But throwing analog controls into the mix gums up the process. It feels natural, and it should it’s how the game was designed. Using the directional pad, holding forward sends our protagonist Samanosuke straight ahead, no matter how many fancy angles the camera wants to take. However, while the analog control works rather well when moving around a small room, traversing to a new area is when things get hectic. Yes, the game allows you to use the left analog stick of a controller to move, as opposed to only the directional pad in the original 2001 release.

Instead, it’s more of an issue of retraining your brain to use a control scheme that historically never fails, but does so here. To clarify, the controls are not the allegorical Achilles’ Heel for Onimusha Remastered. While Onimusha: Warlords Remastered still remains an enjoyable demon-slaying romp, improving the archaic and notorious “tank controls” was the hurdle on which the minds of Capcom stumbled. So, of course, the controls must be better than ever.

What about performance? The game runs firmly set at a solid 60 frames per second, making it the smoothest Onimusha to date. Better graphics? Naturally, with high-resolution textures and wide-screen support - even the CGI cutscenes saw some love. The developer went down a laundry list of typical remastering goals and happily checked off each box. Capcom didn’t set forth to reinvent the remastering wheel when it came to Onimusha: Warlords, one of the more beloved (but peculiarly, not often discussed) PlayStation 2 classics. No doubt, the graphical enhancements are the most predictable, and we often see updates to control schemes and the like. There are generally few surprises when it comes to remastered games.

Onimusha ps4 gamestop