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Nioh

Nioh Hands-On

This is definitely a Dark Souls clone, but that's not necessarily a bad thing...

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Nioh is a new game from Koei Tecmo and the development process is finally nearing completion; it has been a long and arduous journey. Nioh was first announced in 2004 for the PlayStation 3, and it was based on an unfinished movie script by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The script was finished by Kurosawa's son, Hisao Kurosawa, but nothing came of the companion movie, and the game naturally missed the original release date for 2006. It was only in 2009 that we heard from Nioh again, after Koei Tecmo confirmed it was still in development, now in the hands of Team Ninja (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden).

Fast forward seven years (!) and players finally had the chance to experience Nioh themselves, via a demo/beta available between April 26 and May 5. We didn't let the opportunity slip by and we spent a few hours with the demo. Below you can read our impressions of a samurai game that's clearly inspired by From Software's Dark Souls.

When we say Nioh is inspired by Dark Souls, what we really mean is that it's a shameless clone. Nioh is a third-person action game that penalises the player, so whenever you die you're sent to the last visited altar. In Dark Souls, you would know these altars as bonfires. When players die, or pray at an altar, all enemies are resurrected, the player's health is restored, and the items that will give you some health are replenished. And yes, when your character dies it drops the points used to level up, just like in Dark Souls. You then have to reach them before you die again, or you will lose all those points.

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The gameplay itself is also a lot closer to something like Dark Souls than, say, Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta. The pace is slower, it lacks flashy combos and spetacular finishers. The combat in Nioh is a lot more about reading your opponent and reacting accordingly. Although it shares a similar approach to Dark Souls, Nioh does feature some peculiarities. The most obvious is the combat stances players can assume during a fight. With the weapon raised high you will do more damage, but your strikes will be slower and blocking will not be as effective. With the weapon in a lower position you will be able to strike at great speed, and you'll be able to easily avoid enemy attacks (avoid not block), but both your attacks and blocks will be at their weakest. A neutral position halfway up allows a balance between speed and damage, and although this is not the best position to avoid attacks, it is the best stance to block.

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During the demo we had access to three types of primary weapons - they being the giant axe, the sword, and the spear. The stances work equally across all weapons, but the gameplay is dramatically different with each one. The sword has the best balance, and it should be the weapon of choice for the starting player. The spear has fantastic range and can hit multiple enemies at once, while the axe is slow, but very powerful. It is for the player to find out which weapon is best suited to him or her, and adjust the stances according to the enemy. You can also find several items and secondary weapons, including a bow, which is ideal for attacking from distance or luring enemies one by one (you can also throw stones to achieve the same effect). As for armour, there are several pieces to find and try out.

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Similarly to what we've seen in Dark Souls, you can also find pools of blood representing the deaths of other players, but Nioh has an interesting approach to it. Instead of showing how the player in question died (it just tells you), players may face this character in a fight to the death. The other player's character will naturally be controlled by the AI ​​(and is considerably more difficult than a normal enemy), and will have all the skills, weapons, and armour that the player had at the time of their death.

Another major difference between the two games is the theme. While Dark Souls has a mix of medieval and dark fantasy tones, Nioh is inspired by Feudal Japan and Japanese mythology. It's a style that we appreciate, and which reminds us how much we miss Onimusha, but Nioh has a lot more to in common with Dark Souls than the classic from Capcom.

While we didn't play long enough to take in the full potential of Nioh, we've seen enough that it has our attention. Graphically, even though this is an early version, Nioh offers good quality visuals, and it seems to run at a solid frame-rate. And it also includes an option that allows you to choose between better visuals or improved frame-rate. For now, we've not seen anything that leads us to believe that Nioh will be a better experience than Dark Souls, but we enjoyed the way it reinterpreted some of the concepts found in From Software's Souls titles, and as such, we're looking forward to playing some more when it's finally released on PS4 by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja.

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"Gathering and tuning loot to your liking is still one of the main attractions in Nioh. Considering how difficult Bloodshed's End is, it's also mandatory."



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