Onimusha (鬼武者, 'Oni Warrior') is a series of action-adventure video games developed and published by Capcom.

The player protagonist wields the power of the Oni, enabling them to fight the Genma, the main enemy in the series.

As of June 2024, the series has sold a total of 8.7 million copies worldwide,[1] making it Capcom's tenth best-selling franchise, behind Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, Dragon's Dogma, Ace Attorney, and Marvel vs. Capcom.

A high-definition remaster of the first game, Onimusha: Warlords, was released in December 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The series originated in 1997, with Yoshiki Okamoto's idea to create Sengoku Biohazard, a ninja version of Capcom's own 1996 Resident Evil (known as Biohazard in Japan), set in the Sengoku period and featuring a "ninja house" filled with booby traps, similar to the mansion from Resident Evil, where battles are fought using swords and shuriken.

[12] Although the protagonist changes in every Onimusha title, he is always a skilled swordsman who embarks on a set mission which involves slaying demons and fearsome enemies during the waning years of the Sengoku period of feudal Japan.

Characters tend to move slowly and can only slightly increase their speed with the dash maneuver by tapping twice in any direction.

These magical attacks, which vary depending upon which weapon is equipped and other offensive attributes, can be improved throughout the game by accumulation of souls from defeated enemies.

Based primarily throughout the Japanese Sengoku period, Onimusha: Warlords starts with the feudal lord Nobunaga Oda being killed during a battle.

One of the prominent fighters, Hidemitsu Samanosuke Akechi, receives a letter from his cousin Princess Yuki who is concerned about servants from her castle disappearing.

Across his fights Samanosuke discovers the Genma have resurrected Nobunaga into serving their needs while intending to sacrifice Yuki and an orphan named Yumemaru to grant him more powers.

Samanosuke manages to save Yuki and Yumemaru and kills the Genma Lord, the God of Light Fortinbras.

The spin-off Onimusha: Blade Warriors has the cast from Warlords and Samurai's Destiny in a new battle against Nobunaga's forces.

Before confronting Nobunaga, Samanosuke is transported to Modern Paris as a result of an experiment made by the Genma scientist Guildernstern to enable his kin to conquer more lands.

In the meantime, service agent Jacques Blanc is a victim of Guildernstern while transported to Japan's Sengoku period.

The fourth game, Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, had Nobunaga's servant Hideyoshi Toyotomi unified Japan with the Genma whom he supported in their actions.

As the first leader of the Yagyū clan seen in the series and originator of Shin-in style sword combat, he was born as Sougen but later given the name Jūbei as a child, a tradition which would continue as seen with his granddaughter.

He is also the only main character to be killed, dying at the end of Dawn of Dreams after sacrificing himself to destroy the Oni Star.

In real world history, Nobunaga is viewed culturally as both a hero and as a villain for respectively trying to unite his nation during the Sengoku Period and the horrific lengths he took to achieve his goal.

The titles have influenced other games from the company including Devil May Cry, Shadow of Rome and Resident Evil 4.

[23][24] The first two games, however, were criticized for forcing the player to use the Directional Pad rather than the left analogue to make the playable character to move.

[28][24] Yoshinori Ono acknowledged the third game's short length and thus made Dawn of Dreams become the series' longest title.

According to Paramount and Davis Films' Samuel Hadida: "It's samurai fighting against demons – it's very close to this simple pitch.

The main character, Musashi Miyamoto, is modeled after Toshiro Mifune and voiced by Akio Otsuka, who previously portrayed Nobunaga Oda in the video games.