Onimusha: Way of the Sword — Review Roundup: What the Critics Say

Onimusha: Way of the Sword launched to a 86 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic with 95% of 113 critics recommending it, and an 85 Metascore on PS5 — a strong critical reception for the series’ first new entry in twenty years. A 10/10 from IGN heads the score list. The consensus: the Issen-driven combat and the boss roster are excellent, while pacing and repetition between fights are the recurring complaints.

What score did Way of the Sword get?

At a glance, as observed on September 7, 2026: Metacritic 85 on PS5 (91 critic reviews, 8.8 user score from 197 ratings), with the PC and Xbox Series X|S versions at 83 and the Switch 2 version at 89 — the highest platform score. OpenCritic sits at 86, placing the game in the 95th percentile of its catalog, with 95% of 113 critics recommending it. Platform-level breakdowns live on the release info page.

Player reception tracks the critics: Steam rates the game Very Positive — 90.1% positive across 21,694 user reviews as of September 20, 2026 (read from Steam’s own review API; SteamDB’s independent tracking shows the same picture).

Which outlets rated it highest?

Scores as listed on OpenCritic’s review page on September 7, 2026:

What do critics agree on?

The through-line across verdicts is the combat system — the Issen and Break Issen mechanics reviewers had tested in the pre-launch demos hold up across a full campaign:

• Combat depth. PC Gamer’s Wes Fenlon describes a blend of classic Capcom action with weighty physical swordfighting; Videogiocare’s review argues the Issen system rewards precision and risk like few action games; PNN counts the slower-paced katana combat among the game’s greatest strengths.
• Boss quality. GameSpot and DualShockers both place the bosses among Capcom’s best; Tom’s Guide compares the boss battles to Sekiro’s.
• A successful revival. Nintendo Life’s verdict is that the series is back at its best; Giant Bomb’s reviewer says it properly carries the mantle of the originals; Forbes argues it may be the best game in the series by a wide margin.

What are the main criticisms?

• Pacing and padding. Eurogamer and PC Gamer both single out pacing as the weak spot; HCL.hr calls the structure repetitive.
• Between-fight content. DualShockers finds the content between boss fights repetitive even while praising the bosses themselves.
• Semi-open structure. GameSpot’s review questions the semi-open-world structure as a misstep, even while rating the combat outstanding.

How did it sell?

Commercially, the launch was a milestone: Capcom’s IR announcement of September 7, 2026 reports worldwide sales surpassing 1 million units on the September 4 launch day, pushing the Onimusha series past 10 million lifetime units. Capcom’s release says worldwide sales without distinguishing sell-through from shipments. The release info page carries the full sales entry.

For what all that combat praise means in practice, see the Issen & Break Issen guide, the boss list, and the game length guide — a typical playthrough runs about 25 hours, per VGC.