Free Taster For Epic 2026 God of War-Like Is Out Now, We Implore You To Play It

Anyone suffering from video game fatigue needs to try one of 2026’s best games. Fortunately, it’s free to play right now.

At this year’s Summer Game Fest, we sampled a wide variety of games, yet few impressed us more than Capcom’s newest RPG, and one that could give the best of God of War a run for its money.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword launches September 2026, and it’ll easily be a contender at this year’s Game Awards. We played a brand-new demo at SGF, and you can play one too on all platforms.

Currently, a free demo is available on PC via Steam, Xbox and PlayStation platforms, and we’d urge you to give it a go if you’re sick of sprawling open-worlds and repetitive soulslikes.

No shade to those genres, but it definitely feels like modern video game releases are falling into the same tired trends, making Onimusha: Way of the Sword feel like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Superb Samurai Action

My demo at SGF took me through a blighted village corrupted by an unseen force. The villagers live in torment of an evil Genma, a demon basically, called Rasho-gan.

Capcom

They offer up their body parts in exchange for what they believe to be a peaceful life, but in reality they’re being manipulated.

As the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, I was tasked with purging this villain from the land in one of the craziest introductory boss fights I’ve ever experienced.

Rasho-ga sports several arms and vine-like tentacles he can use to supplement his own stamina. I had to dodge and parry his incoming volleys before severing the tentacle and moving in for some close-quarters combat.

As much as I love good soulslike, though, I'm thrilled Onimusha: Way of the Sword adopts a more traditional form of combat.

Your mistakes are punished, don’t get me wrong. Get complacent, and you’ll quickly get overpowered, but the challenge never felt unfair or obtuse. Even when new attacks were sprinkled into the fight, they didn’t feel like a “ha, gotcha” moment. I had time to process the new information and react accordingly.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s combat isn’t just fun to play though, it’s fun to watch too. Even fighting basic enemies felt immensely cinematic, especially when you deflect an incoming arrow from a distant bowman.

In the boss fight with Rasho-gan, I was surprised to see him lift an entire house above his head, and even more surprised to learn I could sever one of the tentacles supporting it to watch the whole thing come crashing down on his head.

I absolutely adored my time with Onimusha: Way of the Sword and installed the free demo shortly after returning home from SGF. It harkens back to the days of God of War (2018), when it launched, and players were blessed with a game all about the adventure rather than playtime padding and arbitrary gimmicks.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword feels like the antithesis of modern gaming in the best way possible, and further proof that Capcom is on a generational run.

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