Compare Onimusha: Way of the Sword vs Order of the Sinking Star

Console and Switch 2 versions are generally well supported with useful performance options and stable play; Switch 2-specific control features are seen as fun if somewhat gimmicky.

One Switch 2 test reports a docked-display defect severe enough to prevent television play. That platform-specific failure materially limits flexibility in that build.

Reviewers who directly discussed price generally felt the campaign quality, replay options, and production values justify the cost for action fans.

The large puzzle collection at roughly $30 is widely viewed as excellent value. A player who cannot overcome its unsupported difficulty finds the same purchase hard to justify.

One recurring complaint is that the overworld leans on repetitive objectives and familiar enemy groups, reducing variety outside the bespoke story stages and bosses.

Four distinct puzzle systems and their combinations create an unusually broad range of challenges. A few players still find prolonged stretches within one region repetitive.

The writing is strongest in character banter, relationships, and emotional moments, though a few reviews describe the larger script as more serviceable than exceptional.

Opinions range from approval of a strong script to criticism of generic, verbose, or confusing lines. Thin context and scattered delivery frequently weaken the writing’s impact.

The reviewers who addressed crashes reported stable playthroughs without crashes, reinforcing the broader impression of strong technical reliability.

One PC account reports no crashes, but another experiences random failures during launch. A Switch 2 account also includes crashes among its technical frustrations.

Performance is strong across PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, PC, and handheld testing, with many reports of stable targets and smooth combat. Steam Deck’s Eastern Kyoto hub is the main recurring performance caveat.

Results vary sharply by platform and account. Several Switch 2 tests report substantial dips, one finds mostly 60 fps, and Steam Deck and PS5 reports also include occasional or significant drops.

Character banter and comic exchanges give the cast personality, while quieter conversations help sell relationships and the reluctant-hero tone.

Enjoyable banter and moments of levity coexist with complaints about verbose, stilted, or distracting exchanges. Delivery in small fragments can make context difficult to retain.

The reviewers who discussed technical reliability reported playthroughs without notable bugs, glitches, or crashes.

Several PC and PS5 experiences are clean, while others encounter minor bugs or startup trouble. Switch 2 reports include rewind errors and a severe docked-display glitch in one test.

Story mode earns strong praise for wider timing windows and real-time action prompts that teach parries, dodges, deflects, and Issens. One review still wanted broader visual accessibility options.

Quiet presentation can aid concentration, but color-coded beams and subtle secondary cues may create difficulties for players with color-vision differences. Optional guidance is also a recurring accessibility concern.

Detailed environments, expressive characters, fluid presentation, and the historical-fantasy setting create strong immersion for many reviewers. Repetitive Kyoto layouts and repeated activities can break that spell for some.

Expressive animation and an appealing sense of place draw some players into the world. Others feel the hub and unfinished voices create distance from the adventure.

Opinions on length are mixed, but the strongest criticism says a superb shorter action game has been stretched into a 25–30 hour experience. A smaller group felt the adventure did not overstay its welcome.

The enormous collection is a welcome long-term project for dedicated solvers. Others feel the scope delays major payoffs or turns progress into an exhausting commitment.

Progression is split between useful skill growth and incremental stat upgrades. Some reviewers enjoy how new abilities change combat, while others barely feel the numerical gains.

Numerous available routes usually offer a way forward when one puzzle blocks progress. Global stalls, unclear intermediate progress, and dependencies on other regions can still break the flow.

Cinematic camera work can make attacks look spectacular, but combat framing is inconsistent. A few reviewers found the camera could get trapped or become frustrating near walls and bosses.

Zooming out helps with planning across connected puzzle screens. The fixed grid perspective can also feel monotonous to players wanting more visual variety.

Movement is mixed: modern 3D navigation and wall-running can feel good, while the dodge roll, lack of a normal jump, and some traversal friction draw criticism.

Clear movement and easy block manipulation are appreciated. Another account reports occasional unwanted nudges from character momentum.

Combat benefits from environmental tools such as carts, planks, flames, and destructibles, but one reviewer disliked how many seemingly fragile objects cannot be touched.

Applying learned abilities to the overworld adds another rewarding layer of puzzling. The larger map can become a meaningful challenge in its own right.

