Onimusha: Way of the Sword has a hard mode, but it isn't unlocked fro…

Some players came away from Onimusha's demo worried that the game would be too easy, a concern I've addressed in-depth based on my own time with the game. The good news is that I think the challenge level is well-judged for most people, and Onimusha does have a hard mode.

For those who hoped to jump right into the hardest possible difficulty from the main menu, though, I've got some bad news: you're going to have to beat the game first. milkshakeslot.lat

Onimusha: Way of the Sword's default difficulty options

Story: "A difficulty level that lets you focus on the story. Recommended for action game beginners."

• Musashi deals more damage and stamina damage and takes less from enemy attacks
• Action prompts default to on, showing button icons for how to deal with incoming enemy attacks

Action: "A difficulty level for those who like challenging battles. This difficulty level will keep you on your toes. Recommended for experienced action game players."

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You can freely change between these two options from save points throughout the game.

Individually adjustable difficulty tweaks:

• Action prompts
• Tips (tutorial messages)
• Navigation UI icons

How to unlock Onimusha: Way of the Sword's Hard mode

There's just one way to unlock Onimusha's harder difficulty level: Finishing the game. No shortcuts, sorry! Here's the in-game description:

Carnage: "A difficulty level where a single hit could mean death. A high-stakes mode where carelessness can kill, but victory is all the sweeter."

If you choose this difficulty, it's locked in. You can't change to Story or Action. But you do get a bit of a leg up, because Carnage is a New Game+ mode that carries over some of your progress from a completed save.

What does the hard mode New Game+ carry over?

• Awakened Oni abilities
• Enhanced basic and special abilities
• Acquired Hozuki Pouches and upgrades
• Items, offerings, and "some" materials
• Charms and charm upgrades
• Unlocked outfits
• Tutorial drills and boss rematch unlocks and completion
• Genma Notes and rescued Lion Dogs

There's a lot that doesn't carry over to NG+:

• Story and sidequest progress
• Clothing, sword, and gauntlet upgrades
• Materials for those equipment upgrades
• Red souls used for upgrades, skill unlocks and buying materials
• Spirit Mirror save points
• Oni bow
• Progression of items buyable with red souls

We're long past the days of assuming the Steam Deck can comfortably handle the new big-budget action game of the moment, but here's a nice surprise: Valve's handheld is not a bad way to play Onimusha: Way of the Sword.

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It's not quite the optimization darling that Resident Evil Requiem was earlier this year, but it's much better news than Monster Hunter Wilds or Dragon's Dogma 2. After testing Onimusha in its taxing Kyoto hub area, I'd add this to the win column for Capcom's proprietary engine.

To set expectations: Onimusha is a stubbornly 30-40 fps game on Deck. It can get as high as the 50s and 60s in the right conditions—turning FSR 3.1.4 upscaling on while in corridor areas outside the main hub—but you will eventually shoot back down to the 30s when there's a lot of action on screen. So if you're of the mind that a lower, stable framerate is ultimately the most comfortable way to play a game, then you can confidently lock it at 30 fps and turn off the performance overlay.

That's how I played a decent chunk of it over the last few days, pausing here and there to see which graphical bumps I could get away with. The default configuration cranks everything down to its lowest setting, but I made a few tweaks that meaningfully improve the picture quality without ruining the stable framerate:

• Texture quality: Low > Medium
• Upscaling: Off
• Resolution: 1280 x 800
• Frame Rate: 30

Perhaps a few more of the "lows" could become "mediums" without a problem, but truthfully, low already looks pretty good on the Deck's small screen. Capcom has done well not to compromise on the most important part of the picture: Musashi Miyamoto. His model is still nicely detailed, as are the cloth sims of his flowy cloak. That said, upgrading the texture quality to Medium solves the problem of some prominent world objects being noticeably blurry, but that's my only complaint with low preset so far.

Perhaps a controversial choice, but I say turn off Onimusha's FSR 3.1.4 upscaling and take the frames hit. The ghosting effect around moving objects (and especially Musashi's hair) is distracting and ugly, and the gains aren't even that impressive. If 40 is your sweet spot, you'll get it more often with FSR.

I'm only 6 hours into the story, so maybe this changes, but Onimusha isn't so fast-paced that I feel bogged down by the 30 fps lock. Last night I took down the first genuinely challenging boss of the game, Rasho-gan, on the Deck, then switched to my RTX 5090 PC to fight him again. It looked nicer, but I didn't feel a significant advantage.

For my money, Onimusha is the ideal definition of Deck "playable". The performance isn't so impressive that I'd choose to play it handheld when my PC is sitting right there, but it's good enough that I'd happily slice up Genma from the comfort of a hotel room.