Tired of farming for leather and iron in Onimusha: Way of the Sword? You can now purchase many of these upgrade materials!

Onimusha: Way of the Sword has fallen prey to a common issue in AAA gaming: a padded runtime filled with lackluster upgrade materials. Fortunately, there’s no level gating here that forces you to grind for arbitrary stats before tackling specific quests. It’s not an RPG, and I can already picture Twitch streamers breezing through the toughest bosses without ever needing to upgrade their gear.

For the rest of us, though, the game’s runtime is stretched by a rather uninspiring hub world cluttered with mundane upgrade materials like cotton and iron, which you use to incrementally boost your damage, health, stamina, and Oni power gauge. This system remains static throughout the game, offering little in terms of evolution. You can also find rarer materials that unlock abilities and enhancements on the skill tree.

This design choice can lead to spending a lot of time in the less exciting parts of Onimusha, but there’s a silver lining: you can bypass some of the monotony if you know where to look.

A few hours into your journey, you’ll complete a quest to purify the Yasui Konpiragu shrine, freeing its guardian Oni spirit from a Genma infestation. After this, Yorimasa will start selling items for red souls, the currency you earn from defeating enemies. If you’re like me, you might glance at the shop, think, “I don’t need any of this right now,” and then dive into another 10 hours of gameplay without revisiting the shrine.

Don’t make that mistake! Make sure to check back after finishing each major story mission, as Yorimasa’s inventory expands multiple times throughout the game. Eventually, he’ll stock some essential crafting items, including:

Yorimasa doesn’t offer all these items from the get-go, but early on, you’ll likely be collecting basics like cotton cloth and regular iron consistently, while the rarer materials will be less necessary. There are five upgrade tiers for your clothing, sword, and gauntlet, each requiring a significant amount of materials to progress. Unless you dedicate hours to side quests in Kyoto and hunt down every shiny chest highlighted by your Oni vision, you’ll find yourself needing more items than you naturally gather throughout the game. Even after investing around 35 hours, I didn’t fully max out any of my gear.

By the mid- to late-game, you can supplement your finds with items from Yorimasa’s limited stock. If you have the red souls, I suggest purchasing as many materials as you can; searching for them can really slow down the game’s pacing.

However, be cautious, as this can quickly drain your resources.

Higher-tier upgrade items can cost over 8,000 souls, so even after spending time on major story quests and defeating enemies, you might find your soul wallet empty after upgrading a few skill tree nodes and buying materials. To avoid a late-game cash crunch, keep these tips in mind: