Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2 is a step in the right direction for Capcom

I've now played every single Switch 2 release from Capcom so far aside from Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen which I will cover in the near future. As much as I appreciate Capcom's work in bringing big games day one to Nintendo Switch 2, many of the ports have felt lacking in some ways. In some cases, Capcom's insistence on uncapped frame rates holds the overall experience back as we saw with Resident Evil Requiem or Pragmata. Other cases like Monster Hunter Stories 3 were even worse since it just felt bad to play on Nintendo's hybrid when an optional 30fps cap would've made it my preferred portable version. Last year's older ports like Street Fighter 6 felt a bit too conservative for the hardware given what we've seen other developers do. That brings us to Onimusha: Way of the Sword. I've had the full game for a little while now (before the demo launched) and I'm very impressed with it so far. 

Embargo restrictions mean I can't do my full comparison feature today. Just like with Pragmata, I decided to focus on the Switch 2 version for today. This is not a technical performance or comparison article, but more of a general impressions feature covering the Switch 2 version with a handheld focus. I also wanted to see if Capcom has learned from the last few ports. I hadn't played an Onimusha game at all until the first remaster released on Switch. In some ways, playing Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2 feels like coming full circle, and I'm glad that this port is actually one I can recommend with some caveats. 

Whenever I play a modern Capcom port to Switch 2, my complaints include the variable performance thanks to no frame rate cap, image quality in some modes, and hair rendering. With Onimusha: Way of the Sword, not only did Capcom add an optional 30fps frame rate cap, but the uncapped experience feels good handheld, and the visuals hold up aside from hair and some character details on the smaller screen. Capcom also went above and beyond with Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2 with the HD rumble implementation that is the best the developer has done so far on Nintendo's console. Onimusha: Way of the Sword also has touchscreen support for menus and the UI when played handheld on Switch 2. 

Having tried the demo on other platforms before, I was curious to see how the Switch 2 version would handle the lighting, hair, latency, performance, and basically how it would look and feel when played handheld. I also wanted to approach the Switch 2 port on its own terms. I haven't finished Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2 yet, but I absolutely will finish it because I'm impressed with the port despite a few issues that I got used to. If you were ok with how Pragmata was on Switch 2, I found Onimusha: Way of the Sword consistently better when played handheld. 

The major visual issue so far is hair. This applies to not only Musashi, but also any character with detailed hair including NPCs you meet early on. This is probably the only immersion breaking aspect of Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2. The downgrade to hair feels a lot worse here than any other Capcom port, but I looked beyond it while playing because it felt great to play and the use of HD rumble in combat and cut-scenes was fantastic. 

I also feel like the game's overall aesthetic has translated well including the lighting. With Pragmata and RE9, it felt like you were playing a lesser version when it came to the environment. With Onimusha: Way of the Sword, you are just playing it on a smaller screen with cuts in some visual settings. 

I spent the majority of my time with the game in its uncapped mode and I have no major complaints with the performance. VRR seems to be working well here. While I didn't play too much of it docked, it does engage 120hz on my monitor. Nintendo really needs to add VRR docked. Until then, I'd recommend trying both the 30fps cap and uncapped to see how you feel. For handheld play, I recommend the uncapped mode and also increasing the brightness on the system and in-game volume. With this done, I was enjoying Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2 a lot and would have finished it by now had it not been for other game releases and embargoes this week. 

One last point to note is that while I did get used to the hair and could look beyond it when playing Onimusha: Way of the Sword on Switch 2, the load times feel a bit too long right now. I had Onimusha: Way of the Sword installed on the Switch 2 internal storage as well. Hopefully these can be improved in potential patches in the near future.

In its current state, Onimusha: Way of the Sword for Switch 2 is a step in the right direction for Capcom on Nintendo's hybrid console. I'd go so far as to say it's the publisher's best Switch 2 port yet because I actually enjoyed my time with it for over 10 hours handheld. The docked experience could be better, but I liked handheld so much that I didn't even play more docked aside for testing reasons. Stay tuned for my full Onimusha: Way of the Sword platform comparison in the near future.