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Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Series	Onimusha series
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Release date(s)	JPN January 26, 2006 NA March 8, 2006 EUR March 18, 2006
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) USK: 16+ PEGI: 12+ OFLC: MA15+
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	2 DVDs
Input	DualShock

Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams (also titled Shin Onimusha) is the fourth canonical installment of Capcom's Onimusha series. It was released in March 2006, despite producer Keiji Inafune's claim that Onimusha 3: Demon Siege would be the final chapter (it was however the last one where Oda Nobunaga played an antagonist). In a series first, the main character, Soki(灰燼の蒼鬼 a.k.a. Yuki Hideyasu (Hideyasu Yuki)), is not based on the appearance of an actor.

In the game, he is the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and is a swordsman who is able to wield two blades. In the beginning of the game, he is seen using the blue sword, Lamentation, in normal combat. The red blade that is strapped to his back for most of the game, Requiem, is only unleashed for special attacks later in the adventure. Although the previous Onimusha titles made use of pre-rendered backdrops for the action onscreen (with the exception of Onimusha 3: Demon Siege), Dawn of Dreams has made the move to a more complete 3D rendition of its environment. This has allowed the player to control the camera for most of the game, as opposed to the static camera angles employed within its predecessors. It is still restricted in a handful of areas but it is one of the largest changes to the series. A shop system allows the player to purchase weapons that they can also upgrade along with valuable supplies such as medicine and accessories that convey a variety of benefits. Finally, a second party member now accompanies the player which they can also switch to and control. During gameplay, the second character that is not under the control of the player can be issued commands via the directional buttons (for tactics) with the AI performing them to the best of its abilities.

The game takes place some sixteen years after the events from Onimusha 3: Demon Siege which had ended with the defeat of Oda Nobunaga, the central "villain" of the previous three major installments. Oda Nobunaga's vassal, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Hideyoshi Toyotomi), has now taken control of the country, unifying it under one banner and essentially ending the wars that had torn the land apart under his former lord's banner. However, this period of peace ends with several natural disasters acting as an omen of things to come including the appearance of an "Omen Star" in the sky. Rumors soon fill the land of the Genma returning and that Hideyoshi may have something to do with them.

The game makes several references to the previous chapters, although it is not necessary to have gone through them in order to play the game.

• Soki: The dual sword-wielding protagonist of the game, Soki is also known as Hideyasu Yuki, Black Oni, and "Blue" by Akane 'Jubei' Yagyu. His mixed family background and ambition is revealed throughout the game, as well as his reason for taking up the alias of Soki. The introduction movie has a young girl claiming he's the "Black Oni" after rescuing her from a Genma invasion. He travels with Minokichi, an adolescent of the Mino Clan & relative to Minogoro of Onimusha Warlords. Personality wise, Soki is quite intent on justice and amending the evil brought upon the land by the Genma Army, the Triumvirate (Claudius, Rosencrantz, & Ophelia), and most importantly - his surrogate father, Hideyoshi Toyotomi. As referred in the game which Soki tells about his name, he said that his name means "Oni of the Ash". In the introduction, his name appeared as an head title: "Soki, Oni of the Ash". He is referred as the word 'Oni' by Luis Frois/Rosencrantz in the game, because he could not call him Soki as he is the Black Oni who would save the world.

• Akane 'Jubei' Yagyu: grand-daughter to the star of Onimusha: Samurai's Destiny: Muneyoshi Jubei Yagyu/Sekishusai. The name Jubei is a given title. It is granted only to the best swordsman of the Yagyu bloodline and Akane is the first female in line to have earned it. Her mission is to assassinate her renegade uncle, Munenori Yagyu, a son of Muneyoshi, for his bloody betrayal of the Yagyu clan, eventually siding with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Her specialty is her speed, agility, and her sword ability. She is also small enough to slip through wall cracks or across narrow paths such as balance beams to access hard to reach places.

• Ohatsu: The second daughter of Oichi (aka Oyu of Odani) and niece of Oda Nobunaga who was trained in gun-fighting techniques by Magoichi Saiga, the legendary gunner-mercenary of the Saiga Clan who fought against the nefarious Lord of the Genma Oda Nobunaga. She is also the sister of Lady Yodo (Cha-Cha), the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. She is concerned about the change in Hideyoshi ever since the appearance of the "Omen Star", but is bound to her duty to his house when the player first encounters her. Her specialty is with ranged attacks. She can also use explosives to open doors and use a grapple attached to her arm to reach certain areas.

• Roberto Frois: a Half-Spanish, Half-Japanese 'Westerner' who became an orphan after moving to Japan from his homeland of Espaňa with his mother. Taken in and cared for by Luis Frois, a missionary doctor, he is now on a quest of vengeance against him. The reason for this is revealed later in the game and when the player first encounters him, he keeps to himself and says very little. He fights only with his enhanced fists and his strength can pound open stubborn metal doors.

• Tenkai Nankobo: Tenkai Nankobo is the disguised Samanosuke who returns in Onimusha 4. He looks young but attains his white hair due to his disconnection with the power of the Oni. In this game, he is a monk who wields a staff that helps Soki through his quest to defeat Hideyoshi and to find a way to seal his Oni gauntlet.

Gameplay screenshot

• The Triumvirate, as revealed later in the game, is the major villains in this story. As a part of their arsenal, they can use poisonous attacks that take a variety of forms. This poisonous miasma, which is actually the Genma's essence, can be absorbed the same way souls are absorbed. Claudius and Rosencratz use it to form pools of greenish purple venom that poisons anyone that steps in them. Claudius also uses it to form violet colored flame attacks while Ophelia uses it to form a shield around her.

