Onimusha: Way of the Sword — New Game+ and Post-Game Guide

This is the New Game+ and post-game guide for Onimusha: Way of the Sword: what carries into the second playthrough, what Carnage changes, and what the game leaves you to do after the credits. For how the difficulty tiers differ in the first place, see the difficulty settings explainer; for the trophy-side math, the Platinum roadmap.

How does New Game+ work?

Carnage difficulty is the vehicle. “The big thing that unlocks after your first playthrough is Carnage Difficulty, which essentially doubles as both a hard mode, and a New Game+” (IGN). PowerPyx’s version: “To unlock Carnage Difficulty you will need to first complete the game on any difficulty. Then you can start Carnage difficulty in New Game+.”

From there you “either begin a completely fresh run or carry your finished save into New Game Plus” (AllThings.how, echoed by GameRant). One caution the sources leave open: Destructoid describes NG+ as starting a new playthrough on Carnage, while GameRant and AllThings phrase it as a choice — no source confirms a carry-over run on the lower Story or Action difficulties, so treat “NG+ = Carnage” as the documented path.

What carries over into New Game+?

The “Clothing” trap: PowerPyx’s reset list includes the word “Clothing”, which reads like cosmetics reset — they do not. Four sources resolve the wording: cosmetic outfits carry, while clothing enhancement levels (the Fine Silk Cloth track on the upgrade materials page) reset.

What resets in New Game+?

No source documents enemy level scaling in NG+ — the difficulty jump comes from Carnage itself plus your reset gear, so say nothing stronger than that.

What should you do before starting New Game+?

1. Spend every Red Soul. “Before starting New Game Plus, spend any Red Souls that would otherwise be lost” (GameRant). The skills-first spending order is on the skills guide; the surplus can go to consumables and materials at Yorimasa’s Monument.
2. Stock consumables. Items carry; the shop’s stock does not. The trophy roadmap’s advice to “stock up before the second run” is exactly this mechanic.
3. Do the first-run cleanup first. Free roam runs to the final mission, The Clash At Rendaino, which warns you at its point of no return. Everything — side content, collectibles, materials — is reachable before it, and cheaper to do with your enhanced gear than in a reset NG+ run.

What changes on Carnage?

• Enemies “hit a lot harder, and certain bosses gain new moves” — IGN’s example: “Ganryu now has his own Issen that he’ll occasionally use to counter your attacks” (Sasaki Ganryu guide).
• Standard enemies are “more likely to parry and counter-attack”.
• No action prompts. Carnage removes the on-screen combat prompts entirely (PowerPyx) — the documented reason to learn the fights on Action first.
• Locked in. Carnage “won’t allow you to scale back after starting” (Destructoid) — Story and Action allow mid-run difficulty changes, Carnage does not.
• The rewards: “a new Sword skin, another haori coat, and another outfit” (IGN), plus “a weapon that will make this portion of the game much easier” after a full Carnage clear (PowerPyx — no source names the weapon). No source names the Carnage sword skin either — the outfits page’s WIP list carries no such row yet.

The full difficulty-tier comparison — Story vs Action vs Carnage, and when each unlocks — is on the difficulty settings page.

What is Boss Rematch mode?

The post-game’s arena. PowerPyx’s access route: “Boss Rematch is available in the Practice Grounds you unlock during ‘The Oni’s Apprentice’. You must go to Emma’s Hall [sic — the site-wide term is Enma Hall] and ring the Bell in the corner of the Hall to enter the practice grounds. Once inside, speak to Takamura and select ‘Boss Rematch’.”

• The menu lists the game’s 18 main bosses (the boss list has all of them) at your choice of difficulty.
• Efficiency rule: “Completing a Boss on the hardest difficulty available will complete all difficulties below it as well” — the shortcut behind the Platinum’s longest grind.
• Trophies: Second Helping (beat one opponent) and Glutton for Punishment (beat all opponents on all difficulty levels).
• IGN adds one cosmetic: beating all bosses in Boss Rematch on Carnage unlocks “the final costume”.

No source documents material or soul payouts for rematches — treat it as a trophies-and-costumes mode.

What else is there after the credits?

• The Continue menu safety net. “You can click ‘Continue’ in main menu and it puts you back before final mission, can clean up everything from there” (PowerPyx). IGN agrees: reload to “the point right before the final boss battle and finish up any extra sidequests or collectible hunting”.
• First-clear costumes. The Panda Costume (“an Onimusha staple… along with a Panda Sword and bamboo scabbard”) and the Wataru-kun costume unlock for beating the game.
• Save slots. One autosave plus 20 manual slots (PowerPyx) — enough to park a pre-finale cleanup file.
• On Story or Action, you can also drop the difficulty from the death screen or raise it at a Spirit Mirror (AllThings.how, single-source) — Carnage exempt on the way down.

Nothing in any source documents NG++ cycles, a level cap, or a post-game superboss — if any of these exist, they are undocumented as of September 2026.

Where to go next?

The cleanup order that reaches Peerless fastest: finish side content and collectibles on the first save (via side content and the collectible pages), then start Carnage NG+, then sweep Boss Rematch on every difficulty. For how long all of that takes, the game length page has the hour estimates.