For a long time, I wondered what a Souls-like game without weapons would play like. Games like Sifu took me a few steps closer to that painful difficulty feel, but they never really made me feel the same way as any FromSoftware classic. With Oni, I can finally say I felt the torturous potential, and I can safely say, “goddamn, Oni is one hard game!”
Oni is a third-person action game released in 2001 and developed by Bungie West, a former division of Bungie. The game introduced engagingly difficult yet unique gameplay styles based on hand-to-hand combat with just a hint of bullet combat.
The Tale of Oni
Taking place in the heavily armoured and robot-filled year of 2032, Oni follows the tale of Konoko, a half-orphan, half-cyborg, set on a mission by the TCTF to find and destroy the Musashi manufacturing company, also known as the Syndicate.
The game progresses mission by mission, where you run through different bases and buildings, getting into fistfights with members of the Syndicate.
Oni! Chung is dead!
Throughout the game, numerous twists and turns unravel as new information surfaces about Konoko’s past, her ties with the TCTF, and Shinatama, another cyborg girl who communicates through your earpiece, aiding you during most of your battles.
There are numerous captivating moments in this story that are sure to draw you in, while the gameplay, with its blood-boiling challenges and profanity-inducing difficulty, evokes nostalgic memories of playing through Souls-like games, and to a lesser extent, Cuphead.
Who is Chung?…. Well, You need to play the game to know the answer to that!
Robo Oni Cop
Everyone in this game is dressed as if a kid in the 90s was asked how people would look-like in the future. His answer… ‘With heavily round armoured shoulder pads and helmets, hair that looks straight out of anime and increasingly weird weaponry’
One cannot deny this game has personality.
Konoko changes her clothes multiple times in the game, going from looking like a Robot to a member of a biker gang in the process. That combined with the fact that her dialogue ranges from professional cop to angst teen, makes it a very memorable time playing through the story of Oni.
An actual Gymnast
Something I have discussed with associates in the past is the lack of actual acrobatic gameplay in modern games. These days every game has that rugged, strong MC. Does not matter what gender or body size, the best you get is a body roll dodge or in the case of Uncharted, the new Lara Croft and Assassins Creed, A little bit of extremely heavy parkour.
If any of you reading this had the chance to look at the new Lara Croft remake/remaster you saw that in the game she can do handsprings, flips and evades that are beyond anything that we can find in today’s games. Especially in the AAA market.
Oni brings that concept into play with its take. From the tutorial level at the start, we are taught ways to dodge attacks. While yes, there is a dodge roll, Oni takes things to a whole new level. By jumping before rolling, you can flip in any direction. There is a leg sweep attack to drop enemies, and a lot of capoeira. (Eddy’s moves from Tekken for those who don’t know what this martial art is)
This is only the beginning
Oni has one of the best hit detection I have ever seen, past or present. You will find yourself doing insane stunts to dodge attacks where enemy punches and kicks just miss by an inch. The same is true in reverse, where enemies will attempt to dodge you.
You can grab your enemies and hit them with professional wrestling moves like Ricochet or Rey Mysterio. I am talking hurricanrana, drop kicks, leg scissors, back breakers, leg pulls, etc. The enemies in return grab you to hit suplexes, backdrops, and spears. It is insane how much this game has to offer in its combat. It blew me away!
Hard as Oni Nails
Throughout your gameplay, the game maintains a consistently high level of quality. This applies equally to the difficulty, for better or worse.
When I began my playthrough, I chose medium. There were 3 options and I am always the middle difficulty man. 3 hours after being bashed and whacked on stage 2, I changed it back to easy difficulty.
Did that fix the problem, you ask? Smurfs No!
The only thing that changes with the difficulty is how many hits it will take to defeat an enemy. Which is not helpful if hitting them is in itself a monumental task.
You see, the enemies in this game don’t take turns. This isn’t a Batman game, nor is it Assassin’s Creed. Like I said earlier, it’s Dark Souls with fists. If you get into combat, every enemy in the radius with even an inkling of your existence will come running.
These enemies not only pile on you, but they do it with strategy.
Giving No Oni-inch
On more than one occasion, I found myself surrounded by four enemies at once. Two would charge from one side, and the third would attempt to tackle my legs. Jump out of the way and the 4th will clothesline your flying body, sending you blasting off like team rocket. Before you even finish landing on the floor though, all the enemies huddle around get onto their knees and start pounding you into chutney with their bare hands.
Try to run and they chase you. 90% of this game was me running with a conga line of bloodthirsty soldiers behind me.
Try to sneak and you realise that eventually you have to face the buggers. It does not matter how many you pass, when one spots you, the rest are sure to follow. It gets even worse when they raise the bloody alarm!
From the tutorial to the last mission of this game, you’ll experience relentless pursuit, attacks, and massacres in ways you never imagined possible. And don’t even get me started on those dreadful cloaked enemies…
So taking all this in and giving myself a moment to think, I believe I can clearly say, from the bottom of my heart, I love it!
The Art of Difficult Games
While yes, the enmeies can be a pain in the posterior and the save game system is far from perfect, I still cannot put this difficult game away.
For every area filled with enemies and every spongy boss fight, Oni has those great moments.
I tried to figure out why I always came back, why was it this game that received so much of my time while many others could have been well covered twice in the time this took?
Well, it is because this game had that one thing I believe very few games, past or present, have…. Lessons to teach.
The difficulty, while draining, always leads you to learn more about how the game works. What moves are better against which type of enemy, when to run, and when to fight. All these things not only make you better understand the mechanics of the game but also of real life.
When it shined an optional collectable among a horde of armed guards, Oni taught me when to say no.
When it blocked my path to progression with 10 guards standing in the same corridor, it taught me about never giving up.
At times, when instead of charging in and the only way forward was to scope out the enemy walking patterns, it taught me the importance of patience and planning.
These were just some of the ways this game changed my outlook on things, and for that, it will forever stay on my list of very important games.
A Game I Will Never Forget
To wrap this up, all I can say is Oni is one draining game from the 2000s. It is insanely difficult, the graphics are quite dated, and the dialogue is a little cringe-worthy. However, despite all that, I have to request that anyone who can, should play this game.
Play this game not because I said so but because it will change you. It will show you what games are capable of, it will teach you how hard a game can be and it will change you as a person.
My highest praise for a difficult game like this is that while Oni might not be considered a masterpiece, it certainly deserves to be praised and played as if it were one!
