Introduction
Welcome to Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny: Sinjin's Ultimate Samurai Strategy Guide. You are about to take part in an amazing adventure, as you assume the role of multiple characters and continue the epic battle against Nobunaga and his evil minions. This guide will explain every last detail, allowing you to complete as much or as little of the game as you wish.
New to Onimusha 2 is the new Gift Exchange feature that allows you to exchange items with various sub characters. These items may be things you have found during your adventures or purchased from the local merchant. Knowing which item to give to which character can be quite difficult, so I have provided a Gift Exchange Guide that breaks down this process.
In addition to Gift Items there are also several unique or key items required for solving many of the puzzles in this game. These items are listed in my Unique Items guide along with where you find them and where you use them. For your convenience I have also linked each item to the corresponding section of the walkthrough where you actually find it.
Character Profiles
During the course of the game you will be able to assume the role of several characters. Many of these characters are based on historical figures from Japanese history; a period known as the Sengoku Jidai, the "Age of the Country of War". Even the evil Nobunaga Oda is based on the historical figure of the same name - a real life conqueror who ended feudalism and united the country under a single ruler.
Here are brief descriptions for each of our heroes along with their attacks and combos. Additional weapon-specific attacks and combos can be found in the Combat Tactics section of the guide.
Here are the shared basic movements and attack commands for all characters:
D-Pad: Basic Movement
UP - Run forward in facing direction / Step forward when R1 is held
DOWN - Run backward / Step backward when R1 is held
Left/Right - Rotate left or right / Sidestep when R1 is held
Buttons: Basic Commands
R1 - Readies weapon/Locks on nearest enemy (press strongly for Charge Attack)
R2 - Quick 180 turn
R3 - Quick Map View
L1 - Block Attack
L2 - Use a sub weapon (during character change)
L3 - Aim Gun or Bow (when equipped)
- Search/Use/Equip Inventory Item
- Attack (Can be combined with D-pad for special attacks)
- Hold down to Absorb Souls
- Magical Attack/Hide Inventory
START - Display/Hide Inventory/Give item to sub character
Jubei Yagyu
Jubei is the chieftain of the Yagu clan. With no knowledge of his mother, he was raised by the people of his clan after his father's deaths. Jubei has been in the mountains training in the ways of the samurai when news of the attack of his village reaches him. He races home only to find his friends dead and the village in ruins. Jubei must now make new friends, as he seeks out the evil behind this brutal attack.
Attack Command Slash Left Slash Right ,Slash Up ,,Kick Down + Jab R1 + Up + (Medium Range)Uppercut R1 + Up + (Close Range)Running Attack while running at enemyCritical Hit R1 + as enemy attacks youFinal Blow while standing over body
Oyu of Odani
We first meet Oyu in Imasho Town. This fierce female warrior is wearing one of the five oni orbs that Jubei must obtain. Her fighting skills would make her a valuable ally in your upcoming quest.
Attack Command Slash Left Slash Right ,Slash Up ,,Kick Down + Jab R1 + Up + (Medium Range)Uppercut R1 + Up + (Close Range)Running Attack while running at enemyThrow Dagger L2 Critical Hit R1 + as enemy attacks youFinal Blow while standing over body
Charged Attack Effect Level 1 Knocks down enemy with a lateral slash Level 2 Knock enemy into the air with a double uppercut Level 3 Double uppercut followed by a double slash
Magoichi Saiga
Magoichi is the captain of the gun team. He is currently in Imasho Town conducting an investigation. His passion for history books may give you the means to secure him as an ally if you can find the right gifts.
Attack Command Knife Thrust while standing stillThrust-Blast Combo Press after a Knife ThrustShoot R1 + Aim Gun Hold R1 while moving Left Stick Running Attack while running at enemyDouble Kick Down + Flash Bomb L2 Final Blow while standing over body
Charged Attack Effect Level 1 Knocks down enemy with a lateral gun swing Level 2 Knock enemy into the air with a Double Kick Level 3 Beserk attack, powerful attack in all directions
Ekei Ankokouji
Ekei is a fighting monk with the Hozoin order who loves his wine and his women. His combat specialty is his large spear and he knows how to use it. He will make a powerful ally if you can lure him away from the pub.
Attack Command Thrust Quick Pierce ,Last Bash ,,Impaling R1 + Up + (Medium range)Uppercut Scoop R1 + Up + (Close range)Running Attack while running at enemyKick Down + Toss Charm/Detonate L2 Paralysis Spell Critical Hit R1 + as enemy attacks youFinal Blow while standing over body
Charged Attack Effect Level 1 Knocks down enemy with a circle sweep Level 2 Uppercut scoop followed by an air skewering Level 3 Multiple attacks followed by a power skewer
Kotaro Fuma
Kotaro is a highly skilled warrior and chief of the Fuma ninja clan. Much like Jubei, he has no family and his village was also destroyed by Nobunaga. He desperately seeks the location of Nobunaga and to learn the plans of the demon warriors. Despite his reckless nature, Kotaro could prove a valuable ally.