• One major point of contention with the way that the characters are portrayed in the game is their apparent ability to absorb souls and achieve an Oni Awakening. This is not something that is restricted to only the main character, Soki. In previous titles, characters that did not have the oni power to "absorb souls" were able to thanks to other soul absorbing accessories that were conveniently placed in certain areas for them to use. These items were considered a gift from the Oni thanks to their apparent capability in being able to travel across time and space. However, this kind of explanation was absent from Dawn of Dreams. While it can be argued that this ability was a gift from the Oni, or that each playable character possesses unique attributes that explain this, many fans have voiced that more details should have been provided. For example, Ohatsu reveals that her power comes from the demonic blood tie to her uncle Nobunaga Oda (former Genma Lord), however this is a plot hole since Nobunaga was a human before becoming a demon and therefore Ohatsu should have only human blood. Others have criticized the fact that everyone who achieves the Oni Awakening remains invulnerable until it winds down. The implication is that this places all of the other characters on a level of power equal to the Onimusha, making the role almost trivial.

• The weapons in the game have similar appearances to weapons from the previous Onimusha games. For example, Fallen Angel and the Bishamon Sword along with Genma Samonji and Gokumonji use the same textures, but they are historically different weapons. Raizan and Enryu are the only swords that are carried over from the previous Onimusha games. However, their magic attack has been changed due to the revamped gameplay system and mechanics. Another change is that none of the weapons have a charge attack in this game, now replaced with a magic charge which allows the character to charge up their Oni magic to three levels of increasing power.

• The five playable character system was adopted from the previous Onimusha series. However, only the main characters are only able to do secret combos by upgrading the characters attribute skills ( ATTACK, THRUST, LIFT, KICK, AND FINISHER).

• The fighting styles for each character have also been adopted from the previous games with the exception of Roberto Frois who uses his hands. For example, Soki's blade combat's skill is styled against Yagyu Jubei Muneyoshi from Onimusha 2, or Samonosuke Akechi from Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege.

• Criticism has also been voiced concerning Akane's mention during the game that Genma cannot be killed by normal blades. This was proven false in a variety of situations throughout the series' history. In Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, the characters that help Yagyu Jubei were not given any particular ability by the Oni to slay Genma, yet they are able to. Onimusha 3, a character called Michelle Aubert wields an arsenal of heavy firearms that also have no connection to Oni, yet she is still able to destroy them using the otherwise mundane weapons. It could also be argued that she was somewhat mistaken as mundane weapons can kill the genma but would take a far larger effort to do so compared to oni weapons.

Two songs by Ayumi Hamasaki are featured on the game .

The game's music and soundtrack is composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa and Jamie Christopherson. Hideyuki Fukasawa, who first came onto the video gaming music scene with his work on Chaos Legion, is responsible for most of Shin Onimusha's in-game music and soundtrack (most gamers who are familiar with his work on Chaos Legion will notice his style of composing) while Jamie Christopherson was in charge of the game's impressive CG cut scenes' and FMV's Hollywood-style orchestral scores.

Two songs by Ayumi Hamasaki, one titled "Startin'" and the other "Rainy Day" , are featured as the opening and ending themes for the game respectively in the Japanese version. The opening theme has been removed from the western versions (unless the player selects the game system to 'Japanese' in the options).

• In Japan, the game is known as Shin Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (If you look carefully at the cover of the game art box, a new Japanese character appears before the title "Onimusha") and shin can be translated as "new".
• Hori, a Japanese company, made a special PS2 memory card for the game.
• An animated movie was made based on the game and entitled "Shin Onimusha Dawn Of Dreams The Story."

• This is the only Onimusha game, besides Onimusha 1, to have the option of English and Japanese audio.
• Yagyu Jubei Akane's style of attack is similar to Kaede's from Onimusha 1. Ohatsu's attack style resembles that of Michelle from onimusha 3 and Magoichi Saiga from Onimusha 2, who is revealed as the one who had trained her. Roberto's attack is his own unique style. His theme tune also contains a small guitar part from Devil May Cry 3's first mission. Lastly, Tenkai's combat style is similar to that of Ankokuji Ekei from Onimusha 2 and Honda Heihachiro Tadakatsu from Onimusha 3.
• Various mythological weapons appear in this installment as stylized representations of themselves, including: Durandal, Excalibur, Balmunk, Masamune, and Gae Bolga.
• Additionally, various weapons appear as throwbacks to other titles within the franchise, including Enryū, Raizan (both previously wielded by Samanosuke in Onimusha 1), Tanegashima (a rifle which originally appeared in Onimusha 2), and Onimaru (originally the main character of Onimusha Tactics).
• Both Munenori and Akane (near the end of the game) are both depicted wearing eye patches to cover their demon eye. This can be thought of as an allusion to the eye patch-belief of the historical Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi.
• Most of Tenkai's pole arms are named after Hindu deities for example, Varuna, Indra, and Rakasha.
• It is revealed near the end of the game that Tenkai and Arin are, in fact, Hidemitsu Samanosuke Akechi and Ako, the Crow Tengu from Onimusha 3: Demon Siege.
• Each character has access to a special costume which makes them look like a character from the Street Fighter series of games, also by Capcom.
• On the gameplay, when not moving anything as if you're playing Soki, his pose was similar to the Chaos Legion's Sieg Warheit. Both Sieg and Soki have the similar pose when not moving anything for even a second. The pose is the only sword which pats on the right shoulder. Although the duration is both different. In Chaos Legion, Sieg has no time limit. Only Soki would do it about three pats on the shoulder.