Every enemy in Onimusha: Way of the Sword dissolves into colored souls, and Musashi’s Oni Gauntlet drinks them all, but the four colors do completely different things. Understanding them, and knowing where your first Red Souls should go, sets up your entire playthrough. Here’s the system, and the early purchases that pay off most.
What Each Soul Color Does
- Red Souls: currency. They buy and enhance skills at Spirit Mirrors and pay the vendor for items and materials.
- Yellow Souls: restore health. Aggression is sustain.
- Blue Souls: charge the Oni Armament gauge, which powers your summoned spirit weapons.
- Purple Souls: fill the Oni Awakening gauge for Musashi’s empowered state.
The Two Skill Trees
Skill spending happens at Spirit Mirrors, split across two trees:
- Basic Skills: core sword and mobility upgrades. The big unlocks are gated by Power Stones, found in chests and side content.
- Oni (Special) Skills: the supernatural side, gated by Oni Stones.
Red Souls buy the incremental steps in both trees, while the Stones act as milestone keys, so exploration directly widens your build options. Equipment enhancement (Clothing, Sword, Gauntlet, each with five proficiency ranks) unlocks at the Spirit Mirror during “The Oni’s Apprentice.”
The Best Early Skills
Buy Blazing State first. It’s the consensus opening pick across launch guides, and for good reason: after a successful parry, Musashi enters a buffed state with increased damage and extra Blue Soul drops. That one skill links the whole game loop together: parry well, hit harder, charge Oni Armaments faster, which stamina-breaks enemies sooner, which yields more souls. Defense becomes your economy.
After Blazing State, prioritize:
- Deflect tree upgrades as soon as they open (during The Oni’s Apprentice): deflecting is your stamina-damage engine, and stamina breaks trigger Break Issen soul showers.
- Health and survivability basics if you’re on Action difficulty and finding the mid-game spikes rough.
- Whatever your Power Stones allow: milestone skills are almost always worth claiming when the gate opens.
Farming Red Souls Without Grinding
- Fight everything on your path; the game’s economy assumes you engage rather than sprint past.
- On stamina-broken bosses, strike the purple-glowing part during Break Issen for a soul shower.
- Don’t hoard: enhancement costs scale, and early skill purchases compound over the whole run.
- Short on materials like Whetstones or Iron for equipment upgrades? The vendor Yorimasa (after purifying Yasui Konpiragu shrine) sells most of them for Red Souls, so materials are effectively buyable and the grind is optional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I respec my skills? No respec option has been documented in launch coverage. Spend like your choices are permanent, and favor universally useful skills first.
What should I NOT spend Red Souls on early? Deep enhancement of gear you’ll outgrow. Skills carry your whole run; over-enhancing early equipment doesn’t.
Do souls carry into New Game Plus? Red Souls do not carry over. Enhanced skills, Awakened Oni Abilities, Hozuki Pouches, Charms, Genma Notes, and Lion Dogs do; gear enhancements reset.
What are Power Stones and Oni Stones again? Milestone keys for the Basic and Oni skill trees respectively, found in chests and side content, which makes exploring detours consistently worthwhile.