Attack Command Left-hand Slash Right-hand Slash ,Double Slash ,,Double Jab R1 + Up + (Medium range)Backflip Kick R1 + Up + (Close range)Running Attack while running at enemyJump Kick Down + Cartwheel Left R1 + Double-tap Left Cartwheel Right R1 + Double-tap Right Scatter Shuriken L2 Turn Invisible Critical Hit R1 + as enemy attacks youFinal Blow while standing over body
Charged Attack Effect Level 1 Knocks down enemy with a lateral double cut Level 2 Backflip kick that can be followed by a high kick Level 3 Backflip and somersault kick that can be followed by a double jab
Basic Gameplay
Onimusha 2 is a game of exploration. Even though I will be telling you where all of the major items are and giving you maps showing you where they are, you will still want to explore all of your surroundings thoroughly by pressing the near anything that looks interesting. There are a lot of environmental objects and story clues that I won't be including in my guide.
Most of the good items are contained in item boxes. These come in red and black, and some are out in the open and others are cleverly concealed so you can just spot a corner of a box. Of course, I'll be telling you where they all are so don't worry. Red boxes can be opened by anyone while black boxes are reserved for one of the other playable characters.
In addition to the item boxes there are several puzzle boxes of various difficulty. These usually contain power-ups and other special items you won't find anywhere else. To open these boxes you must slide the tiles around to align the design in the middle of the box. You move the tiles by clicking on arrows that border the puzzle and you only have a limited amount of moves before the puzzle resets and you have to start over.
For the purposes of this review when I am giving solutions to these trick boxes I will use hyphenated directions like top-left or right-bottom. The first word indicates the side of the box and the second word indicates which arrow to click on that side. There are a few other types of puzzles you will encounter in Onimusha 2, and I will explain and solve these for you when they appear in the game.
In addition to searching the levels you will also encounter plenty of interesting characters you can talk to. Some are key characters that you will need to build relationships with by exchanging gifts while others are merely the regular population that may offering some valuable insight or perhaps even a useful item. To talk to anyone simply face them and keep pressing the until the conversation starts repeating itself or the person leaves. Generally, if a person has an item to give you they will hand it over after three continuations of the conversation. You can speed up the text display by pressing the for each new section of text.
Your inventory is divided into Gifts and Items. You will need to manually equip any weapons or armor you wish to use and when it comes times to use an object in a certain location you need to highlight that item and select USE. Health items are an important pick-up, especially for characters other than Jubei who don't have the luxury of absorbing soul energy to heal themselves. There are four types of healing:
- Herb - Restores 25% of your health
- Medicine - Restores 50% of your health
- Secret Medicine - Restores 100% health
- Perfect Medicine - Restores 100% health and magic
Always be on the lookout for Magic Mirrors and Magic Fountains. These mirrors allow you to save your game and convert your soul energy into power-ups for your weapons and armor while the fountains restore your magical power. Enchanting and leveling-up your weapons is critical to defeating bosses and even regular monsters in the later parts of the game. Look for areas in the game where demons spawn infinitely and keep going back to collect massive amounts of soul energy. It takes a lot to power-up your weapons and each new level takes even more energy.
Absorbing the soul energy of your fallen enemies is a major part of the gameplay in Onimusah 2. Jubei can collect souls after his encounter with Takajo, and the sub-characters can also collect soul energy once they find their character-specific Oni Bracelets located in each player's side quest. Once they rejoin Jubei their collected soul energy is transferred to Jubei. Slain enemies release various amounts of soul energy that comes in four colors:
- Yellow Soul Energy restores your Power meter
- Blue Soul Energy restores your Magic meter
- Red Soul Energy enhances your weapons
- Purple Soul Energy builds up to allow you to enter "Onimusha" mode
Collecting large amounts of Red Soul Energy at one time is rewarded with a variable bonus that makes it worth your time to kill all the demons in a room before absorbing their energy. The more souls you collect the larger the bonus. Here is a chart that outlines the bonus system.
| Souls | Bonus | Souls | Bonus | Souls | Bonus | Souls | Bonus |
| 1 | +0 | 11 | +150 | 21 | +600 | 31 | +1550 |
| 2 | +10 | 12 | +180 | 22 | +700 | 32 | +1600 |
| 3 | +20 | 13 | +210 | 23 | +800 | 33 | +1650 |
| 4 | +30 | 14 | +240 | 24 | +900 | 34 | +1700 |
| 5 | +40 | 15 | +270 | 25 | +1000 | 35 | +1750 |
| 6 | +50 | 16 | +300 | 26 | +1100 | 36 | +1800 |
| 7 | +60 | 17 | +350 | 27 | +1200 | 37 | +1850 |
| 8 | +80 | 18 | +400 | 28 | +1300 | 38 | +1900 |
| 9 | +100 | 19 | +450 | 29 | +1400 | 39 | +1950 |
| 10 | +120 | 20 | +500 | 30 | +1500 | 40 | +2000 |
The final thing to cover in the basic gameplay section is shopping. Jubei starts off with 1000 Gold and once you reach Imasho Town you can start collecting even more gold from fallen enemies and inside the gold mine. Amounts will vary based on the difficulty of the monsters and the piles of gold are quite easy to spot lying in the path. Make sure to grab as much as you can. You will need to buy out the store every time the shopkeeper restocks the shelves.