The game is widely regarded as gorgeous, with strong character models, lighting, environments, and RE Engine presentation across platforms. Performance modes and the gap between cinematic and gameplay rendering introduce only minor visual compromises for most reviewers.

Colorful environments and attractive detail earn substantial praise, including at low Steam Deck settings. Busy screens, small objects, and underwhelming resolution trouble some players.

Checkpointing is usually generous, especially around difficult fights, though one reviewer disliked having to restart multi-phase boss encounters from the beginning.

Remembered puzzle positions make leaving and returning convenient. Long interconnected sections can still demand extensive repetition when a full reset becomes necessary.

Musashi’s reluctant-hero arc and growing acceptance of the Oni gauntlet are widely appreciated, as are several supporting arcs. Some reviewers wanted the Ganryu rivalry and parts of the cast developed further.

Some players become invested in the characters through their conversations and distinctive limitations. Others find the snippets too scattered, dull, or brief to build much attachment.

Shizuka, Okuni, Takamura, and Ganryu often earn praise for personality and chemistry with Musashi, though some reviewers wanted the rival storyline to go deeper.

Personable performances and meaningful interactions make the supporting cast memorable for some. Others find their fragmented stories or exchanges insufficiently engaging.

Difficulty is demanding but generally regarded as rewarding, with Story mode offering a gentler route and Action mode asking for precise play. Opinions split where normal enemies feel too easy or late bosses become punishing and unforgiving.

The challenge creates powerful breakthroughs for patient puzzle fans, but can become exhausting or demoralizing. Opinions differ on whether its complexity teaches new thinking or overloads memory and execution.

Spirit Mirrors make revisiting areas straightforward, although travel is tied to those points rather than available from anywhere. One reviewer specifically liked that restraint.

The miniature version of the map is widely appreciated as a clever shortcut. Its usefulness varies with route and familiarity, and some backtracking remains cumbersome.

The use of Toshiro Mifune’s likeness and the game’s performance casting are generally viewed as fitting and distinctive, even though a minority questioned the ethics or necessity of recreating a deceased actor.

The voice ensemble earns praise for its strength and range. Familiar names are valued for the personality they bring to the cast.

Japanese myths, legends, readables, collectibles, and side stories give the world substantial optional lore without requiring prior knowledge of the series.

World mysteries and character lore motivate some players to persist. The scattered delivery can make interesting fragments difficult to organize.

The layered defensive options, soul management, armaments, environmental tools, and resource systems create unusually rich moment-to-moment play. A few explanations and secondary systems can feel confusing or less polished.

Simple pushing, pulling, teleporting, and other abilities grow into richly interwoven systems. Their cross-world interactions are the game’s most widely admired creative strength.

Story reception is divided. Many reviewers love the character-driven tale, humor, relationships, and emotional beats, while others call the plot thin, convoluted, or less memorable than the combat.

The layered mystery becomes compelling for some players, especially as worlds and characters connect. Others find it thin, distant, or too fragmented to motivate the lengthy journey.

Reviewers consistently praise the grotesque Genma, corrupted Kyoto, historical architecture, and supernatural imagery. The aesthetic feels recognizably Onimusha while benefiting from much richer modern detail.

Colorful fantasy regions, painterly scenery, and carefully styled floors draw widespread praise. A few players find the world too busy or the characters visually disconnected from their surroundings.

The best reviews argue that the swordplay has a rhythm and identity of its own despite borrowing from modern action games. More critical voices feel the broader structure follows too many familiar contemporary conventions.

Several players find the fusion of puzzle systems unlike anything they have played. One first impression argues that familiar freeware foundations and newer genre rivals weaken its novelty.

Animation is one of the game’s clearest showpieces, with bespoke parries, blocks, executions, facial reactions, and combat transitions repeatedly singled out as exceptional. A few reviewers noticed a gap between cinematic and gameplay presentation.

Expressive, readable movement generally adds personality without obscuring the puzzles. One prerelease account found some animations conspicuously awkward.

The easiest Story setting is praised as an effective introduction to modern timing-based action, especially because it teaches defensive responses without turning the game into a passive tutorial.

The immediate opening and recommended northern route can make getting started pleasantly direct. Some demo impressions nevertheless find the early hook weak.

