Onimusha: Way of the Sword Story & Plot Explained

The game is set in early Edo-period Japan, but beneath the Kyoto known to history lies another world. Acts of violence, hatred and suffering leave behind a dark spiritual force called malice, which warps streets and plants and weakens the boundary between the human world and Hell.

Where malice gathers, rifts tear open reality, and creatures called Genma emerge. The Oni are the supernatural race opposing them, and their power reaches the human world through Oni Gauntlets, which absorb souls and grant superhuman ability. A human who wields that power is an Onimusha.

Wandering samurai Miyamoto Musashi duels the master swordsman Yoshioka Seijuro, crippling his arm and fleeing his vengeful students. In the chaos Yoshioka is killed by an unknown force, and Musashi then meets his rival Sasaki Ganryu.

Before the two can duel, both are ambushed and killed by supernatural creatures called Genma. Musashi awakens in the depths of Hell, where a Man in White forcibly attaches the Oni Gauntlet to his arm and sends him back to the mortal realm.

Back in Kyoto, Musashi learns from a voice inside the gauntlet that removing it will kill him, and is told to seek out a man named Ono no Takamura. He finds Takamura and his apprentice Izumo no Okuni at a temple, where Takamura also wields an Oni Gauntlet.

Takamura explains he is an Onimusha, a warrior chosen by the Oni to protect the gate to Hell, and tasks Musashi with eliminating the Genma and the rifts they invade from. Musashi purifies sanctuaries while absorbing souls into his gauntlet.

Musashi's rival Ganryu was also revived by an Oni Gauntlet, but he becomes obsessed with its power and begins slaughtering humans to absorb their souls. The Oni soul in Musashi's gauntlet, Shizuka Gozen, reveals the Oni were wiped out by a Genma army led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune — who had once been an Onimusha himself before the Oni imprisoned him in Hell's depths for being too dangerous.

Musashi is defeated by Ganryu early on and, humiliated, briefly considers absorbing human souls himself before deciding against it. He later transforms into an Oni to kill the traitor Shuten Douji, while Dokyo recruits Ganryu to corrupt the Arashiyama sanctuary.

The Man in White is revealed to be Yoshitsune, who manipulated both Musashi and Ganryu into collecting souls for him. By combining human, Genma and Oni souls, he intends to become a godlike being able to rewrite reality, and he builds a massive palace atop the gate to Hell.

Musashi scales the palace and defeats Yoshitsune, whose soul ceases to exist after he removed himself from the cycle of rebirth. Shizuka thanks Musashi and returns to Hell to restore order there.

After the battle, Musashi absorbs the Oni souls Yoshitsune had held, healing his body. He parts ways with Okuni, deciding to track down Dokyo, who escaped with a revived Ganryu after revealing her own plan had already succeeded.

Okuni swears to carry on Takamura's duties as an Onimusha while spreading the art of kabuki dance. In a post-credits scene, Musashi and Okuni reunite during a Genma attack and team up once more.