Oninaki

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 49 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 49
  3. Negative: 18 out of 49
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  1. SWERY_51
    Aug 22, 2019
    5
    I put 4 hours in this game, and i will not go any further.

    If the story seems nice so far and the dark atmosphere works pretty fine, i found the combat system horrible. Have you ever played a PlatinumGames game like Nier Automata? Well, Oninaki's gameplay is at the extreme opposite. Heavy, boring (when you kill a bunch of enemies, more enemies appear!), and with a dodging mechanic that    I put 4 hours in this game, and i will not go any further.

    If the story seems nice so far and the dark atmosphere works pretty fine, i found the combat system horrible. Have you ever played a PlatinumGames game like Nier Automata? Well, Oninaki's gameplay is at the extreme opposite. Heavy, boring (when you kill a bunch of enemies, more enemies appear!), and with a dodging mechanic that simply doesn't work! It takes literally 2 seconds to your character to actually dodge after you've pressed the god damn button, why??

    I really enjoyed Lost Sphear and I Am Setsuna with their turn-based combat system, but i just hate what they've done with Oninaki. It just feels like a slow hack n' slash with very few rewards, it is not fun to play at all. Graphics are one step ahead of previous titles, which is a good point. Otherwise once again, the price is a way too high, a $25 game sold $50. So even if you really enjoyed the demo, you should probably better wait for a sale...    … Expand
  2. Chakarlito
    Aug 29, 2019
    6
    Was looking for something similar to Nier Automata but it is not even close, combat is somewhat fun but overal is a quite mediocre game, no cinematic scenes is like playing a Ps1 game.
  3. SplitMind
    Oct 23, 2020
    5
    I randomly tried Oninaki as a demo from the PSN store and was really intrigued. I absolutely loved the story and graphics. The gameplay took a slight bit of getting used to but the theme of grief, death and the afterlife really captured my interest on a personal level, so I went out of my way to find a UK version of the game from Ebay.

    Little did I know that the demo was excellent    I randomly tried Oninaki as a demo from the PSN store and was really intrigued. I absolutely loved the story and graphics. The gameplay took a slight bit of getting used to but the theme of grief, death and the afterlife really captured my interest on a personal level, so I went out of my way to find a UK version of the game from Ebay.

    Little did I know that the demo was excellent because it captured everything good about the game in a nutshell. The story continued to be interesting with characters pondering the possibility of an afterlife and leaving loved ones behind, but this is marred greatly by the gameplay.

    The gameplay boils down to an oversimplified hack-n-slash. You are mashing the same button repeatedly with the occasional special move that needs a timed recharge for variety. Combined with this are some very annoying and extremely repetitive and endless enemies. There isn't a lot of variety between them an rather than use this homogeneity sparingly, you're subjected to an onslaught of bland enemies everywhere you go, with mini-bosses often being just a larger version of them.

    All in all, this game is a huge missed opportunity. The graphics are very charming but also one-dimensional, much like the personality of the protagonist. Switching between the living and dead worlds to traverse the landscape is an interesting concept but can easily sink into irritation and repetition as you can often traverse the same areas looking for your goal.

    In the PS3 era, this game would have been a shining star, but in the present generation it fades into a crowded genre of JRPGs, which makes it hard to recommend where there are games like Trails of Cold Steel.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 45 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 45
  3. Negative: 2 out of 45
  1. ZTGD
    Oct 15, 2019
    75
    Oninaki is my favorite Tokyo RPG Factory game to date, with its gorgeous art style and melodic music and its more appealing storyline. It may be far from perfect, but it is certainly worth a look if you fancy a slightly different take on a well-established genre.
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  2. IGN Japan
    Oct 8, 2019
    65
    Oninaki has an unbalanced battle system and lacks any guidance through its appealing story. Yet the unique setting and world should be interesting enough for most players to want to see it through.
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  3. RPGamer
    Oct 7, 2019
    50
    While Oninaki had its fair share of ideas that could have potentially made it a gem, it is ultimately undone by weak storytelling that doesn’t do its heavy subject matter justice and combat that is enjoyable at times yet held back by design flaws that hinder the experience. It never quite executes its best ideas in a wholly satisfactory way, resulting in a game that I tried my best to open my heart to, but the game refused to open its own.
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