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Onimusha: Way of the Sword Offers Cosmetic Customisation, Puzzle-Solving, and Extensive Optional Content
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Onimusha: Way of the Sword includes a chain of optional "Hidden Treasure" side quests that become available once players reach the "To Live is to Suffer" main quest milestone, adding to the game's broader offering of cosmetic customisation and puzzle-based extra content. Rather than pointing players directly to a reward via a simple map marker, each quest requires interpreting a hand-drawn "Old Drawing" given by a specific non-player character, making the treasure hunt a deliberate exercise in observation and navigation around the game's Kyoto setting.
Each drawing depicts a distinctive visual landmark, such as a pagoda, temple gate or waterfall with Buddha statues, paired with a cryptic phrase like "where the Buddhas overlook the flow" or "at the temple where dragons soar." Guidance for the first several treasures directs players to locations including a rooftop near Kiyomizu-zaka Slope, a waterfall west of the Yasaka Pagoda, a garden near the site of a boss fight with two genma brothers, and a veranda in the southeastern part of the map, with a gauntlet ability required to reveal each chest once its location is found.
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In short
- Onimusha: Way of the Sword has a chain of "Hidden Treasure" side quests.
- Quests unlock after the "To Live is to Suffer" main mission.
- Cryptic "Old Drawing" clues, not map markers, guide players to chests.
How this story developed
- 2 months ago This developing guide to Onimusha: Way of the Sword has been updated with detailed walkthrough information for its "Hidden Treasure" side quest chain, expanding on the previously reported overview of the game's cosmetic customisation and optional content.
- 2 months ago Onimusha: Way of the Sword provides players with multiple avenues for character customisation and progression beyond its main narrative.
- 2 months ago Onimusha: Way of the Sword includes a chain of optional "Hidden Treasure" side quests that become available once players reach the "To Live is to Suffer" main quest milestone, adding to the game's broader offering of cosmetic customisation and puzzle-based extra content.
Full account
Guides published for Capcom's samurai action title Onimusha: Way of the Sword have detailed several of the game's optional systems, ranging from purely cosmetic sword customisation to environmental puzzles and map-spanning hunting side-quests, underlining how much content sits outside the main story path.
Protagonist Musashi relies overwhelmingly on his blade to battle the demonic genma overrunning feudal Japan, with explosive barrels and Oni weapons available only in limited circumstances. To let players personalise this core weapon, the game includes a set of purely cosmetic sword skins, altering the blade's appearance without changing its damage output or granting new effects. Most of these designs, each accompanied by a short flavour text describing its supposed origin or cursed history, are unlocked by finding and rescuing so-called Lion Dogs scattered around the map, a system that only becomes available after players complete a quest called 'What Lurks in the Shadows' and speak to a character named Lady Murasaki, who then reveals the dogs' locations. Several other skins, including designs styled as a bamboo panda blade or a lightning-themed sword, are instead tied to pre-order bonuses or the game's deluxe and premium deluxe editions rather than being earnable through play. Skins can be applied at any of the game's Spirit Mirror checkpoints via a 'Change Appearance' menu option.
Beyond cosmetics, the same 'What Lurks in the Shadows' quest features an environmental puzzle at Nijo-jo Castle that guides describe as a notable obstacle for players exploring the underground levels. Progress is blocked by a locked door marked with a smiling mask, which can only be opened by shooting four hanging masks with a bow in the correct sequence, with a wrong attempt resetting their positions. The solution reportedly lies in comparing the hanging masks with duplicate versions mounted on windows nearby, where spotlights reveal each mask's shadow with a distinct number of openings, or orifices, corresponding to the firing order. Solving the puzzle releases a cage holding an item called the Unsettling Mask, which must then be fitted into a mechanism to unlock further progress.
Separate optional missions task players with hunting flying enemies known as Kubi Akari across the game's open areas. In quests labelled 'Ace Archer', set respectively in Nijo-jo Castle and the Kyoto Imperial Palace, players are asked by a non-playable character near a Spirit Mirror to track down five of these creatures in each location using Musashi's bow. Guides note that the challenge lies less in defeating the creatures, which pose little threat, and more in locating them, since they are often positioned outside the areas players can freely walk through, requiring specific vantage points such as rooftops, ladders, or gaps between structures to get a clear shot. Detailed positional guidance, including which direction to face and which landmarks to use, has been produced to help players line up otherwise easily missed targets.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
The sword-skin guide focuses on collection and monetisation, distinguishing cosmetic unlocks earned via in-game Lion Dog collectables from skins locked behind pre-order and deluxe-edition purchases, and stresses that all skins are purely visual.
The mask-puzzle guide is structured around a single, more intricate logic puzzle within a story quest, offering graduated hints before giving away the solution, whereas the other guides address optional side-content that does not gate story progress.
The two 'Ace Archer' guides (Nijo-jo Castle and Kyoto Imperial Palace) share an identical mission structure and framing device (a bow-hunting side-quest for five flying targets each) but differ in their specific locations, landmarks, and navigation instructions, reflecting the distinct geography of each map.
Only one source explicitly discusses monetisation/edition-exclusive content, while the others deal entirely with content available to all players through exploration or side-quests.
Explained simply
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest instalment in Capcom's long-running Onimusha series of action games, which blend sword combat with historical Japanese settings and supernatural enemies. This new game follows a protagonist named Musashi and is set in and around Kyoto, taking players through story missions interspersed with exploration of the wider city.
Beyond the core story, the game is built around giving players extra things to do and ways to personalise their experience. This includes cosmetic options that change how Musashi's sword looks without affecting how it performs in battle, environmental puzzles that must be solved to progress through certain areas, and side activities such as hunting airborne enemies at specific locations. There are also hidden collectibles scattered around the game's version of Kyoto that unlock further optional missions as players advance.
This matters to fans of the series and action-adventure games more broadly because it signals how much content the developers have packed in beyond the central narrative, which is often a key factor in how a game is received and how long players stay engaged with it.
Coverage · 5 sources
- PolygonAll swords and how to unlock them in Onimusha Way of the Sword
- PolygonHow to solve the mask puzzle in Onimusha Way of the Sword
- Polygon‘Ace Archer Nijo-jo Castle’ walkthrough in Onimusha Way of the Sword
- Polygon‘Ace Archer Kyoto Imperial Palace’ walkthrough in Onimusha Way of the Sword
- PolygonAll hidden treasure locations in Onimusha Way of the Sword
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