Man, Capcom, you need to slow down with all of these bangers you are putting out! 2026 has already proven to be a wild year for beloved developers, with the first half of the year already giving us knockouts like Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3, and Pragmata. And after Summer Game Fest this year, what may be Capcom’s biggest treat of the year, is still on the horizon with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and the official reveal (but heavily rumored) Resident Evil: Veronica looms tall alongside Mega Man in 2027. During the Play Days event, I had the chance to go hands-on with Onimusha: Way of the Sword and attend a Q&A panel on Veronica, which only further cemented my belief that we find ourselves in Capcom’s new golden age.
Opening Geoff’s show with the debut trailer of Veronica was a magical experience to see live. The slow realization dawning over the crowd, marked by a growing crescendo of excitement, was a sight to behold, so when I, along with a small group of other journalists, got to sit down and get a chance to ask questions of Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, the game’s producer, it was a pretty special moment. Granted, so much is still being kept under wraps that most questions were met with something along the lines of “the team is hard at work to deliver an experience that will delight fans” or “we aren’t ready to talk about that just yet, but please look forward to more details in the future.” What Hirabayashi was more open to sharing was the overall approach that the team is developing it around- that team being the same one that worked on both the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes.
Hirabayashi explained that the core experience that he and the others are working towards with Veronica is a title that reveals the horrors that can lurk inside the human heart and mind, not only the grotesque creatures the series is known for. The end goal is to deliver a game that not only elevates the story and experience, but highlighting those core concepts and what made the original Code: Veronica what it was. So, with enhanced vigor from the massive amount of excitement from the reveal (a level of support that surprised even the team, apparently) Hirabayashi departed back through the black curtain he had arrived through, and the next segment began.
During this same presentation, Capcom also showed off a brand-new demo of Onimusha, separate from the public demo. This hands-off display of samurai badassery took Musashi on a quest to help a geisha, which involves sending him into a Genman-infested area in need of cleansing. This 15-minute or so glimpse featured some new foes, including a fish-lady that tries to seduce you into the water, a terrifying boss-like Genma, the sword-wielding Dohatsu-ten, and, surprisingly, a bit of humor too.
That last bit was perhaps my favorite part of the whole demo. After getting the request, Musashi has to get in a boat to make it to the area he is to clear out, but there is just one problem – he doesn’t know how to work the boat. This man, who can cut down demons like they were nothing, deflect back arrows, and stare back at danger, has no idea how to work a boat, and lets the girl know. This brief bit I found really humanized Musashi and hinted at a depth to the character that I hope is explored in the full game.
It wasn’t until I got a chance to get my hands on Onimusha again that it became my game of the show for Play Days. I got an hour to check out yet another demo, this one offering a look at a large, village-like area, free for me to poke around, fight through, and, at the end, do battle against a menacing boss covered in arms and hands. The last time I went hands-on with Onimusha was back at PAX West, which was the same demo that’s now available publicly to try out. It was a far more guided experience. And perhaps it’s just my age catching up on me, I don’t remember seeing or hearing that Way of the Sword would feature more wide-open and explorable spaces, prior to this demo. It was a really neat surprise!
The main questline of the demo involved me finding some missing stone totems of a local village’s protectors that had been stolen and hidden in the surrounding area. So off I went to find some talking heads.
Sprinkled throughout the ransacked village, I came across villagers being attacked that I could save, what appeared to be crafting supplies, shrines to heal at, and mobs of enemies to practice my timing and attack combos on. One neat system that Capcom has added to Onimusha to help players get their timings down and make them aware of some of the actions you can take in response to attacks is having symbols appear over an enemy’s head as they are about to strike. Helping you learn when you should press a button to counter or parry an attack. This can be turned off for those who want to learn the hard way, or after they feel confident enough. It doesn’t appear to telegraph when the timing to perform the normally instant-kill Issen attack, so you will still have to work it out on your own.
So I killed some baddies, found stone dudes crammed in jars, and after returning them to their rightful place, the finale of my time with Onimusha began. It was time for me to take on the boss – a Genma whose body was covered in hands with long, multi-jointed arms sticking out from his back. Imagine the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth (you know, the one with the eyeballs on his hands), crossed with a spider, that also wields a big sword . It was a really fun boss fight, dodging out of the way of projectiles, parrying massive sword swings, and deflecting him as he would rush at me, causing him to face plant in the dirt, letting me score some bonus hits. I enjoyed it so much that I actually fought him over two more times, giving myself harder challenges each time, from turning off the action prompts to fighting without healing. I REALLY have a good time with Onimusha’s combat, and I’m already bouncing in my seat with anticipation of getting to play the full game in September.
If there is one oddity or issue I have about Way of the Sword at this point, it’s why do the characters have a weird British-like accent in the English dub? The voice actors don’t seem to be doing a bad job, though I haven’t heard them enough to make a call either way yet, but I just find it to be a really weird choice considering the Onimusha’s setting. It doesn’t fit Musashi or any of the characters I have seen thus far, and it’s not like we have Jeno Reno connecting the game to modern-day times (at least that we know of). I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, either, as it was a pretty common topic of discussion when talking to others who played the demo. Thankfully, though, just played using the Japanese voices and didn’t have to dwell too hard on this during my precious hour of playtime.
Capcom is sitting pretty well right now, and there is a very strong likelihood that a third of my top 10 games for this year and next will be Capcom stuff. I wish we had had a chance to get a bit more information from the producer about Resident Evil: Veronica. It is what it is. Onimusha made up for it, and I didn’t even mention the massive-looking Monster Hunter Wilds expansion, Ascendance, also releasing next year.
With my time up, I left the Capcom area, and haven’t stopped thinking about the game ever since. I have such fond memories of renting the original games on my PS2 back in the day, being amazed by the graphics and controlling Samanosuke and Jubei, we slew Genma together. And don’t even get me started on the underrated Onimusha Blade Warriors fighting game (it got bonus points for having Zero from Mega Man Zero in it) that I sank many, many hours into as well. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is shaping up to be an explosive return for the series, and I, for one, can’t wait for it to launch on September 25, 2026, but hey, Capcom, just between you and me, do you think we could get X and Zero back, too, one day soon? Thanks!
