Nioh 2 Review
Samurai Souls 2: Electric Boogaloo
When Nioh first swung onto the scene back in 2017, people were quick to dismiss it as just another attempt to capitalise on the rising popularity of FromSoft’s punishing Dark Souls series. Of course, many neglected to notice that the game was from Team Ninja of Dead or Alive, and, more importantly, Ninja Gaiden fame. With a history of tight fighting mechanics, and some questionable volleyball ‘games’ under their belt, if anyone was going to bring something unique to the hardcore action RPG table, it’d be them. Nioh’s marrying of FromSoft’s punishing, stamina-management combat with Gaiden-esque combos was a critical and commercial success.
But two years later, FromSoft arguably superseded Nioh with their own Samurai tale Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Sekiro was markedly different from Nioh and From’s previous games. Gone was the stamina bar, replaced with a focus on parrying and posture. Gone too was the character creator and build variety of previous titles. It also included the fine addition of a grappling hook, which helped the player quickly traverse around the world, and added verticality to From’s previously horizontal worlds. The grappling hook revolutionised the Souls formula.
One year later, Team Ninja are back with Nioh 2. And while it’s less revolution and more evolution, it’s still bloody fun to play.
Bringing a knife to a Kusarigama fight
To start, Nioh 2 builds on Nioh’s excellent combat system with a wealth of builds to create, weapons to try, and skills to learn. The gameplay loop is similar to other ARPGs, in that you kill enemies to gain experience which you then use to level up core stats like health, stamina (ki in Nioh’s world), strength etc. If you die, you drop said experience, but returning back to your place of death gives you the chance to pick it back up. Pretty typical as far as these sorts of games are concerned.
Along with Nioh’s 6 weapon types, Nioh 2 lets you utilise two new weapon varieties to dissect your enemies: dual hatchets and the switchglaive. While the dual hatchets speak for themselves - they’re two axes, after all - the switchglaive is its own beast. Part scythe, part short blade, it bears a striking similarity to the trick weapons of Bloodborne, as it changes shape when you change stance.
You can also now absorb the souls of enemies and bosses you face and use them yourself in the form of Soul Cores. You can equip 2-3 of these at a time, and each has its own elemental damage that can quickly decimate groups of enemies in a second. Kill a spear-wielding monkey yokai? Now you can turn into that monkey, jump up and throw your spear at enemies. Down a giant cycloptic yokai? Turn into it, and smash your fists down. Playing around with all of these, and seeing which one work best with your build is a lot of fun.
But perhaps the biggest – and best – addition to Nioh 2 is the burst counter. Now, every enemy has the opportunity to pull off a devastating move that can often kill you incredibly quickly. However, you have the ability to counter said move with a burst counter. This will stun many enemies and give you a couple of seconds to do massive damage to them. It’s high risk – high reward play, but getting the hang of it completely turns the tide of many seemingly insurmountable fights.
Tell me a story. Please.
Nioh wasn’t exactly lauded for its story, and while Nioh 2 does a better job in this department, it’s not going to win any awards. A prequel to the first game, you now create your own character from a pretty bespoke character creator, and go out into the world a silent protagonist. The backdrop is the tail end of the Sengoku period of Japanese history, when the country was in a near-constant state of war as different states attempted to unify the land. While you’ll spend time with prominent figures of the period such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nioh 2 takes some pretty big liberties with documented history. That’s because Nioh is all about fighting demons, spirits and more otherworldly critters – or yokai - from Japanese folklore. And, while it’s interesting to see the personal plight of the game’s many characters, and their often tragic demise, much of what you’ll learn about the story is told through mission descriptions. This, to put it bluntly, is a pretty poor way to tell a story. The old adage ‘show, don’t tell’ is as true here as anywhere else.
This makes the whole affair feel a little disjointed. So, while the opportunity to create your own character is a welcome one, your agency in the world is impacted as you’re constantly surrounded by major players in the story who can actually speak. Also, so many new names and faces are often brought up and then gone within a mission or two, it can be hard to remember who’s who and what their role was within the plot. A late-game “twist” of a familial connection between you and another character was met with a big “…what” from me, until I googled the name and remembered back about three chapters when they featured. Ultimately, however, the nods to real-world events, and some fun cameos, do elevate it beyond the first game.
Beautiful on the inside.
Nioh 2 isn’t much of a looker. To make the most out of the combat, you’ll likely be playing in Action Mode, which sacrifices resolution and graphical fidelity to keep the game locked at 60 FPS – for the most part. On a base PS4, which is now approaching its seventh birthday, that means the game runs at 720p – last-gen’s resolution of choice. So it’s understandable that, especially on a 4k television, aliasing is an issue, and there is an unavoidable blurriness throughout the levels. But given the need to make split-second decisions in do-or-die situations, playing it on any other setting is doing the combat a disservice.