Pacing is the most repeated non-combat concern: early hub stretches, side activities, backtracking, and recycled fights can drag. The linear story missions and final run of set pieces are much more frequently praised for momentum.

Bite-sized rooms and time controls suit short sessions and reduce waiting. Constant escalation, slow story beats, and long stretches before major revelations can erode momentum.

The combat, animation, and major presentation beats feel highly polished, but reviewers also point to camera issues, repetitive content, minor technical roughness, and uneven secondary systems.

Cohesive presentation and purposeful construction impress many players. Prerelease voice and subtitle work, plus substantial Switch 2 defects in some tests, complicate that impression.

Steam Deck and Switch 2 coverage is notably positive, with playable performance and strong visuals on the go despite heavier battery or CPU load in Eastern Kyoto.

Short puzzle sessions suit portable play well, and positive Switch 2 and Steam Deck accounts find it easy to keep chipping away. Performance compromises and inconsistent platform experiences remain caveats.

At its best, the loop of dueling, mastering defensive timing, absorbing souls, and upgrading Musashi is highly compelling. Some reviewers felt the opening and repeated hub chores obscure that excellent core.

For enthusiasts, another block-pushing puzzle is an inviting reason to keep playing. For others, the same central activity becomes routine despite changing mechanics.

The combat is easy to understand but demanding to master, and many reviewers enjoy the process of learning timing and boss patterns. Some training and system explanations could be clearer.

Puzzles often teach through carefully staged interactions and increasingly useful lessons. Abrupt complexity, forgotten rules, and understated explanations can still cause confusion.

Transitions between cutscenes and gameplay are described as seamless, and retries after defeat are quick enough to keep difficult fights moving.

Immediate starts and instant puzzle restarts receive praise. One PC experience instead reports an unresponsive black screen during launch.

The supporting cast is a major strength, with Shizuka, Okuni, Takamura, Ganryu, and the villains repeatedly praised for personality and memorable interactions.

The ensemble of fantasy workers, explorers, and a talking boat makes the adventure feel personable and varied.

Post-game play includes harder Carnage difficulty and New Game Plus-style replay, giving mastery-focused players a reason to continue after the credits.

The first credits open the door to further discoveries and more ambitious combinations. Players who enjoy deeper mysteries find this continuation especially rewarding.

Kyoto, temples, forests, palaces, and supernatural spaces are praised for dense detail, historical texture, lighting, and small visual touches that reward close attention.

Fine textures, decorative flourishes, and carefully designed objects give the fantasy spaces a strong visual identity.

The blend of samurai action, body horror, mythology, and distinct locations creates a strong dark-fantasy atmosphere. The best areas feel eerie and characterful rather than like generic combat spaces.

Calm scenery and restrained audio can make exploration feel almost therapeutic. The soothing presentation provides a welcome counterweight to demanding puzzles.

Most reviewers found the swordplay and boss mastery intensely fun and addictive, often seeking extra fights simply to keep playing. Repetition and padding are the main factors that wear down that enthusiasm.

Many players describe an absorbing one-more-puzzle loop that keeps them returning. The same prolonged challenge leaves others bored, weary, or frustrated.

Exploration can be rewarding when it leads to charms, upgrade materials, myths, portals, or secrets. The strongest praise comes from reviewers who enjoyed searching every corner despite reservations about the hub structure.

Uncovering the map and recognizing hidden world puzzles can rival the pleasure of solving individual rooms. A less enthusiastic account finds newly opened routes bland.

Despite the action-heavy premise, reviewers frequently found the character relationships, personal arcs, and later story beats funny, heartfelt, or unexpectedly moving.

Successful solutions can deliver immense satisfaction and make players feel brilliantly capable. Long sessions and repeated roadblocks can instead leave them mentally drained.

Reviewers praise the way the game modernizes Onimusha and combines familiar action ideas into a distinctive parry-centered system rather than simply becoming another Soulslike.

Many accounts admire the sustained invention produced by combining different puzzle languages. A dissenting first impression finds the game insufficiently fresh beside newer Sokoban adventures.

Story mode’s prompts and the practice systems make the timing-heavy mechanics easier to understand, with reviewers praising their usefulness for newcomers and mastery alike.

Teaching through simple introductory puzzles is generally praised for being organic and effective. The game expects players to infer rules and carry those lessons forward.

