Bonus Episode #76 of BGMania: A Video Game Music Podcast. Today on the show, Bryan reviews Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the long-awaited franchise revival developed and published by Capcom, out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. As the first mainline entry since Dawn of Dreams in 2006, it drops you into a dark fantasy version of Edo-era Kyoto twisted by a corrupting force called Malice, where a young, hot-headed Miyamoto Musashi is killed, dragged back to life, and saddled with the Oni Gauntlet, a demonic artifact that keeps him breathing only as long as he keeps feeding it souls.
Twenty years is a long time to leave a series on the shelf, and this Musical Review is all about whether the wait was worth it. Bryan gets deep into the razor-sharp swordplay built around parries, deflects, and the signature Issen counter, the soul-fueled progression that shapes Musashi around your own playstyle, and the eerie stretch of temples, mountain paths, and hidden laboratories you cut through along the way. He works through Musashi's story and his gauntlet-bound partnership with Shizuka, the memorable cast of allies and villains reimagined from real history and folklore, and the bigger question of whether this actually feels like Onimusha after two decades away. And of course, he spends plenty of time with the score from Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki, and Tomoki Kameyama, breaking down how it fuses traditional Japanese sound with horror and dread.
Email the show at bgmaniapodcast@gmail.com with requests for upcoming episodes, questions, feedback, comments, concerns, or any other thoughts you'd like to share! Special thanks to our Executive Producers: Jexak, Xancu, Jeff, & Mike.
EPISODE PLAYLIST AND CREDITS
- Main Theme from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Daidara from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Sasaki Ganryu from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Yoshioka Follower from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Rasho-gan from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Ifuu from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Nue from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Hinagiku from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Burai from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- The Demon on the Mount from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Oni Awakening from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Dokyo from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Minamoto no Yoshitsune from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Marika Suzuki, Nozomi Ohmoto, Kota Suzuki & Tomoki Kameyama, 2026]
- Ghost in the Silence from Onimusha: Way of the Sword [Nozomi Ohmoto feat. Cait Foley, 2026]
LINKS
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PODCAST NETWORK
- Very Good Music: A VGM Podcast
- Listening Religiously