Last year, our own Chris Person asked a question that sent readers, listeners, and game designers of all stripes spiraling: “Games used to have more orbs. What happened?” Chris concluded, ultimately, that gaming’s glorious, firefly-like orb swarm dissipated after being shooed away by the heavy hands of loot and other, more modern upgrade mechanics. Good news, however, for Orb Aficionados, who make up 99.9 percent of Aftermath’s readership: One of orb history’s all-time greats, Onimusha, is back, and it’s got the juice, by which I mean orbs.
During a hands-off presentation at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event in Los Angeles, I got to see an early section from Onimusha: Way Of The Sword in action, and I’m pleased to report that this long-awaited series revival is looking solid. While Capcom isn’t quite giving us a pure survival-horror-inspired character-action game – there’s a Souls-inspired stamina meter, for example – the game’s look and vibe feel in line with the series’ legacy. So far, at least, Way Of The Sword does not strike me as a cheap excuse to dredge up a nostalgic name, but rather a reasonably reverent reinvention. Orbs are a big part of that.
There are three types of orbs, which are known as “souls” in the game’s parlance: blue, yellow, and red. These correspond to skills, health, and experience, respectively, which is not too far of a cry from how they functioned in earlier games. Most importantly, you can hold down a button to hoover them up – again like in previous games – which becomes a crucial part of your mid-and-post-combat rhythm. Also, it just feels satisfying. Modern action games, which often force you to run around manually picking up loot and resources, have nothing on the elegant simplicity of the Orb Vacuum.
Most of the demo, which saw new main character Miyamoto Musashi slice and dice dudes and demons while untangling the mystery of a Japanese folklore-inspired temple stage that villagers were being hurled off, proceeded about as you’d expect. Combat was suitably flashy, with an omnidirectional guard and a parry-powered redirect ability setting the player up for powerful “Issen” attacks that absolutely wrecked enemies’ shit. These could also be chained together to take out multiple enemies at once by, for example, tricking one enemy into stabbing another. Casting your Issen net wide, our presenter said, results in “a ton” of orbs, and it’s good for crowd control to boot.
As Musashi doled out damage, orbs flowed like red, blue, and yellow wine. Occasionally, after temporarily sating his orb lust, Musashi would unleash a flashy, yellow-hued special attack during which he performed something akin to a dance, except with two knives. But that’s not orb (all). Musashi also wore a magical golden gauntlet with a blue orb in its center that could absorb masses of dark magic – orb-shaped as well – that granted him the ability to briefly gaze into the past. This, I imagine, will serve as one of the game’s primary storytelling devices.
However, only toward the end of the demo did things get truly interesting on the orb front. Once Musashi reached the aforementioned temple stage, he got ambushed by Sasaki Ganryu, a cackling, sadistic sword boy with an orb gauntlet of his own. During the ensuing boss fight, Ganryu sprouted a stamina meter, and when Musashi deflected attacks, it took a big hit. Eventually, this staggered Ganryu, allowing Musashi to execute a Break Issen, in which the player selects a specific portion of a boss’ body to attack, each with different effects.
First our presenter targeted Ganryu’s head, which resulted in “big, big damage.” After a little more skirmishing, Ganryu’s meter plummeted again, and this time our presenter went with a body shot, which sacrificed damage in favor of “a ton of souls,” allowing the player to “charge up our health bar and the attacks we’re using here, which helps spawn even more souls that help heal us over the fight.” The arm was also a target, and I’m not gonna lie: I don’t remember how many or which type of orb that Issen attack produced because Musashi broke the fuck out of Ganryu’s arm, and it was gnarly.
But basically, victory in boss fights is a byproduct of smart orb management.
“Depending on where you’re at – whether you’re just about to finish him or you need a bit more health – you can choose the way you want battle to flow,” he said.
Not long after dispatching Ganryu (who will return, our presenter was careful/excited to emphasize), Musashi came face to snout with another boss, a talisman-covered beast called Byakue. After bringing him down, we were told that it was of crucial importance that Musashi close the rift from which the monster emerged, to prevent more freaky dudes from coming out. The rift was orb shaped. Then the demo ended, and the audience went wild. For orbs, obviously.
