Polygon has published a series of guides covering side content in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Capcom's action game featuring the samurai Musashi. One guide explains that most of the game's sword skins are unlocked by finding Lion Dogs, ghostly puppies that appear on the map after completing the "What Lurks in the Shadows" quest and meeting Lady Murasaki. The skins are purely cosmetic and do not change damage or add effects; players can switch designs at any Spirit Mirror using the "Change Appearance" option. Six of the swords require finding increasing numbers of Lion Dogs, from six up to 36, while four additional swords—Sealed Curse, The White Lion, Bamboo & Panda, Whittled Oar, Raizan, and Enryuu—are tied to pre-ordering the game or buying the deluxe and premium deluxe editions.
A separate Polygon guide walks through a mask puzzle encountered during the "What Lurks in the Shadows" quest inside Nijo-jo Castle. Players must shoot four hanging masks with arrows in the correct order, determined by looking at replica masks near the entrance from outside the room and counting the orifices shown in their shadows. According to the guide, the correct order is the third mask, then the fourth, then the first, then the second. Hitting the masks correctly opens a cage containing the Unsettling Mask, which is then placed in a door mechanism to unlock further progress.
Two more Polygon guides cover the "Ace Archer" side missions, in which players hunt flying enemies called Kubi Akari using Musashi's bow. In Nijo-jo Castle, five Kubi Akari are hidden around the map, often requiring players to climb ladders or reach specific rooftops and platforms to get a clear shot, since the creatures are frequently positioned outside normal explorable areas. A similar mission in the Kyoto Imperial Palace also requires finding five Kubi Akari, with Polygon noting that players must position themselves precisely—such as looking through archways, windows, or gaps between rooftops—to hit the targets.
A fifth Polygon guide addresses the game's hidden treasure side quests, which begin after reaching the "To Live is to Suffer" main quest. Each treasure is tied to an "Old Drawing" given by a quest-giver, containing visual clues such as landmarks or descriptive phrases that hint at a chest's location in Eastern Kyoto. The guide details five such treasures, found near locations including the top of Kiyomizu-zaka Slope, a waterfall with Buddha statues, a temple garden, a veranda with a distant pagoda view, and the Yasaka Pagoda. Rewards for these chests include items such as fine silk cloth, oni stones, power stones, and a skeleton hozuki.
Additional sources cited for this roundup, from IGN, did not return usable article content and could not be included in this summary.