Shane
Team Ninja are a dev studio known for high quality games.
Ninja Gaiden remakes some years back now were ground breaking at the time and their signature supreme-ness and detail to gameplay and console pushing graphics has not ceased in their Nioh series.
Recently they released Nioh 2 revealing another thing that Team ninja are known for. Brutal difficulty.
Despite being the second game in the series Nioh 2 is actually a prequel to the first where the secret history of decades of feuding and war in Japan is further explained.
The game’s narrative is told via lengthy cutscenes and spells between Levels.
You are Hide. A silent demon assassin that to begin with is fully customizable including you combat style and even combative stance.
You will also need to select your weapon class for both two handed and one handed weapons. Nioh 2 gives you an arena and a tutorial where you can try these out.
Added to Nioh 2 is the ability for your character to call upon Yokai Spirits. These are within the tutorial aswell where you can try them out before you decide on one that matches your preference and play style.
While the story is deep and full of more twists than a rollercoaster once you begin slaying demons you’re likely to forget what you’re fighting for.
Combat is fluid and free-flowing and you have a HUD displaying your health among many other things – practically one hit and boom you’re gone.
You will pick up life vials and these you must use wisely as they too are in very limited supply. I do fully recommend that you assign them to a D-Pad hotkey at the start of the game.
You will encounter larger than life foes – ones that at the onset you are not strong enough to take on, so there is some backtracking, some derived from the story but also if you want to take out that larger monster you snuck past ages ago.
Skill trees are in abundance as is differing types of Magic in Nioh 2 and character levels. Even for those that are more in-tune with RPGs it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get to grips with it you’ll be that undefeatable warrior in no time.
Dotted throughout each Level are markers. From here you can pick up another players incomplete battle against a monster.
I made the mistake of trying this out on the first one that I found. Stupid mistake. My character level was no match for the demon that appeared and I was snuffed out immediately.
Pillars can also be found – these allow you to invite other players in to your game, via A.I. – handy if you’re repeating a sequence over and over and over and over and need a buddy to help you out (provided that they do).
There is alot of dodging involved even if you encounter one of the lower level enemies to gain that small yet satisfying victory. Learning Yokai abilities can be a saviour at times too – these are equippable via Soul Cores that you collect and briefly enable you to turn in to the enemies that you have previously killed.
Nioh 2 is a loot filled game. Enemies drop loot, completing a Mission or a small objective gives you loot. There;s loot everywhere – but most is quickly disposed of during gameplay as you struggle to survive and consume them.
Nioh 2 is an insanely indepth RPG. Team Ninja have not left anything out of this one and if you’re a completest, the replayability factor this game has is nearly endless as you can try out other classes for a new character.
To put it in a nutshell Nioh 2 is a fuse of Dark Souls III difficulty, Ninja Gaiden combat and Devil May Cry 5 gameplay, with an added difference.
One of the most full on RPG’s I’ve played in a while.
Released: February 2020
Rating: M15+
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Genre: RPG
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Sony
