Capcom is reviving the classic Onimusha and Okami series. What does the future hold?

At The Game Awards 2024 ceremony, dozens of new games were announced. Many of us were waiting for information from Capcom about the next part of Resident Evil. But instead, the Japanese publisher announced that Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Okami Sequel are in development. There was also a hint about sequels to other cult series. In this article, we will tell you what to expect from Capcom in the coming years.

Capcom was founded in 1979. Over the years, it has become one of the largest publishers in the world. Its projects have changed the entire industry several times and laid the foundations for new genres. For example, this was the case with Resident Evil, the first full-fledged survival horror in history. Many classic Capcom series are actively developing today. In addition to Resident Evil, we can note Street Fighter and Monster Hunter.

At the same time, the Japanese giant has many franchises that are in a kind of freeze. Bright examples are Mega Man, Dino Crisis, Devil May Cry, Ace Attorney, Lost Planet and Darkstalkers. However, the latest The Game Awards showed that the company is ready to return the classics to modern consoles and PCs.

The original Okami was and remains a very unusual game. It features a colorful picture, as if painted with watercolors, and non-trivial controls. To attack enemies with magic, you need to draw certain symbols on the screen yourself. Moreover, on the Wii console, gamepads with a motion detector are used for this, and on the Switch, a touch screen. On this portable console, Okami plays great even today. Tested from personal experience.

The combination of a thick atmosphere, an interesting plot, non-trivial gameplay and a bright picture delighted critics. The project received high marks from the press, and some publications even declared it the game of the year. Unfortunately, due to modest sales, Capcom hesitated to finance a sequel for many years. The sequel was announced only in 2024, 18 years after the release of the original.

Hideki Kamiya, who led the development of the first Okami, was brought in to work on the second part. In addition, he was responsible for Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry. In 2007, he had to leave the company to found Platinum Games with Shinji Mikami and Atsushi Inaba. Hideki released the Bayonetta trilogy for it. Last year, Kamiya was forced to leave the studio due to creative differences, after which there were rumors that he would return to Capcom to make a new Devil May Cry. But instead, he was assigned to work on the sequel to Okami.

Many Japanese anime series retell the events of real history in their own way and combine them with fantasy elements. The plots of the games in the Onimusha series are built in a similar way. For example, the action of the first part takes place during the Sengoku period (the second half of the 15th — early 17th centuries), and the famous samurai Nobunaga Oda (1534-1582) appears in the script. The thirdquel is set in modern France, and the role of the main character Jacques Blanc is played by actor Jean Reno, known for the film "Leon".

But players fell in love with the series not for the plot, but for the high-quality gameplay, which is sometimes compared to Devil May Cry. The main characters of Onimusha wield cold weapons and destructive magic. The combat system is simple but exciting. Local enemies motivate you to use block and parry wisely, use spells in time and deliver critical hits. If you want to play the first part today, we highly recommend the 2018 remaster. In it, the developers not only improved the graphics, but also brought the controls up to modern standards.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword will be released in 2026. Its action will be transferred to the beginning of the 17th century. Kyoto, the capital of Japan, has fallen under the power of demonic creatures, and only a lone samurai with the Oni glove can stop them. As before, you will have to use a sharp katana and powerful spells. There are no other details about the game yet.

In addition to the two announcements, Capcom representatives said that they want to bring back other famous series. The most obvious option is Dino Crisis. Fans have long dreamed of a remake of this horror. Even by today's standards, the game looks unusual, because dinosaurs are almost never found in horror films.

Also remembered Mega Man. The first parts of the series were released back in the 80s, and the latest one at the moment was released in 2018. 2D action platformers are still relevant today, especially on portable consoles. There is a possibility that Capcom will release a sequel.

However, in our opinion, the most interesting option is Devil May Cry 6. New parts of Bayonetta and God of War will not be released soon, so the project will have practically no competitors. And slashers are still in demand by the audience. For example, sales of the fifth DMC amounted to 8.1 million copies.

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What games from Capcom are you waiting for? Share your opinions in the comments!