Sparks, slow-motion reactions, attack effects, and cinematic finishing flourishes make clashes look dramatic without obscuring the swordplay.

Sparkling beams, flames, and character abilities create attractive lighting and satisfying visual feedback.

The central Kyoto hub is the most consistent structural complaint. Reviewers often see its fetch quests, repeated streets, and resource chores as padding between much stronger linear levels and boss encounters.

Freedom to change regions helps players manage difficult puzzles, and the overworld itself adds further challenges. Its sheer scale and required travel feel unwieldy or unengaging to some.

The UI is praised for being restrained, clear, and largely out of the player’s way.

Zoom tools help with larger puzzles, but small visuals and the lack of convenient story-reference menus draw complaints. One Switch 2 account also strongly dislikes the interface’s appearance.

Eastern Kyoto can feel maze-like, and map controls or blocked routes sometimes make simple travel more awkward than it should be.

Zoom levels, puzzle previews, and distinct regional styling generally help orientation. Finding a specific abandoned puzzle or understanding boundaries between connected sections can still be difficult.

Real mythology, Edo-period details, optional legends, and character stories give Kyoto a rich backdrop that many reviewers found unusually rewarding to dig into.

Distinct environments and regional identities help the fantasy worlds feel coherent. One account finds the collaboration theme undermined by contradictions surrounding the project.

Puzzles are a light part of the experience, but the secrets and environmental challenges that do appear can be enjoyable diversions from combat.

Clever, meticulously constructed puzzles consistently earn high praise, especially when rules collide. Criticism focuses on rejected alternative solutions, weaker regional sets, and occasional overcomplication.

The handcrafted linear stages are generally the strongest spaces, with memorable temples, castles, laboratories, and supernatural areas. The hub and a few repetitive routes are less consistently praised.

Lean, purposeful layouts make small details matter and can subtly guide solutions. Large connected sections are less forgiving when one mistake forces broad repetition.

Sharp sword clashes, parry impacts, executions, and other combat sounds give the fighting strong physical feedback and make successful timing feel satisfying.

Ambient details, footsteps, block movement, and rewind sounds receive warm praise. Audio feedback helps the world feel tactile and pleasant to inhabit.

The interface and menus are praised for staying unobtrusive and avoiding unnecessary tab complexity.

One PC account finds the lack of a conventional main menu awkward, especially when looking for options before play.

Musashi is one of the strongest points of agreement: reviewers repeatedly call him charismatic, funny, cool, expressive, and easy to root for, with only a small minority finding his arc less compelling.

The Queen is compelling in one full-game account, while a demo impression partly agrees that she lacks charisma early on.

Reviewers who directly addressed the controls describe them as tight and responsive, which helps the demanding timing-based combat feel fair.

Instant undo, reset, and time controls are among the most consistently praised features. They encourage experimentation and make mistaken moves easy to recover from.

Japanese performances receive near-universal praise, while English-language reactions are more mixed because of accent choices and occasional odd delivery. Several English cast members are still singled out for excellent work.

Human performances generally add considerable charm and personality, sometimes earning exceptional praise. Regional unevenness and temporary prerelease voices explain several less favorable experiences.

Technical optimization is a strong point, with reviewers highlighting smooth frame rates and good visual quality even on less powerful or handheld hardware.

Some PC and PS5 tests report flawless play, while Steam Deck runs well with lower settings. Switch 2 results range from impressive to severely troubled, and demo improvements do not establish final performance.

The score is praised for mixing traditional Japanese instrumentation with cinematic fantasy and horror tones without overpowering the action.

Restrained, soothing music supports long periods of thought, with some accounts praising its orchestral variety and adaptive fading. It often provides welcome calm during frustrating puzzles.

Handheld power use is a concern, particularly in the overworld. Steam Deck and Switch 2 accounts describe heavier battery drain than expected for this style of puzzler.

Regular Genma can be overly passive and easy to dispatch without using the full defensive toolkit, making ordinary encounters feel weaker than the bosses.

The bow’s generous auto-aim makes headshots easy, but lock-on and targeting can occasionally keep attacks moving in an unwanted direction.

A demo-based account welcomes the stated influence of play order on how the story unfolds, while leaving the full payoff untested.

Thinking through puzzles with a partner can create memorable shared breakthroughs. This praise concerns informal collaboration around a single-player game.

