Nioh – A near endless amount of addicting gameplay

Nioh is my favorite single player action game. I can describe the gameplay as driving some sort of hybrid between a sports car and a blender. You shift through four different stances to access various attacks and movement styles. The game rewards you with a stamina refund when you switch stances with correct timing. Mastering this can turn you into a whirlwind of aggression that never has to stop.

The gameplay at its core shines enough that it’s still fun even if you play at a slower pace. Battles where you pay attention and react to an enemy’s attack patterns can feel like a chess game. As a bonus, you get a pretty entertaining story and a cast of great characters.

Mastering the combat system is a blast

Much like Chivalry 2 – the basic mechanics in Nioh are a whole video game in itself. Practicing the Flux mechanic is something you don’t even need enemies for – it’s fun to just do it. Once you’ve mastered the basic Ki Pulse you can upgrade to Ki Pulsing through dodges and stance switches. This takes quite a bit of practice to get good at; but its pivotal to higher level gameplay.

The spectrum of how good a player is at this system dictates how fast they’re able to go through the game. The speed can vary so much that an experienced player can look like a blur compared to more average gameplay.

That being said, this game is really hard. Like Dark Souls, You will die a lot. Enemies can be overwhelming when your a beginner. But learning the rhythm of the game and what attacks you can get away with is only a matter of trial and error.

The rule that apply on death are the same; you respawn at a shrine and you retrack to get your souls – named “Amrita”. Die before you get your amrita back and its gone forever. You get the gist.

Nioh is a masterclass in button economy

Nioh uses a lot of inputs. It’s crazy how many options and items you have at your disposal due to smart button mapping. I’ve never felt like an action was on the wrong button or a combination was awkward. The fluidity of it all is something to admire.

That said, it takes some time to get used to. The cost of such amount of inputs is complexity. It’ll most likely take a few hours to gain said fluidity in the heat of battle. This leads to a major advantage that Nioh has over Dark Souls:

Nioh has repeatable levels and bosses

Not being able to rematch a boss in Dark Souls after it’s defeated has always been a significant downside to me. Having to go through so much of a playthrough of DKs3 just to rematch Champion Gundyr felt like a chore.

Nioh however, is a more level based game. You only have to replay that single level to fight a boss again. This is where Nioh’s replayability skyrockets.

Replaying levels is important to keep up on gear and items. The gear system in Nioh is contentious but you don’t have to worry about it that much. The game will give you what you need at a reasonable pace. But if you don’t keep up on upgrades the enemies will out pace you soon enough.

You are never bound to a single build or weapon

Respec’ing in Nioh is effortless and even encouraged. The game is designed to get you back up and running as fast as possible. You get skill points just by playing with a weapon. The skill points are universal across all weapons, so you never have to worry about starting from scratch.

This also encourages you to try weapons you don’t have any interest in. Grind some skill points out of one then use them on your weapon of choice.

You can equip up to two weapons as well. While I tend to use only one weapon – experimenting with weapon synergy is a blast. Weapon switching mid offense opens up a huge amount of combo potential.

Nioh’s weapon/character design is remarkably deep.

The move lists for each weapon rivals move list form modern fighting games. There are tons of idiosyncrasies that make each weapon stand out on their own. The spear’s entire gameplay is completely different from say, the tonfas. Just like a fighting game, you can find a specific weapon that really speaks to you. Becoming a zealous champion of the one that called to you. For me it’s the Oodachi that I can’t live without.

The overall character development system rivals something like the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X . This will take multiple playthroughs to fill out. A lot of the later abilities are usually niche effects that benefit specific builds. So you’re always in good shape if you keep it simple.

Give Nioh a chance if Dark Souls is too slow.

Nioh stands out as a masterpiece of single-player action gaming. It’s an unsurprisingly high quality entry from Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja. Its combat mechanics provide a thrilling mix of speed and precision. The various stances and techniques combined with a vast RPG foundation make Nioh feel like it has endless replayability.

Play it if you enjoy ultra deep games that need weeks to fully complete. Or, if you like fast paced games like Ninja Gaiden or even Devil May Cry.