Oni Vision
Oni Vision is a perception ability bound to the Oni Gauntlet that Musashi Miyamoto wears in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. When activated, the world tints into a high-contrast view that surfaces information ordinary human eyes cannot pick up: the silhouettes of hidden Genma, the threads of Malice that have warped a corrupted area, and spiritual seals layered over architecture that would otherwise read as unremarkable. It is one of the first capabilities the gauntlet grants Musashi after their bond is forged, and it doubles as a combat-awareness tool and a traversal aid throughout the game.
How It Activates
Oni Vision is a deliberate, on-demand state rather than a passive overlay. Musashi triggers it from the gauntlet, and the camera tints with the same blue-tinged hue used to mark soul flow through the Oni Gauntlet. While the vision is active, hidden hostile presences glow against the muted backdrop and Malice corruption lights up in clear lines through the geometry of the area. Releasing the input drops the world back to its standard rendering.
Capcom has framed it as a tool the player should reach for any time a corrupted zone feels disorienting rather than treating it as a constant overlay. Combat readability is part of the design intent: a player who flips on Oni Vision before pushing into an unfamiliar room can spot enemies that would otherwise spring an ambush, including the fast-moving Genma types that can flank Musashi from architecture above eye level.
Combat Use
Oni Vision pays off most clearly in three combat situations:
Reading a fresh arena. Switching it on at the threshold of a new room reveals every demonic presence inside, including enemies camouflaged against environmental geometry or hidden behind illusory effects. The opener of an encounter shifts from a guess to a clean read.
Tracking flankers. Genma that prefer to circle Musashi or strike from above are easier to track in Oni Vision because they retain their highlight even when they slip out of his immediate line of sight. The player can keep the camera centred on the most dangerous target without losing the others.
Surfacing threats during ambient corruption. When Malice has thickened to the point that air, smoke, or scattered debris obscures the field, Oni Vision cuts through the visual noise and isolates only the enemy silhouettes the player needs to react to.
Exploration And Puzzle Use
Outside of combat, Oni Vision is woven into the way Musashi moves through the corrupted streets and shrines of Edo-Era Kyoto. The same blue-tinged view that surfaces hostile silhouettes also reveals environmental cues that are otherwise invisible:
Spiritual seals. Doors and gates marked with a seal block conventional entry but become visibly highlighted under Oni Vision, which gives the player a clear cue that a different approach (often a Break Issen on a specific Genma, or absorbing a particular soul cluster nearby) is required to clear the way.
Threads of Malice. The corruption that has pulled Kyoto out of the living world traces visible lines through walls, shrines, and street architecture in Oni Vision. Following those threads usually leads the player to the source of a localised disturbance, which often coincides with an encounter or a story beat.
Past-event echoes. Capcom has shown Oni Vision being used to reveal residual imagery of events that have already happened in a corrupted area, surfacing context the player would otherwise miss. These echoes are framed as paranormal traces rather than ghost cutscenes; the player has to interpret them as a clue rather than a scripted scene.
Relationship To Other Gauntlet Systems
Oni Vision is one of three core capabilities the Oni Gauntlet provides Musashi, sitting alongside soul absorption (the relic's resource economy) and Oni Armaments (its burst-damage payoff). Unlike the armaments, Oni Vision does not consume souls or fill any meter. It is always available once the gauntlet is bonded to Musashi, and the only cost is the player's attention: while it is active, the colour-shifted view changes how the world is presented, so the player has to be willing to step out of the standard combat aesthetic for the duration.
Inside the fiction, Lady Oni is the entity behind the lens. The vision is in effect a window into how an Oni perceives the world, granted on loan to Musashi by the relic she inhabits. That framing matters in late-game beats where Lady Oni's own perception becomes an explicit story element rather than just a gameplay layer.
Summary
Oni Vision is the Oni Gauntlet's information layer. It surfaces hidden enemies, traces Malice through corrupted zones, exposes spiritual seals, and gives the player a clean way to read unfamiliar rooms before committing to combat. It is free to use, deliberately styled to look distinct from the standard view, and one of the most consistently useful tools in Musashi's kit across both fights and exploration.