How Tough Are Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s Boss Fights?

IGN has published its final hands-on preview of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, based on nearly three hours of gameplay, and the outlet came away impressed. The preview focuses on three boss fights: Sasaki Ganryu, Daitara, and Rashogan, and uses them to draw a sharp line between flashy regular fights and much harsher boss encounters.

At Kiyomizu-dera, Sasaki Ganryu is not presented as a damage sponge meant to wear the player down. He is Miyamoto Musashi's rival, the historical Sasaki Kojiro, and like Musashi he carries an Oni Gauntlet. That shared source of power gives the duel an immediate mirror-match quality: protagonist and rival, on opposite sides of the duel, powered by the same kind of force.

The fight is built around parrying his attacks to empty the Force Gauge, then finding the right opening for a powerful Breaking Issen. Unlike standard enemies, Sasaki Ganryu does not seem designed to be steamrolled by cinematic combo strings. The fight asks the player to manage spacing, tempo, and judgment instead. In that sense, he is doing more than serving as the demo's final boss. He turns the rivalry with Musashi into a set of combat rules the player has to read and answer.

The boss at the end of the Oni clan hideaway, Daitara, is a more direct callback to the original Onimusha. In that first game, he was known as Osric. Here, he appears as a massive Genma monster, swinging an enormous weapon and showing an unusually obsessive appetite. IGN's description makes him sound like more than a named returning monster. It gives him a rough, blunt horror, closer to an old-school creature feature than a neatly designed action-game obstacle.

Rashogan, by contrast, is threatening because of how it moves, and what it is made of. Formed from numerous hands, it moves more nimbly than Daitara, throws small balls of light, and can lunge forward to grab the player. Its second phase adds a pair of giant scissors. The danger comes from the way its slow and fast attacks alternate, forcing the player to reassess when it is actually safe to strike. Openings that look like easy combo starters may be the bait.

What makes Onimusha: Way of the Sword interesting at this stage is that it does not appear to commit to only one kind of action game. Against regular enemies, players can lean into smooth, stylish, cinematic combos. Once a boss fight begins, the game shows a more hardcore and punishing side, with stricter timing and punishment closer to a Soulslike. Many action games end up choosing between the pleasure of looking powerful and the pressure of being punished. This one seems to be trying to let both exist in the same combat system.

For now, that leaves a fairly clear read on who should be paying attention. If you want a samurai action game built around clearing groups of enemies with strong, readable impact, IGN's hands-on impressions suggest the regular battles are not being neglected. If you care more about whether the bosses demand real learning and adaptation, the designs of Sasaki Ganryu and Rashogan are worth watching closely. The caveat is obvious: nearly three hours of preview time is not enough to prove these mechanics will hold across the full game. Based on the combat shown so far, though, Onimusha: Way of the Sword has already found a rhythm of its own.