The Opening
The game opens with Musashi Miyamoto arriving in Edo-era Kyoto and being ambushed by Genma. On the verge of death, he is gifted the Oni Gauntlet, which is the item that frames every combat system in the game.
Try the Demo First
Before committing to the full game, you can play a free demo, released in June 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. It runs about thirty minutes, drops you into the Kiyomizu-dera Temple area, and ends with a boss fight against Sasaki Ganryu. It is the cleanest way to feel out the parry timing and the soul economy before launch. Your demo progress does not carry into the full game, but saving a demo session unlocks a charm, Kubi Akari, in the full release, so it is worth playing through to the end at least once.
Three Souls, Three Uses
The first thing to internalise is the soul system. Every defeated enemy drops colour-coded souls that the gauntlet absorbs:
Yellow souls top up Musashi's health.
Red souls are spent on upgrades.
Blue souls charge the Oni Armaments, special weapons that deal burst damage.
Orbs drop physically into the arena and disappear if they are ignored for too long. Nearby Genma can also pick them up and turn them against Musashi, so collecting is a small race rather than an optional cleanup.
Learn the Four-Tier Parry Toolkit Early
Combat is reactive. The defensive options sit in a clear rock-paper-scissors hierarchy that is worth internalising in the first couple of fights:
Hold to block is the safety net, but it bleeds posture and should not be the default.
Timed parry drains enemy stamina faster than a held block and costs almost no posture.
Deflect (block plus attack button) sends arrows back at archers and redirects heavier enemies into the environment.
Issen is the series' perfect-frame counter. High risk, but it ends incoming attacks cleanly and opens an immediate strike window.
Break Stamina, Execute
Strikes and parries both chip away at an enemy's stamina. A fully stamina-broken regular Genma is open to Break Issen, an instant execution. On bosses, the body-part targeting variant replaces the instant-kill and lets the player pick red zones for damage or purple zones for extra souls.
Chase the Buff Meters
Three flawless dodges in a row fills a red meter that unlocks a multi-hit follow-up and boosts soul absorption briefly. Consecutive parries fill a blue meter that ignites Musashi's katana with a blue aura, speeding up executions and raising damage for a window. Keeping one or both meters active during boss fights is one of the cleanest ways to spike Musashi's damage output.
Use Oni Armaments on Bosses
Oni Armaments run on blue souls and are powerful enough to chew through large portions of a boss health bar. Saving blue souls for boss encounters or for tough enemy groups is usually a better call than spending them on regular trash.
Turn on Oni Vision in Confusing Areas
The Oni Gauntlet's Oni Vision highlights demonic presences and hidden enemies. In corrupted areas, turning it on before committing to a room is a safe way to avoid surprise ambushes.