Mysteries of Kyoto is one of the three story types in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, alongside the main Way of the Sword story and Chance Encounters. As Musashi advances the main story, he receives requests from a certain individual, and Mysteries of Kyoto are the responses to those requests.
Optional, Not Mandatory
Completing every Mystery of Kyoto is not required to finish the game. Only a few of them affect the main narrative, but completing any of them earns various rewards, which makes pursuing them worthwhile even when they are not strictly necessary.
The Eight Mysteries
Community documentation of the shipped game counts eight Mysteries of Kyoto. None are available at the start: they unlock after the main mission What Lurks in the Shadows, and two can be taken up straight away while the other six each wait on a later main mission. Their starting points are marked on the map with a butterfly icon, and open Mysteries are tracked in the Curious Cases menu, where they are listed as Observations. The mission order is on the Main Missions page.
The table below comes from player guides rather than from Capcom. Available After gives the main mission that has to be completed first, and Charm Reward lists the charm each Mystery awards where guides agree on one.
# | Mystery of Kyoto | Available After | Charm Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Light of Vengeance | What Lurks in the Shadows (available as soon as Mysteries unlock) | No charm |
2 | A Wife's Prayer | Bloodbath on the Bridge | No charm |
3 | Something in the Water | A Tempest at the Temple | |
4 | The Blessed Man | What Lurks in the Shadows (available as soon as Mysteries unlock) | |
5 | The Night Parade | The Demon on the Mount | |
6 | The Faceless | Okuni's Kabuki Dance | |
7 | The Three Worms (Worm-ly Ways) | Okuni's Kabuki Dance | |
8 | Hanging Monkeys (Some Unfinished Monkey Business) | The Demon on the Mount |
Two of the Mysteries appear under two names in player guides, which list both The Three Worms and Worm-ly Ways for one, and both Hanging Monkeys and Some Unfinished Monkey Business for the other. All eight can still be completed up to the point of no return at the start of The Clash at Rendaino. Mystery progress does not carry over into New Game Plus.
The two Mystery achievements on Steam are Mystery Solved, for completing a first Mystery of Kyoto, and Demystified, for completing all of them.
Finding and Starting a Mystery
People holding clues relevant to a Mystery of Kyoto are marked with an icon above their head out in Edo-Era Kyoto. Speaking to one of these people is how their tale, and the associated request, is heard for the first time. The map also marks Mysteries of Kyoto clue locations directly, alongside markers for the main story and for Chance Encounters.
Achievements
Steam's achievement list recognizes both starting into this system, with an achievement for completing the first Mystery of Kyoto, and mastering it, with a separate achievement for completing all of them.
Tracking Progress
The map marks Mysteries of Kyoto and their associated clues with their own dedicated icons, separate from the icons used for the main Way of the Sword story and for Chance Encounters. The Progress screen, opened from the Main Menu, lists the completion status of every story a player has picked up, including any Mysteries of Kyoto still open, and lets a player set one of them as the current destination.
Practical Notes
Because all three story types can be followed at once, there is no need to set Mysteries of Kyoto aside to focus purely on Way of the Sword; checking the Progress screen periodically is the easiest way to keep track of which requests are still open, and speaking to any character marked with a clue icon costs nothing beyond a short detour.