I vaguely remembered elemental weapons, spooky environments, stabbing enemies on the ground, a giant snake boss, and cool music. The only thing I remembered vividly (and wished that I could forget) was this horrifying, sneering, wrinkled, gross, surely fetid, man-creature who is wrapped in what looks to be some sort of rotting lettuce cocoon who drops down from above in one of Onimusha’s save rooms.

He’s upside down with his long mustache swaying along with his swaddled body, and until you make a certain amount of progress in the game, he appears but won’t interact with you. So he just stares at you and retreats back into the ceiling.

Upon playing the Onimusha: Warlords remaster thoroughly and to completion (one and a half times so far), I can confirm that all of my memories, both those foggy and the one I remember in lurid detail, are present here in what is a tight, atmospheric, and enjoyable game that was inherently great, and has been improved upon in this remaster. I’ll start with what’s been changed and/or improved with the remaster before delving into the game itself. Capcom and NeoBards have done much more than simply raise the resolution for this rerelease. Just as the Resident Evil series that inspired it (we’ll get into the Resident Evil DNA in Onimusha: Warlords later), Onimusha has pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles. I mention this because just as the PS4 remaster of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0, this has led to Onimusha’s graphics working together in the opposite way of how they used to: character models and other real-time graphics look more impressive than the backgrounds. This isn’t a knock against it, however the real-time graphics look great, and the artistry of the backdrops are still gorgeous.

Onimusha ps4 2017