Shortly after showcasing Onimusha: Way of the Sword at Gamescom 2025 earlier this month, Capcom has now released a video giving us a look at the full demo of the title that was playable on the show floor. The video, which you can check out below, comes in at just under ten minutes, and features a good mix of action, exploration, and combat, before capping things off with an epic boss fight.
While starting things off simple, the video shows off gameplay getting a bit more complicated when protagonist Musashi Miyamoto has to face off against regular enemies as well as ranged ones. Through these encounters, the video also shows off cool defensive moves that players can pull off, like deflecting incoming arrows that can be returned to the enemy that fired at you to begin with.
Other defensive options are also showcased, including the Issen counter, which can seemingly be used to deal a massive amount of damage to regular enemies. Along with this, if players time their blocks and parries just right, they can fend off attacks coming from just about any direction. Some of the other gameplay mechanics shown off include the Oni Armament, which allows Musashi to dual wield blades to quickly dispatch weaker foes.
Just about every single aspect of gameplay is then put to the test when Musashi has to face off against the boss – Sasaki Ganryu – who acts as a rival character to Musashi. Much like Musashi, Sasaki can also make use of a combination of various melee attacks along with abilities from his Oni Gauntlet. As the boss fight progresses, at one point, Musashi gets the chance to target a specific weak point which will then effect how the rest of the fight plays out.
This was the same demo that was described with a gameplay preview by the PlayStation Blog earlier this month. In the blog, we got to read about how various in-game controls work, including light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks, parries, and Issen counters.
While the show floor at Gamescom 2025 got to spend some time hands-on time with Onimusha: Way of the Sword with this demo, Capcom had also released a trailer during the event’s Opening Night Live show. The trailer focused on the different Genma that players have to take on throughout the game’s story. We also got to see some of the bigger challenges that Musashi will have to take on, like the legendary Yokai Nue, who can rain lightning down on the player.
This demo also showcases the fact that Onimusha: Way of the Sword will not feature an open world – a fact which was confirmed by director Satoru Nihei back in June. He also spoke about how Capcom was focused on providing a fun experience for players rather than making the game overly difficult.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is slated for release some time in 2026. In the meantime, read about the trials and tribulations that Capcom faced in its attempts to get likeness rights for protagonist Musashi Miyamoto.
