Before delving into my post, I just want to preface that I don’t think WotS is a bad game. I do think it is a fun, decent game which I have enjoyed quite a bit, but there are many design choices that I cannot come to like, especially when compared to older entries (specifically the first three games)
Too much focus on animation
One thing that is pretty clear: WotS has an insane amount of effort put into its animations; the game strives to offer very realistic-looking movement and beautiful swordplay. However, such focus on animation has created other issues:
- Movement inertia: For movement to look realistic, it needs inertia. But having inertia rarely results in an improvement in terms of gameplay, as it impedes the precision of movement. None of the older Onimusha entries have movement inertia, which resulted in those games having very precise, snappy movement.
- Cannot use Oni weapon for normal combat. Due to the emphasis placed on swordplay, Oni weapons now take a backseat to your primary katana, acting only as a medium for magic attacks. This is disappointing, as the versatile use of Oni weapons has always been a staple of the franchise.
Additionally, I am unsure of Capcom's design philosophy behind such intricate animation work: is it purely aesthetic, or was it intended to have a meaningful tie to gameplay? When information about the gameplay system was first revealed—such as the special focus on animation and breaking enemy parts—I initially thought WotS would take inspiration from Monster Hunter, featuring a deliberate, methodical, and tactical combat system where you must carefully plan attacks and defenses without animation cancel. Honestly, I would have been fine with that. However, during actual combat, I realized you can easily cancel attacks into actions like Parry or Issen. Even crazier, even during your falter animation (when hit by an attack and seemingly stunned for a brief moment), you can still cancel into a Parry or Issen (the only exception being when you are knocked down or stamina-broken). The thing is, you cannot actually cancel an attack by guarding, but actions like Parry and Issen have such high priority that they skip your current animation entirely. This results in a combat system where your character possesses a weighty, deliberate set of action animations, yet you can mash attack and react to enemy strikes with Parry or Issen without not worrying too much about being locked into a lengthy animation.
De-emphasis on spacing and positioning: Timing-based actions are now all that matters
In older entries, gameplay maintained a balanced combination of positioning and timing: your primary way of dealing damage relied on normal attacks, requiring proper spacing to avoid incoming blows while closing in to strike. At the same time, there was the high-risk, high-reward option of the Issen, which was exceptionally difficult due to its strict timing.
In WotS, however, the positioning game is heavily reduced. Both you and the enemy experience a degree of magnetism during attacks. If an enemy is further away, simply pressing the attack button causes Musashi to slowly close the gap without touching the analog stick. Similarly, enemy attacks do not have fixed ranges; instead, they dynamically adjust based on your distance. Unblockable attacks are even more egregious, as enemies effectively slide toward you, completely disregarding spacing inbetween. On the other hand, you are now equipped with an abundance of defensive timing options: Parry, Deflect, and Reflex Dodge.
Consequently, during boss fights, you and the boss remain glued together, as combat centers on attacking and reacting with parries, deflects, reflex dodges, or Issen, rarely requiring you to create space. The only boss where you must actively reposition yourself throughout the fight is Dokyo, whose design leans closer to traditional action games rather than the modern sword-clashing duel popular since Sekiro's paradigm shift. I genuinely love Dokyo’s fight because she felt unique compared to the rest of the boss fights (even if many dislike the fight for being gimmicky). However, it is precisely in her fight that movement inertia becomes most frustrating, as it interferes with quick navigation.
Ultimately, this design makes WotS combat feel more one-dimensional to me; despite all the intricate animations, gameplay against different enemies and bosses remains relatively static.
Too much focus on boss fights; mob enemies become an afterthought
The boss fights are great: fun, intense, and decently challenging. Unfortunately, mob encounters are terrible due to a lack of enemy variety, low aggression, an inability of basic mobs to coordinate tandem attacks, and crucially, low enemy density. While older Onimusha games are not known to have aggressive foes, enemies could attack in tandem with overlapping strikes that threw off your Issen timing, and they can appeared in large numbers to overwhelm the player.
In WotS, levels outside East Kyoto feature very few enemies—you can walk through lengthy sections without encountering a single foe, and when you do, their numbers are sparse. This makes level progression quite boring, especially given that puzzles during level progression are practically non-existent.
Design bloat disincentivizes replayability
The open-space design of East Tokyo is honestly terrible. Running around, killing basic mobs, completing tedious side quests (seriously, why are there 5 Ace Archer quests?), and farming upgrade materials are all exhausting chores. This turns WotS into a 30-hour game where half the time is spent on meaningless activities. By contrast, Onimusha Warlords can be beaten in about 5 hours, while Samurai's Destiny and Demon's Siege take around 10 to 15 hours. Locking higher difficulties behind completion makes sense in those game because they are short and dense in gameplay: you are either engage in combat or in meaningless exploration/puzzle solving, rather than walking around doing boring fillers. In WotS, however, a single playthrough completely drains my motivation to ever replay it.
Even more bafflingly, WotS lacks puzzle treasure boxes and the Dark Realm—two franchise staples. I assume the removal of puzzle was meant to improve the pacing of the game, but then we are left with tedious open-world filler that massively weights down the pacing.