Collectibles often reward exploration with mythology, story details, cosmetics, or progression, and the Lion Dogs and Oni Portals are particular favorites. Some completion-oriented tasks still feel repetitive or low-value.

The sword combat is the overwhelming consensus highlight: precise, weighty, reactive, and deeply satisfying, with parries, deflects, dodges, Issens, clashes, and Oni Armaments giving players meaningful options. Even critical reviews tend to praise the core fighting.

The stated absence of a season pass reassures a demo player who prefers the content included in one purchase.

Sharing solutions on the couch can deepen appreciation for the puzzles, especially when rewind lets one person demonstrate their reasoning. No dedicated co-op mode is established by this account.

Rewinding after a death makes recovery forgiving and keeps the focus on trying another solution.

The material economy is a weak point for some reviewers: common upgrade resources can be oddly expensive or grindy, and their relationship to the broader progression loop feels less refined than the combat.

Common-enemy variety is a recurring weakness, with several reviews noting repeated basic foes and armored variants across a long campaign. Boss variety is much stronger.

Facial animation is repeatedly described as among the game’s best visual work, especially Musashi’s expressive mannerisms and subtle reactions during both cutscenes and gameplay.

The revival modernizes movement, camera, scale, and combat without losing the Oni Gauntlet, soul absorption, Issen timing, horror flavor, or eccentric Onimusha identity. Longtime fans largely see it as a successful return.

A prerelease account strongly dislikes the artificial voices used alongside human performers. The complaint concerns temporary voice work described as awaiting replacement.

Several reviewers criticize material gathering and repeated combat as unnecessary grind, especially around upgrades. Others found resources plentiful enough that deliberate grinding was rarely required.

Some players value being left to discover answers independently. More often, missing optional hints or excessively cryptic clues make difficult roadblocks harder to tolerate.

The body horror, grotesque Genma, corrupted environments, and occasional Resident Evil-like sequences add genuine unease without overwhelming the action-adventure focus.

Natural banter brings welcome levity to otherwise tense situations, though its frequency can be excessive in the northern region.

Fetch quests, repeated demon-clearing jobs, and reused overworld activities create a clear sense of repetition between the stronger set-piece missions.

A demo player welcomes the stated pay-once approach rather than dividing the experience into a season pass.

Most accounts recommend it strongly to dedicated puzzle fans, with several calling it a masterpiece. Fatigue, fragmented storytelling, and uneven technical results keep the recommendation conditional for others.

Wall-running is a small but well-liked traversal addition that expands movement without turning the game into a platformer.

Choosing another route helps many players recover from frustration and find fresh ideas. Freedom within individual solutions is less consistent, with some accounts criticizing strict acceptance rules.

One critical review argues that some late skill upgrades feel more like delayed quality-of-life fixes than genuinely meaningful progression choices.

Stealth exists, but the reviewer who evaluated it found direct sword combat far more rewarding.

Upgrades are mixed: combat skills and some equipment boosts feel meaningful, while incremental stat gains and material requirements can feel dull, imperceptible, or grindy.

Oni Armaments fill distinct roles such as healing, stamina damage, and crowd control, and at least one reviewer found each option useful rather than redundant.

Boss fights are the standout attraction: dramatic, mechanically distinct, visually memorable, and built to reward mastery of parries, dodges, deflects, and Issens. The main caveat is repeated use of some minibosses and recurring foes.

The bespoke story missions work well, but generic Encounter-style objectives and busywork are repeatedly called filler.

The side content is uneven: Lady Murasaki’s Mysteries and character-focused quests receive real praise, while generic fetch, kill, and resource jobs are frequently dismissed as filler.

Cosmetic options exist, with additional looks unlocking through play and harder modes, but the selection initially feels limited.

Prerelease subtitles draw criticism for typos, missing lines, and mismatches with spoken dialogue. These faults make conversations harder to follow.

Boss rematches, harder difficulty, challenge rewards, and New Game Plus give combat-focused players meaningful reasons to return. Replaying padded missions is less appealing to some critics.

Preserving puzzle positions and action history makes it easy to resume after exploring elsewhere. Positive accounts find this continuity reassuring.

Clear disclosure that some demo voices were temporary earns approval for its honesty.