We’ve been hearing about Onikira: Demon Killer (formerly known as Honoré) for a few years now. More precisely, it’s been three years since the Irish studio Digital Furnace worked on this game until it finally managed to see the light, after a stint at Early Access that has lasted since November last year.
If you happen to enter their website, it will seem to you that this is their first game, but if you investigate a little with the data I’ve already given you, you’ll find that another studio, also Irish, called BatCat Games, made a game called Jiro, which was a “runner beat ’em up with samurai.”
The video game industry turns a lot, and from the time you start a job until you end up bringing it to market, it may have changed markedly. In July 2012, making a mobile game was a good idea, because even (for months) the business model hadn’t imposed free-to-play, which turned a bunch of decent-paying games into ones that had no way to play or monetize “free.”
In addition, the guys at BatCat Games came to make a shoot ’em up for another of the platforms with the smallest market size and lowest barrier to entry until mobiles appeared. I mean Xbox Live Indie Games (formerly known as Community Games), that Xbox 360 store that still gets new games that even Microsoft abandoned when it switched to Xbox One. P-3, which is what the shoot ’em up is called (quite ordinary, if you don’t mind me commenting), also appeared on PC, where these guys ended up porting it, this time led by the Steam wave, which is unfortunately now suffering a phenomenon similar to what the Apple Store experienced when they first started making this video game.
Game Overview
Onikira: Demon Killer is a game full of good intentions. It shows that its studio was very clear on the inspiration, based on the samurai and demon stories we could already enjoy from Onimusha by Capcom, but instead of sticking with this semi-tridimensional look, they went straight for a two-dimensional type of game.

Actually, it’s funny because if we ask someone about hack & slash, the most normal thing is that it leads us to God of War, Bayonetta, or if you have any memory of Devil May Cry (from the same director as Bayonetta, but who currently has no more control over the franchise, which, coincidentally, also ended up on British shoulders).
But if we could put this question to someone who fully appreciated video games in the 90s, it would remind us of games like Strider and its sequel Danan the Jungle Fighter, the two-part Legendary Axe, Magic Sword and even Golden Axe (generally recognized under the term beat ’em up). This is because the grace of a hack and slash is the possibility of “slashing,” that is, splitting an edge into the opponent’s flesh.
Story
The story isn’t too interesting and it’s not particularly new either. Jiro (yes, they respected the name of the main character from the first project) is a samurai who has to face an entire invasion of demons and other terrible enemies, led, as you can imagine, by the terrible Satan (the truth is, that’s not a name too common to be pronounced by Japanese mythology). And that’s where our character goes into battle.
Gameplay
Onikira: Demon Killer is a hack ‘n slash, and also has as a reference, more than the games mentioned above (to which we could add Ninja Spirit, which is more similar) the seminal Devil May Cry by Hideki Kamiya. And I say seminal because thanks to Devil May Cry it became fashionable not only the possibility of slashing rival enemies, but to do it with grace and style, something that Bayonetta, by the same director, later perfected remarkably.

So, Onikira: Demon Killer goes on the same line. As we move from one screen to the next, we find ourselves facing demons, and the way to confront them is with a clean sword, with the detail that we can stand up in the air, jump, and unleash a nice combo there so when they fall, there’s no need to worry about them.
What’s more, the better we do these combos, not only is there a reflection of our happiness to tell us “what’s left of good,” but the game itself judges us to put a mark on our abilities, which can always awaken our competitive and perfectionist path.
Combat
At first, we can only use our katana, which is already showing signs of being quite flexible and elegant in combat. But not only can we buy new moves and skills, but as the game progresses, we can use new weapons, which have their own characteristics and moves as well.
So the blade is even faster, the naginata (Japanese spear) has a longer reach, and finally the tetsubo (a kind of club) hits very hard. To all this, we must add special attacks that reach the entire screen, so that the variety of attacks is not only quite remarkable, but they are quite well done.
Game Levels
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for the development of the game itself. Clearly, we’re not going to expect great variety from a title that deals with slashing and hacking, but we certainly have a problem with the enemies.
All the effort that has gone into the main character has no compensation in the variety of enemies. Not that they’re all the same, but we find the basic type of enemies too common.

Luckily there is some platforming, mixed with the possibility of using a chain as if it were the hook of Game Gear’s Shinobi, but the system chosen by the developers to establish the moments of combat ruins the experience a bit.
Until the end of the game, we will find that most fights come from the appearance of some kind of demonic plants that prevent us from passing to the right and left of the screen (even though Jiro’s jump can overcome them), and then some portals are created from which enemies come out.
And so from the beginning to the end of the game, being undoubtedly its greatest sin, because otherwise it is a quite appreciable game.
In addition to the main game mode, which will take us a few hours to fully master, we have a few challenges. So, anyone willing to cushion the game here has a chance to do so.
Graphics
In terms of graphics, we can point to good animation of the main character, as well as a fairly decent design, and backgrounds that make a good impression. Among the enemies, there’s a bit of everything, from well-crafted patterns to others that don’t have the same effect, from enemies we’ll eventually tire of seeing to others that give us a better reaction when we see them.

Commenting that the graphics engine used, Duality, gave them more problems than good solutions, although no doubt the animation support used enabled them to look as good as they look in the game.
Sound
The sound aspect, though generic, accompanies the action quite well, with dark melodies with a certain strength that, along with the sounds of blows, swords and well-done effects, they fill in without too much bragging or problems.
Onikira: Demon Killer – Is it worth playing?
In short, Onikira: Demon Killer seems to me an uneven game, mixing a good combat system, interesting graphics and good ideas with a poor decision when considering level design. It’s a shame, and the truth is that its developers worked hard to make it not thanks to having spent enough time in Early Access, but in the end it seems we’ve been left with a game that could have been very good, and that ultimately profits better in small doses than in big games.