Satoru Nihei

Satoru Nihei is the director of Onimusha: Way of the Sword. He has been with Capcom long enough to watch the Onimusha franchise go dormant, and he has publicly said he wanted to make a new Onimusha game for most of that time.

The Long Wait

Nihei has said that the reason Onimusha took so long to return is that Capcom's staff was continuously occupied with other priorities: Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Street Fighter all had to be delivered first. The right people for a new Onimusha only became available in 2020, which is when the project was greenlit.

Design Philosophy

Nihei has framed his brief on the remake as keeping what defined Onimusha in the first place: the soul-absorbing gameplay loop and the sense of art, within a new technology base. He has specifically talked about bringing those pillars forward while using modern tech to raise the combat to current standards.

Authenticity Push

Nihei and producer Akihito Kadowaki have both pushed hard on in-world authenticity. Professional swordsmen were brought onto the motion-capture stage so the in-game sword work reads as plausible, which Nihei has argued makes the more fantastical parts of the game (the Oni Gauntlet, the Genma, the Malice) land better because everything around them feels grounded.