Developed by KENEI DESIGN, and SHUEISHA GAMES and published by Clouded Leopard Entertainment, embark on a story following Kuuta, a tiny Oni on a quest to become the strongest. Overcome trials and face dark foes in ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni.
What lies on the Road to the Mightiest Oni?
Visually, ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni is very stylistic. It holds a cell-shaded design that meshes well with the Japanese folklore vibe it has going on. Not quite on the level of Okami, but close. The music is also well designed, but here is where I have a personal problem. In the main over-world, for the length that I played, the game was a constant lyrically spoken song. And no matter how low I tried to turn the music down, it was always there and distracting. The music itself was good, but it was on a constant loop. It sounded like something that should have been locked to the Start Screen, or even the end credits.
As far as combat is concerned, ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni is straightforward in its approach. You can swing your club, charge up a spinning attack, and knock people down. Kuuta then finishes off the spirits, and if you don’t, they wake back up. You are also able to send out a little ghost friend to attack, but you have to remain still to do so. And the ghost has a stamina meter so you can’t do it a lot. There is a neat combo where if enough foes are downed, you can dash between all of them and defeat their spirits, and it feels very satisfying.
Passion without Purpose
This is, however, limited to the controller experience. Playing with mouse and keyboard feels incredibly clunky and frustrating. And after playing for a length of time, it just became repetitive even with the controller. I can’t imagine having to play this with a mouse and keyboard all the way through. You also can’t really change any of the controls to make things easier on you. Add on top some weird camera glitches causing it to reset, and performance issues that happen without any real cause and you have a real stickler on your hands.
Personally, it feels like the game is trying to say something. Between the speech bubbles that pop up before you start an encounter or mission, they hint at something else. Something dark or sad or unsettling. While I haven’t gone all the way and sunk the time into the game to find all the hidden notes and all the messages, I feel like I can safely say this game needs to focus up. The hunt for story needs to be the draw, and you need more than curiosity to pull your players along. Clunky and slow combat in between samey missions only serve to hinder the story trying to be told.
A story to tell, a tale to listen
ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni is an interesting title. A game that is heavily based around story, but still having unfocused combat. I feel that this game has a lot of passion, but that passion sometimes gets in the way of the functionality. It’s not a terrible game, but its certainly not a very good one. It looks like it could be a good story, but the ‘game-play’ gets in the way of it. Or maybe I”m missing the mark and this game isn’t meant for me. Who knows? To me it feels a bit much for its price tag.
ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC through Steam. Review key provided by Clouded Leopard Entertainment Inc.
VERDICT
BAD
BAD
ONI: Road to the Mightiest Oni is an interesting title. A game that is heavily based around story, but still having unfocused combat. I feel that this game has a lot of passion, but that passion sometimes gets in the way of the functionality. It’s not a terrible game, but its certainly not a very good one. To me it feels a bit much for its price tag.
