By I put a lot more time into Onimusha: Way of the Sword since my first look at it on the Steam Deck. Back then I was only a little way in, and I’d heard the performance changes once you’re past the early stretch, so I wanted to go back with about 2-3 hours on the clock and see for myself. Turns out that’s true, and it changed what I’d actually recommend, so here’s my updated settings for getting this one running well on the Deck.
Why the prologue is misleading
If you judge this game by the prologue alone, you’ll think you’re getting a locked 60 FPS the whole way through. You’re not. Once you’re out of the prologue and into the main game, it settles down closer to 30 FPS, and no amount of fiddling gets you back to that opening number consistently. So the settings below are built around that 30 FPS reality rather than chasing the prologue’s numbers.
My settings for a solid 30 FPS
Here’s what I landed on after the prologue: graphics set to Low, textures bumped up to Medium since the Deck can handle that without much cost, FSR set to Quality, and the frame rate locked at 30. With this combination I get a solid, consistent 30 FPS and the game still looks pretty good running on the Deck’s screen. Textures at Medium in particular make a noticeable difference to how sharp things look without hurting performance.
Why I switched on Magico Frame Generation
This game excels with Magico Frame Generation turned on. With it enabled I get close to that 60 FPS feel, and because this is a fairly fast-paced action game, that extra smoothness genuinely helps. One thing to flag: I left adaptive frame generation off, because I noticed some blur around the edges when it was active. Plain Magico Frame Generation on its own gave me a much cleaner result, so that’s the combination I’d point you toward.
My take after a few hours in
So to sum up: Low graphics, Medium textures, FSR Quality, locked to 30 FPS as the baseline, then Magico Frame Generation on top if you want it closer to 60. That’s the setup I’m sticking with, and a few hours in I’m still enjoying this one a lot and looking forward to getting back into it. If you’ve found different settings that work better for you, let me know – I’m curious how your experience compares.