Charms

Charms are equippable items in Onimusha: Way of the Sword that grant a special effect when worn. Capcom states plainly that equipping a charm strengthens Miyamoto Musashi, which separates charms from the game's purely decorative items.

Equipping and Managing Charms

Charms are changed from the Charms section of the Equipment screen, reached through the Main Menu rather than through a merchant or a field menu. Like the Spirit Mirror itself, that section unlocks separately as the game progresses, so charms obtained before it opens sit in reserve until the system becomes available. Charms themselves are claimed in-game through the Spirit Mirror. Beyond the bonus set below, Musashi also obtains charms as he advances through the story, and every charm strengthens his stats once equipped.

Charms Are Not Cosmetics

It is easy to conflate charms with the other equippable extras attached to the game's editions, but Capcom draws a firm line between them. Sword appearances, haori coats, outfits and Oni Gauntlet skins are described as cosmetic items that change how Musashi looks and explicitly do not alter his performance in battle. Charms are the opposite case: they are the one category of bonus content that touches the numbers.

Enhancing Charms

Charms can be enhanced by presenting red souls and offerings at Enma's Hall, located at Rokudo-chinnoji Temple, which improves their effects. Offerings are earned by exploring Eastern Kyoto and helping its people; they convert into favor, and enhancing a charm consumes that favor. Different offerings yield different amounts of favor, so which activities a player pursues around the city has a direct effect on how quickly their charms can be improved.

According to one player guide, charm enhancement opens after the main mission The Stage is Set at Kiyomizu and is done at a shrine in the southeast corner of Enma's Hall. Every charm costs the same to enhance, and taking all 15 in-game charms to maximum level needs 135,000 Red Souls and 150,000 Favor in total. The same guide notes that the items traded for Favor can be picked up around Kyoto, received from rescued townspeople, or bought at Yorimasa's Monument. No second source has confirmed these figures. Steam lists two achievements for enhancement: A Real Charmer, for enhancing one charm to the maximum level, and Charmed Life, for enhancing all charms to the maximum level.

Confirmed Charms

Every charm named before launch arrives through either the demo or an edition bonus. Capcom has published each charm's theme but not its individual effect, so what any given charm actually does is unconfirmed.

Capcom has also noted that content sold as part of an edition kit will become obtainable separately at a later date, so the charms tied to the Deluxe and Premium Deluxe editions are not permanently exclusive to those purchases.

A Wider Set of In-Game Charms

Beyond the six named bonus charms above, a broader set of charms exists in the shipped game, earned by completing Mysteries of Kyoto and Chance Encounters side stories. Capcom has not published a full list or the individual effects of these in-game charms.

In-Game Charm List

Community documentation of the shipped game lists 15 charms earned through play, separate from the edition and demo bonuses above. One comes from a main mission and the rest are rewards for particular Mysteries of Kyoto and Chance Encounters. Each charm can be enhanced up to level 3, and the effects below are the level 3 values where at least two player guides agree; lower levels give smaller bonuses. Capcom itself has not published this list.

Some guides add the word Charm to the end of the Sadist's Strength and Fencer's Strength names. For the Charm of Stamina, guides agree that it speeds up stamina recovery but give different figures for its maximum effect, so no number is listed here.