Polygon's review of Onimusha: Way of the Sword finds Capcom's revival of the PS2-era samurai franchise delivers thrilling, demanding swordplay but undermines it with repetitive boss encounters that overstay their welcome. The game abandons the fixed-camera, Resident Evil-style exploration of the original 2001–2006 series in favour of a modern action RPG structure, blending influences from Dark Souls, Star Wars Jedi and Yakuza, though the reviewer felt it lacked the distinctiveness of earlier instalments.

The story follows a fictionalised Miyamoto Musashi, whose face is modelled on actor Toshirō Mifune, as he is bound to a demonic gauntlet and reluctantly drawn into fighting monstrous Genma across Edo-era Kyoto. Combat centres on parrying and countering rather than evasion, echoing FromSoftware-style design, and the reviewer praised the swordplay's connection to the game's themes about strength, even as recurring boss fights and a convoluted second-half story dragged down the roughly 20-hour campaign.