Combat Tactics
We've already covered the basic combat moves for each character but there are a few special tactics or combinations of those moves that will help you out with some of the more difficult battles including the boss fights. Most of the battles will have you facing multiple enemies with new creatures spawning in as fast as you kill off the old ones. Eventually, they will stop coming, but knowing how to fight against a group is critical.
Divide and Conquer: Keep moving so the enemies can't box you in. Try to get them separated so you can knock them down and finish them off. Use the auto-face button (R1) to quickly change targets after you kill or knockdown an enemy. When you are greatly outnumbered your best tactic is to get everyone on their backs then start finishing them off one by one.
Prioritizing Enemies: When facing large numbers of enemies there is a good chance there will be a mixture of creatures that vary in strength. You need to carefully select and eliminate the most dangerous of these creatures first to reduce the overall threat. This means you need to be able to identify several creatures by their appearance. Tougher enemies may be larger or a different color. Another deadly threat that appears early in the game and grows stronger near the end are enemy archers. These are always a priority, as they will constantly be shooting at you while you hack away at the ground forces. Early in the game you will have to use your own bow to take down these snipers, but later you can use your more powerful weapons and magical attacks to eliminate this threat.
Fatal Blows: Delivering a fatal blow is a great way to finish off a monster much quicker than continually beating it into the ground. When you knock an enemy down it will lie there for a few seconds. Quickly move over them, pause for a moment, then press
. Instant death! Use this move cautiously as you will be vulnerable to attack during the fatality animation.Knockdown Moves: There are a couple of ways to knockdown your enemy. These moves are great to give you more time in a group battle or to setup for a fatality. The easiest way to knockdown an enemy is with the standard kick move by pressing Down+
. You can also initiate a charge attack by running at the enemy and pressing to deliver a powerful blow that will put normal monsters on their back. Tougher creatures may take repeated charge attacks before falling and then you can deliver the fatal strike.Blocking: You will need to use the L1 button to block incoming attacks. Blocking then quickly following with a counter-attack will often prove very effective in combat and is also a great way to face a new attacker. Be aware that some larger monsters and bosses have attacks that you cannot block.
Flipping: This is one of the rarer moves because you can only do it when you lock swords with another enemy and that doesn't happen very often. When it does, you need to rapidly press all of the buttons on your controller as fast as you can. If you do it fast enough you will break free and flip the enemy onto the ground.
Magical Attacks: Each of your weapons has a magic attack associated with it, and these get more powerful as you level-up your weapons with soul energy. Press
to activate the magic and start swinging to deliver powerful strikes that culminate in a powerful finishing move. Your magical attacks are limited by the power bar, but each weapon has its own bar so if one weapons is empty you can switch off and have a fresh meter. Magical power is hard to come by so use it sparingly and make sure all weapons are fully charged before initiating a boss battle.Charged Attacks: Charged attacks are less powerful than magical attacks but are more powerful than normal strikes and also allow for special moves. To charge your weapon you press R1 and hold it tightly until your weapons glows. There are several levels of charge you can use provided you have found the necessary tech manuals within the game. These manuals are quite hard to come by and require some clever gift exchanges.
Secret Techniques: There is a special combo move you can do with each weapon by pressing Down, Up+
. The sequence is the same but you cannot do the move until you have found the scroll within the game that activates the combo.Critical "One Hit" Kill: This move takes a bit of timing and practice but once you figure it out you will be slaying demons with a single swipe of your weapon. To initiate a critical hit you attack using R1+
but you have to do it just as the enemy is starting their attack. If done properly the screen will flash and the attacker will fall dead at your feet along with any other monsters standing next to him. Critical hits are a great way to get through large battles quickly, and they even factor into your final score and ranking. Practice this technique early in the game so it becomes second nature.Onimusha Mode: Some enemies will release large purple souls when they die. If you absorb five of these you will enter a supercharged state where you become temporarily invulnerable and do tremendous amounts of damage with your attacks. You can even shoot deadly energy from your hands that will track and destroy any demons in the room. Onimusha mode only lasts a very short time, but you can extend it if you absorb more purple soul energy while in this state. Once you return to normal you will need to collect five new purple souls before you can do it again. One good tactic is to collect four purple souls before a boss battle so you are just on the edge of going into Onimusha mode. Once the boss battle begins you can hopefully collect the final purple soul and gain a significant advantage on the boss.