DEMO EXPANSION
Oni Refuge — Demo expansion guide
The expanded demo stage, Oni Bow route and Daidara path.
01How you get in
The June demo ended on Ganryu. The 26 August patch — announced at gamescom Opening Night Live — keeps that duel and then lets you follow a fleeing threat into the Oni Refuge. You do not need a new download on PS5, Xbox or Steam if the original demo is installed; let the store update. Nintendo Switch 2 owners download the expanded demo as their first build. Search “Onimusha: Way of the Sword Demo”, not the full game. Steam’s demo AppID is still 3974650. Capcom’s own copy names two twisted faces you will fight on the way: Ifuu and Burai. Trailer 6 later shows those siblings as a full-game pair with their own arena. Treat the demo versions as a first read of their tempo, not as the complete kit. The dedicated Ifuu and Burai page tracks the gamescom version.
02Oni Bow, crates, and why the bow is not a gimmick
The Refuge is where the demo finally hands you the Oni Bow. You can pin Genma at range. You also shoot marked crates to slide them, open ledges, and make a path the sword cannot cut. On PlayStation 5 the DualSense trigger stiffens as you draw — director Satoru Nihei described that resistance, and the full squeeze used later to seal “Rift” portals, in the 25 August PlayStation.Blog interview. Practise the draw here; the campaign will ask for it with worse timing. If you came from the original 30-minute file and skip the bow, Daidara’s later phases punish you. The club boss is a stamina problem and a positioning problem; the bow is one of the few tools that lets you poke without standing in the slam. Details of that fight live on How to beat Daidara.
03What completion still means
Finish the expanded file and the full game still grants Charm: Kubi Akari. PlayStation.Blog now also says the same save flag boosts Musashi’s stats. Souls, skins and map ticks still do not import. Beating Daidara twice, or landing ten Issen in a run, still opens the optional Byakue challenge. None of that is required for the charm. The complete-the-demo checklist is the box-ticker; this page is the new geography. The Refuge is also the first legal look at the Oni world Nihei has talked about since the overview trailers. It is not Mount Oe and it is not Dokyo’s lab. Those campaign spaces remain behind the 4 September embargo. Do not invent a route between them.
FAQFrequently asked questions
Do I need to re-download the demo?
On PS5, Xbox and PC, the August patch updates the existing demo. Switch 2 gets the expanded file as its first demo.
Is the Oni Refuge in the full game?
It is an Oni-side space the demo uses. Capcom has not published a campaign chapter list. Do not assume it is skippable or mandatory on 4 September.
Are Ifuu and Burai the final bosses of the demo?
No. They appear in the Refuge. Daidara is the new closer. Trailer 6 shows a fuller sibling fight for the campaign.
Does Kubi Akari still drop?
Yes. Completing the demo still unlocks the charm, and PlayStation.Blog adds a Musashi stat boost on the same flag.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING