Oni: Road to be the Mightiest Oni

Picture this: It’s a island full of little demons who are running around and trying their hardest become the ultimate warrior. No, it’s not the newest season of Fortnite, but rather Oni: Road to be the Mightiest Oni, a new action game starring a tiny demon with a mighty backpack and even mightier club. Can this little guy survive long enough to get the victory royale? Find out now when I review Oni: Road to be the Mightiest Oni.

Welcome to Kisejima Island, a small island in the middle of the ocean where demons go to sharpen their teeth. Although the scenic island appears to be empty at first, it won’t take much to stir the spirits, setting up a series of increasingly challenging missions where our hero Kuuta fights the local demons in an effort to – you guessed it – become the mightiest oni. Along the way, the cute little demon will start an unlikely friendship with a human girl that will change his life forever.

This sets up a cute and fun beat ‘em up that sees Kuuta learns a lot about empathy and confronts his own trauma and biases, all while fighting evil spirits, exploring the small island and, most importantly, picking up mushrooms. It’s not the world’s deepest action game, but the more than three dozen stages are short and the story of a demon and human friendship is delightful.

Now, when I talk about the stages, I want you to know that they are more like arena battles. This is not the kind of game where we go on grand adventures and have to navigate platforms and obstacles in hopes of reaching the end of the level. Instead, what we get are a series of fairly straight-forward battles where you’re locked in a tight circle and forced to go up against wave after wave of enemies of all different types and sizes. Sometimes it will be a bunch of similar-sized demons, while other times the bad guys will be massive and teaming up with ghosts and bomb throwing dolls. Survive the fight and you’ll be one step closer to becoming the mightiest oni.

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The good news is that Kuuta always has a helpful spirit by his side. This is a ghost character who will suck up the enemy’s souls and help you out in a pinch. For example, the ghost will be able to use the energy he’s gathered to heal Kuuta in the tougher battles. You can also use the ghost as a way to teleport our hero to hard-to-reach areas, such as the small rocks in the middle of the ocean. Best of all, the ghost has a number of uses in battle, and being able to control his movement independently helps to set this game apart from other action/brawlers.

It also helps that Kuuta can unlock and learn several different special attacks, such as becoming invincible for a short amount of time, jumping high up into the air to escape damage and calling in two doppelgangers to help finish the fight. We’ll also be able to upgrade our hero by purchasing new clubs and shorts, which will give the little guy more strength and armor. The good news is that the island’s entire economy is based on mushrooms, a readily available vegetable that will grow back every time you pick one up.

Unfortunately, this is where you notice how simplistic and shallow this game really is. There are only a half-dozen clubs and shorts to pick up, with a couple that you’ll completely skip over, since it’s always so easy to find and pick mushrooms. This is a constant reminder that there isn’t a whole lot to the fighting, which is what you’ll be spending most of your time doing on Kisejima Island. Sure, there’s a cute story about an unlikely friendship, but that’s mostly relegated to brief cinemas between missions. When you’re actually locked in combat, you’ll end up doing a whole lot of button mashing.

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The game tries to mix up the stages by adding a different camera perspective, such as a 2D side-scrolling stage or one fight that is presented from an overhead point of view. There are also a few stages that happen at night, which supposedly limits the visibility, but I didn’t find that it changed much. And that’s the problem, no matter what they do to shake things up, the core battles are very samey and repetitive. Many are far too easy, with only a handful of stages needing any kind of strategy. I was hoping for more.

The same goes for the island itself, which is surprisingly small and boring. There are a few cool highlights (such as a graveyard and the village in the forest), but you can traverse the entire island in just a couple of minutes. They treat opening the new portions of the map like it’s a big deal, yet it’s just more of the same and extremely anti-climactic. The different parts of the island simply aren’t unique enough to warrant being excited, and it’s not like there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the closed off sections. That’s disappointing.

The good news is that this game is saved by some epic boss fights and a cute story that you’ll want to see through to the very end. There’s a point where the action begins to heat up, and I won’t lie, I got completely swept up in the excitement. Couple that with the colorful graphics and a catchy soundtrack full of songs with lyrics and singing, and you have a cute little action game that is definitely good, but comes up short of being great.