Onimusha: Way Of The Sword Ditches Puzzle Boxes For Bigger Environmental Puzzles

Environmental puzzles replace traditional puzzle boxes in Onimusha: Way of the Sword

Onimusha: Way of the Sword proudly claims the latest cover of Game Informer, and you can dive straight into my in-depth cover story detailing Capcom’s triumphant revival of its legendary samurai action franchise. During a recent trip to Osaka, Japan, I spent several hours hands-on with the title and interviewed key development leads. Perhaps the most striking omission during my playtime was the complete absence of the series’ iconic puzzle boxes.

A trademark feature across all four original installments—Warlords, Samurai’s Destiny, Demon Siege, and Dawn of Dreams—these sliding-tile brainteasers were conspicuously missing throughout my three-hour session. When I sat down with Director Satoru Nihei, I simply had to ask if I had accidentally bypassed them. As it turns out, they simply do not exist in Way of the Sword.

“As you’ve noticed, we’ve moved away from the traditional puzzle elements like the classic puzzle boxes,” Nihei explains. “Instead, we have integrated environmental puzzles directly into the stage design, serving as deliberate pacing shifts to punctuate the relentless action.”

Nihei is referring to a sophisticated spatial puzzle I encountered roughly halfway through my demo in the subterranean laboratory beneath Kyoto’s imperial castle. Here, the depraved and malevolent genma Dokyo is relentlessly engineering grotesque new abominations by fusing humans, beasts, and demons together. The entire sequence evokes the atmosphere of a classic Japanese haunted house—a subject I will explore further in a forthcoming feature. Between bouts of intense combat, I had to pause and decipher a riddle unlike anything previously seen in the franchise.

Entering a grand, kabuki-inspired chamber, I found four ornate masks mounted prominently on the far wall. It was immediately apparent that interacting with them was the key to progression, yet the room offered no visible levers, buttons, or mechanisms. Thoroughly stumped after circling the perimeter, I stepped back outside.

Investigating environmental clues in Onimusha: Way of the Sword

That was when I noticed how natural sunlight filtered through the decorative latticework windows. Suspended ornaments hung within each windowpane, casting light patterns that mirrored the iconography of the interior masks. Crucially, each ornament correlated with a specific number of apertures on its corresponding mask—one opening for the first, two for the second, and so forth. Reading these floating clues from left to right provided the exact sequence required to solve the chamber’s riddle.

Admittedly, it took me longer than I care to admit to crack the code. Fortunately, Shizuka—the enigmatic entity dwelling within protagonist Miyamoto Musashi’s Oni Gauntlet—offered polite, perfectly timed hints that steered me toward the solution without ever shattering the atmospheric immersion. It is the gold standard of companion assistance, though if you prefer to test your own intellect, you can simply try to outsmart my sluggish deduction skills!

The entire ordeal lasted around five minutes before hurtling me right back into the blistering swordplay that constitutes roughly 90% of the core experience. I deeply appreciate a clever environmental riddle, and this particular encounter felt wonderfully fresh. According to the director, breaking up the tension is entirely intentional.

“Action is undeniably the heartbeat of the game, but a relentless barrage of combat can dilute the excitement,” Nihei notes. “By weaving these spatial brainteasers into each stage, we give players a moment to engage their intellect between adrenaline-fueled skirmishes.”

My comprehensive exploration of Capcom’s grand homecoming for Onimusha will continue all month long as part of Game Informer’s exclusive coverage hub for Way of the Sword. Expect plenty of behind-the-scenes features and raw gameplay footage—including an unfiltered Rapid-Fire Interview—dropping on the official Game Informer YouTube channel. Be sure to bookmark the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you never miss an update.

In the meantime, explore our expanding library of Onimusha: Way of the Sword features below:

Are you mourning the loss of the classic puzzle boxes, or do you welcome these grander environmental riddles? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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