on the action game genre with Samanosuke possessing multiple weapons that can be upgraded by defeating several enemies. Capcom originally wanted to release the game for the original PlayStation but the close release of its next generation version resulted in the project being scrapped. Following its release, Onimusha: Warlords achieved high popularity, becoming the first PlayStation 2 game to reach one million sales. Its sales eventually surpassed two million units worldwide. The game has been well received by video game publications and has been recognized as one of the best titles on the system. It was followed by two direct sequels for the same console and another three games within the franchise.

Onimusha: Warlords features pre rendered backgrounds. The player primarily controls swordsman Samanosuke Akechi in his fight against demons. The game balances its action elements with puzzles that involve interacting with the environments and obtaining items to make progress. The player begins the game with a standard katana sword, and can obtain long range weapons with limited supply. As the player progresses, the protagonist Samanosuke can gain three elemental weapons: Raizan, Enryuu and Shippuu, each with an elemental magic attack. As enemies are defeated, they release different colored souls that are absorbed by using the demon gauntlet on Samanosuke's wrist: red souls act as "currency" which can be used to upgrade weaponry, yellow souls recover health, while blue souls recover magic power which is used to perform each weapon's elemental abilities. Some sections are played with Samanosuke's assistant, the kunoichi Kaede. She has her own distinctive weapons and acrobatic abilities, but is unable to absorb souls.

During the Battle of Okehazama, Samanosuke of the Akechi clan watches but is attacked by Imagawa Yoshimoto's men. Though Nobunaga Oda was victorious against Yoshimoto, he is fatally wounded and assumed dead. A year later, Samanosuke receives a letter from his cousin Princess Yuki of the Saitō clan for his assistance as she fears monsters are behind the disappearances of her servants. Joined by Kaede, Samanosuke arrives too late to Inabayama Castle as Yuki is abducted as he and Kaede split up to cover ground. After being defeated by a monster while trying to rescue Yuki, Samanosuke is visited by the twelve oni who give Samanosuke the power to vanquish the monsters that abducted Yuki, the Genma, and seal their souls in a mystical gauntlet. While searching for Yuki, Samanosuke finds a laboratory and encounters the Genma scientist Guildenstern, learning that the Genma have resurrected Nobunaga to serve them before slaying Guildenstern's creation Reynaldo. Samanosuke later encounters Nobunaga's servant Tokichiro as he attempted to recruit him before reunited with Kaede as they follow the boy Yumemaru who Yuki took under her care. When Samanosuke finds Yumemaru spirited off, he learns from Tokichiro that Yuki is essential for a human sacrifice where the Genmas' god Fortinbras will bless her blood that Nobunaga will drink to gain the power to destroy the Saitō clan. After saving Yumemaru from the Genma Marcellus, Samanosuke leaves him with Kaede as he looks for Yuki underground. But as Tokichiro traps Samanosuke, Kaede is knocked out by Genma resembling Samanosuke while Yumemaru is taken by a woman. When she awakens, Kaede is led to the prison and finds Yuki locked in a cell. Guildenstern arrives and leaves Kaede to die at the hand of a powerful Genma, only for her kill it while escaping. Samanosuke awakens and kills his doppelgänger in the underground passage. He makes his way back into the keep and finds Yumemaru with the woman who introduces herself as the Genma Hecuba as she assumes her true form while spiriting Yumemaru into the netherworld with Samanosuke in pursuit. Joined by Kaede as he learns that her kin intends to kill Yumemaru before Yuki to heighten her sorrow to make her blood more potent for Nobunaga, Samanosuke kills Hecuba. As Samanosuke makes his way through the demon door, he encounters Guildenstern who summons an improved Marcellus. After defeating him, Samanosuke makes his way into Fortinbras' throne room, where he finds Yuki and Yumemaru trapped on the upper level. Before he can free them, Fortinbras enters the room and summons Nobunaga before the monster attacks Samanosuke. After Samanosuke defeats Fortinbras, he frees Yumemaru and Yuki as Kaede enters the room. As they flee the collapsing chamber, Samanosuke is grabbed by Fortinbras as Kaede, Yumemaru, and Yuki are forced to escape. Some of Samanosuke's blood falls on the gauntlet and activates it as it transforms him into an Onimusha. In his Onimusha state, Samanosuke kills Fortinbras by stabbing him through his central eye. As Samanosuke transforms back into a human, he encounters Nobunaga and the two have a stare off as the room continues to collapse. It is not known what happens between Samanosuke and Nobunaga. During the ending sequence, Yuki and Yumemaru follow Samanosuke's advice and travel the world while Kaede dies 14 years later in a battle (in the original ending Kaede is said to have continued to search for Samanosuke but is unable to find him, but this was corrected in Onimusha Blade Warriors that she does in fact find Samanosuke and they work together to take down the Genma). After the end credits, Samanosuke is seen alive, viewing Inabayama Castle from afar before he departs to parts unknown.