While I’m waiting for a new PC before I get around to playing Elden Ring, I’ve decided to give this old game a go, known for being a Souls-like game that much harder than Dark Souls itself. Personally I did find this to be more complex and more difficult, enough so that finishing it was a real chore to me and I’m not sure that I had much fun doing it. I didn’t much care for the story crafted from a fictionalized version of Japan’s real Sengoku period nor for its lack of a cohesive world either. I can understand why this series has its fans but it’s not for me.
The player character is William, an Irish sailor, who is imprisoned in the Tower of London in the late 16th century. The British government, seeking an advantage in their war against Spain, desires Amrita, spirit stones with mystical powers. Edward Kelley is sent to Japan to obtain their Amrita and foments war and chaos to do so. William pursues Kelley after the villain steals Saoirse, a guardian spirit who has protected him since childhood. William arrives in Japan to find it ravaged by yōkai, evil spirits. He impresses Hanzo Hattori by proving his ability to put them down and together they aid Tokugawa Ieyasu in putting an end to yōkai threats and pacifying Japan. Kelley has been using his powers to aid and enhance Ieyasu’s enemies, and so William encounters many of the famous personages of the Sengoku period. The struggle culminates in a fictionalized version of the famous Battle of Sekigahara involving many samurai and yōkai monsters.
This game uses a mission based structure so there’s no open world to traverse. Instead each main mission takes place on a new map and while you can unlock shortcuts and such within them, you can’t move from map to map. There are optional missions too that reuse the maps, usually changing them in small ways or using only a fraction of the full area. The maps are also in general not very interesting and blend together after a while. Since this is set in historical Japan, what you get is map after map depicting Japanese castles, temples, villages and so on. There are the occasional cool locale, such as a ninja base or a full blown battlefield, but these maps mostly don’t have any distinct identity of their own. I will note that the environmental hazards are also very toned down compared to the Souls games. I mean you get a level that might be interpreted as a poison level but it’s very tame so you don’t even have to specially scramble to put on anti-poison gear.
The richness of this game is supposed to come from its combat system and, wow, is there a lot going on here. In addition to staples like light and heavy attacks, blocking and dodging, you can also switch stances and even switch between weapons as part of a combo. Stamina is called ki here and you spend it to attack, to dodge and so on. But instead of passively waiting for it to refill, there’s also a Ki Pulse mechanic that gives you some of your spent ki back with the amount depending on how well you time the pulse. After investing some points in the right skill trees, you can combine ki pulses with dodges and switching stances and weapons. This is why very skilled players can keep up combos for so long, constantly hammering away at enemies. Frankly this was too hard for me so I mostly just stayed in one stance and switched weapons only to take advantage of the longer reach of a spear while usually using a pair of tonfas.
There are a ton of stats in Nioh and a bewilderingly complex itemization system. It’s more like the Diablo games in which you get a lot of loot drops and need to figure out which items work best with your build. Farming is a big enough deal that some players make specific sets for it. I mostly kept things simple and stuck with light armor and dodging but I’m conscious that I’m missing out on many of the options. Then there’s ninjutsu skills and onmyo magic skills. Ninjutsu didn’t seem that useful to me, the shuriken and kunai being mainly good for pulling enemies to deal with them one at a time. Onmyo abilities are really good however as hitting a yōkai with the correct elemental attack is enough to put them down and using the sloth talisman to slow down bosses is like playing on easy mode. Finally you get a get out of jail free option by activating Living Weapon which boosts all of your attacks and makes you invulnerable while it’s active, though getting hit reduces its duration. This game gives you such a large toolbox so I can totally understand why it has so many fans.
The thing is you really do need to make use of these tools because the game is hard. Even the weakest of enemies can kill you in a couple of hits and it might take several of your hits to take one down. The combat is frantically fast compared to the deliberative pace of Dark Souls. You also need to manage ki properly because running out of it leaves you in a catching your breath animation. Unlike the Souls games, you can’t dodge when you’re out of ki, many, many types of attacks stun lock you and the game isn’t afraid of making you face multiple enemies at a time. Ki management is made harder by enemies creating ki draining zones that you must immediately move out of or purify. Bosses in Nioh are kind of a mixed bag. There are a few bosses that are absurdly easy but I consider most to be very difficult because almost any attack that is not dodged or blocked can kill you in one hit and they can be so relentless, unleashing a continuous flurry of attacks that must be dealt with. At the same time, they are vulnerable to the same effects as any other enemy so knowing how to use every tool at your disposal makes a huge difference against them.
Playing this made me realize that the reason why I love the Souls games so much is about half due to the world and what’s in it and about half due to the satisfying combat. Nioh gives me almost nothing in terms of exploration, art design, atmosphere and so on. Even the cutscenes are boring, being mostly about meetings with famous samurais of the period. So the appeal here is one hundred percent about the combat system. Looking up videos of good players on YouTube, it’s insane what they can do. Sure Souls players can beat the game nearly naked because they’ve memorized all of the enemies’ movesets so perfectly they can dodge them in their sleep. Good Nioh players however dominate the enemy. They know how to lock down the enemy and prevent it from doing anything, switching stances and weapons as needed to keep the pressure up. Even when they need to dodge backwards for a moment, they dart in immediately afterwards again to keep attacking, all at a very fast pace. It’s pure aggression instead of defense, a totally different paradigm for which I am not psychologically suited for and probably don’t even have the reflexes to pull off.
I actually did persevere and finish the main game but I had a really difficult time at it and even messed my thumbs up pressing too hard on the controller’s sticks. I can respect the game for its rich combat system but it doesn’t tick any of the other boxes for me due to its bland world, stereotypical story and uninteresting art design. It’s also way too complicated and requires too much investment. So playing this was an educational experience but not one that I care to repeat so I have no plans of picking up the sequel though I’ve heard that it’s better in all respects.