However, the lower resolution and blurriness is made up for with the game’s art style, which often pops right off the screen. Cherry blossoms explode with vivid pinks. Sunset bathes entire areas in deep red. Moonlight flickers off of water. If Team Ninja return for a third Nioh, it’ll be interesting to see whether graphical sacrifices will still have to be made to get the game in 4k. Until then, while Nioh 2 isn’t a graphical showcase, it’s still an improvement on the last game.
Divide and conquer.
As mentioned above, the game does utilise the mission structure of previous games. For the unfamiliar, unlike the interconnected worlds of many ARPG’s, Nioh 2 has you moving from icon to icon on an ever-increasing map of Japan, picking a mission, and then being transported to a closed-off level with a start point, an endpoint, and myriad paths in between. It’s about as ‘gamey’ as you can get. While many Souls fans might cry foul at this, the system does have its benefits. For starters, there’s barely any backtracking in Nioh 2. You make your way merrily forward, opening shortcuts back to shrines (read: checkpoints). Eventually, you get to the boss, die a lot, beat them, and then you’re back at the map.
It’s as simple as that. And like the first game, there are side-missions; often mirrored levels from the story, replete with different enemies and bosses. But it’s optional and somewhat fresh. Unlike Dark Souls, which forces you to trek back through areas multiple times until you eventually unlocked fast travel. However, Souls’ interconnected cohesiveness is somewhat missed at the same time. A game feels less like a game when you can move seamlessly from one area to the next, even if you can fast travel back and forward from certain points. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t it seems. It will be interesting to see if Team Ninja find a way to marry together both styles in future titles.
Gear coming out your ears.
Nioh 2 is, unashamedly, a loot-focused experience. Each enemy, boss, and chest can provide you with a wealth of gear. And like other looter games, gear has rarity colours, damage bonuses, and stat requirements. You’ll start picking these up with reckless abandon, and each session will see you spending a lot of time swapping out gear and maximising your build. Unique sets can even grant you extra buffs, depending on the number of pieces you equip. If you like loot-focused experiences, then you’ll feel right at home.
But if you don’t, well, you’re not going to have much fun here. There’s a fair bit of admin you’ll need to do between missions, and sometimes mid-mission if you pick up a deluge of stuff you don’t plan on using. It’s not for everyone, especially if you’re used to Souls games where you work towards improving a handful of weapons. That’s still possible here, and you’ll be sure to stick with a couple of weapon classes as they’re tied to which stats you choose to level. But the need to sell, dismantle, or offer up a wealth of items you won’t find useful is unavoidable.
Prepare to die.
Like its peers, Nioh 2 can be pretty challenging. Even minor enemies can kill you in a few hits early on, or if they catch your later-levelled character unawares. And then there are the bosses, and boy, do some of these bastards lay hands. There are over 30 bosses you’ll face throughout your time playing Nioh 2, ranging from angry dudes in armour to castle-sized demon turtle things. And while some will be pretty easy to overcome for ARPG/Nioh veterans, there are a few who truly stand out in their challenge.
But if you’re struggling, don’t fret. The difficulty can be almost trivialised by summoning in another player to fight beside you, and if you’d rather keep proceedings offline, then you still have a couple of options. For one, story NPCs do join you for a few levels throughout the game. Unfortunately, they’re often useless. Their pathfinding can easily be broken, forcing you to backtrack to find them. They’re also idiots in combat, often running headfirst into the fray only to take a few hits and go prone. You can get them up again, but doing so puts you at risk. If no NPCs are available, you can now summon the ghosts of dead players to help. This can be a godsend with a couple of the earlier bosses, giving them another target to focus on while you attack their backs, like the coward you are. However, they’re also idiots and will die mere moments into most boss fights. At least they give you a few precious seconds to do some damage before shuffling their mortal coil. Again.
Should you buy Nioh 2?
Fans of the first game, or anyone who enjoys tough-as-nails ARPG’s with plenty of content, bosses and gear drops will find plenty to love here. Nioh 2 builds on its predecessor’s excellent combat and loot system with improvements at almost every level. However, as mentioned before, this sort of game isn’t for everyone. If you’re not into Souls games and the previous Nioh turned you off, you’re not going to enjoy this one either. It is slightly disappointing that after 3 years of development, it ultimately feel like more of the same with a barely-new coat of paint. But when it plays this well, that’s not such a bad thing.
