Quick answer
Learn what yellow, red, blue and purple souls do and when absorption becomes automatic.
After a fight, check for nearby souls and hold your configured absorb input to draw them into the Oni Gauntlet. Yellow restores health, red supports enhancements, and blue refills Oni Power; purple also becomes relevant to your Awakening Gauge. Do not assume an older game's color rules apply unchanged.
Four colors, four jobs
| Color | Use and common source |
|---|---|
| Yellow | Restores health; defeated enemies sometimes leave it, with more appearing when health is low. |
| Red | Used for enhancements; fallen enemies leave it, and certain Issen finishers produce more. |
| Blue | Fills the Oni Power Gauge for Oni Armaments; attacking enemies can produce it. |
| Purple | Fills the Awakening Gauge; extract it with Oni Armaments or Break Issen. |
After a fight
- Check for remaining enemies and create a safe gap before absorbing. Distant souls take time to travel, so do not leave immediately after seeing them.
- Watch the nearby-soul color and count indicators and hold absorb until collected. Check your controls for keyboard, controller or custom bindings.
- Low on health? Look for yellow, but do not ignore an enemy still attacking. Blue supports the Oni Power gauge; red can be saved for later enhancement.
- Once available and activated, Oni Awakening automatically absorbs souls. In ordinary play you still absorb manually; do not mistake that special state for permanent auto-pickup.
Not every enemy necessarily drops every color: source, combat actions and current state can affect what appears. Respond to the souls actually on screen instead of taking unnecessary risks for one color.
Sources: in-game tips on souls and Awakening, nearby soul indicators and absorption distance.
Sources
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