Ultimately you will be required to battle your way through a castle, complete with traps and obstacles. The cramped corridors of the castle keep the tension elevated as enemies can appear from around any corner or from behind any screen. There is no choice but to fight. The halls feature beautiful touches including statues and flaming torches, complete with stunning lighting effects. As with Capcom's earlier variations on the theme, Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, Onimusha comes chock full of puzzles, requiring a little brainstorming along the way.
Puzzles are a risky business.
They work well to elevate tension and intrigue, providing a constant sense of reward only when they don't become so nonsensical as to literally require a walkthrough or dumb luck to complete. Capcom has shown definite improvement in this area. Akechi Samanosuke must cut the rope holding the device in place, allowing it to roll down a ramp and break open a wall to allow further passage. The additions made to the formula are what truly elevate this game from the rest of the pack and achieve a proper place all its own, as Dino Crisis successfully tweaked the Resident Evil formula before it. Capcom deserves attention for expanding its survival-horror horizons into new areas.