Apart from some uncertainty or naivety that can bring with it the launch of an unprecedented IP, the first Nioh it was a decidedly convincing title, with at least a dozen peculiar characteristics that made it worthy of recognition, but above all of the consent and appreciation of the players. A history book in motion, in the form of a video game, combined with an unpublished tale amalgamated with the proudest Japanese culture (supernatural and otherwise). Where it seemed that everything that could be told was over, here it is Team Ninja e Koei Tecmo we propose a new relay between the Yokai, making us live a new story prior to the arrival of William (protagonist of the first game) on the Japanese coasts. Nioh 2 presents itself to us with a large business card, a playful structure tested to be smoothed and smoothed, several demos made available over time to test the product and its liking, and a historical period that is truly tempting: the era Sengoku, with the same Oda Nobunaga still alive… and with which we will have to deal personally.
Half man, half Yokai
This time there will be no preset characters, as is the case with William, and it will be up to us to choose the features of our protagonist. It is a metamorph, which means it is in flesh and blood like a human being, but possesses a half demonic yokai, which allows him to change and exploit that incredible power to his advantage (in addition to that of the classic guardian spirit that we have already impressed in mind thanks to the first Nioh). The protagonist can be either male or female, and it will be possible to choose the various physical characteristics through a special one editor place at the beginning of our adventure. If we want to change something, once the game has started and arrived in the map of the various regions, it will be possible to access the hut and change any part of the aspect we want. Among the classic customizations, the editor also allows us to modify in the same way the three different demonic modes that our protagonist has.
The choice to include this editor is right, above all by responding to the feedback of most of the community who were clamoring for a character "of their own", and the way in which this character of our own it is placed in the context of the story (even with a couple of very welcome surprises / twists) it is beautifully coherent.
Jusanzakura, 1555
Place and year from where our adventure will start. The whole of Japan is shaken by war, and for as long as we can remember the Yokai have proliferated throughout the country. In this gloomy and bloody scenario, our protagonist is a metamorph in whose veins flows, as already anticipated, also the blood of the demons themselves… however, it will be only during his journey that we will truly understand his identity and his role within the events.
This road, however, "Hiddy" will not travel alone, and will begin to make allies just after the end of the first mission that will be assigned to us through a mysterious letter that appeared in our hut. Through what will become a trusted friend, the seeker of Amrita Tokichiro, will first come into contact with Mino's Viper, the former daimyo Saito Dosan, and consequently with the young man Oda Nobunaga, the leader symbol of the Sengoku era to which Dosan gave his daughter Kicho in marriage (who if you played the first Nioh, you will remember very well with the name of Yuki-onna). Another fundamental ally, which the protagonist will make shortly thereafter, is Mumyo, the girl at the head of the Sohaya Yokai hunter clan, albeit somewhat reluctant due to her yokai blood. However, the northern regions of Mino will only be the beginning of the journey which, avoiding spoilers relating to the events, they will retrace step by step some of the most significant moments of that period, related to the advance of Nobunaga and beyond (to give a couple of examples in the "early game", the battle of Okehazama that consecrated Oda, and the assault on the castle of Inabayama).
Nioh 2: the return of terror
What must be analyzed with an even closer look is the sector in which all the hopes of the players are gathered, given that, despite the excellent creation that was Nioh, he saw in this sense many reasons to turn up his nose a little. In this case, in fact, we will have to deal not only with a balance that will have to be stabilized to the thousandth, but also with the inclusion of new features related to yokai powers, level design, and the missions themselves.
Let's start from the beginning: the structure of the game has remained almost unchanged, with the map of the various regions that will make available to us missions of the story as we complete the previous ones, and with an excellent amount of side missions to be faced always at hand. Evergreen (or in this case, blood red) the presence of Twilight missions, which as the evening falls will put us in front of decidedly more difficult challenges to complete, but with a very tempting rewards package waiting for us. Most of the missions have a classic structure, which will see us face a narrow area, killing enemies, unlocking shortcuts and discovering sanctuaries, to then get to a boss at the end of the level that will put us in serious difficulty. However, there are different types of missions in which the objectives will be slightly different, or again (and this is an absolute novelty) secondary missions that will only unlock if other secondary missions have been completed specific previously, even more than one (for example, to unlock mission Z you must have completed mission X and mission Y first).
The classic is also present on the map of the various areas "start point", from where to access the various menus, such as the santuario to operate in all possible ways on our character (such as leveling him up, managing guardian spirits - which can be equipped up to two at a time - and soul cores, preparing jutsu, receiving blessings or summoning visitors to help), the blacksmith to break down / create weapons and soul affinities, but also the portal which will allow us to join in the help of other players (whether they are friends or casual) e the part dedicated to PvP which will only unlock at a certain point in the adventure.
A visually and conceptually pleasing addition is also the Hut, or our "real" home, where we can access the character modification, the customization of some objects inside (including a guest!), and where we can read all those notions that in Nioh were simply in the menu: we refer for example to the description of the demons, to the information on the characters, and to many other small but very appreciable features. Among the special guests we will also be able to have one of the new entries in Nioh 2: i Sudama. These little creatures are like the Kodama that we know well, but purple in color and imbued with a demonic halo: we will be able to meet them in almost all missions, and by giving them an object we can have pleasant surprises in exchange!
Edge of the blade
As already anticipated in our various previews, the gameplay of Nioh 2 for its large part is reflected in a healthy "more of the same", but the steps forward have been gigantic. The management of Amrita, their loss and their recovery (or disappearance in the event of death prior to their obtaining) is clearly unchanged, and their amount obtained from kills has reached a respectable balance.
Also come back tombs of the revived, the players who died in battle that we can summon to have challenges worthy of the name and earn interesting equipment, but with the possibility of obtaining Ochoko cups indispensable to evoke visitors, or awaken them from tombs of mercy left around by other users to help us: these tombs they can also be created by ourselves on a mission using a particular object. We will not be able to exploit them, but other players will be able to summon one of our clones and fight alongside him ... and we will also get rewards!
Without dwelling onamazing variety game, thanks to the dozens of different armor and all the weapons that each contain their own style (to which we add new entries such as scythes and odachi), or to the three handles that will vary both the attack speed, the damage and both the combos, we will mainly talk about the innovations introduced with Nioh 2.
The first of these is precisely related to edged weapons: in addition to the classic elemental or poisonous effects that we know well, now some weapons also have the power of purification or corruption, which will have more effect depending on the enemy that stands in front of us. The Yokai weapons, first of all, also have a consciousness bar that fills up while fighting, and once that gauge reaches its maximum the weapon will automatically unleash a very useful power in battle.
Another of the changes made to the basic structure sees in Nioh 2 la modification of parameters that make us level up, now better balanced and with a couple of more than welcome insertions (such as "Courage"). Clearly, both for the statistics, and for the specific skills of weapons, samurai, magic or metamorph powers, everything will be in the player's ability, trying to create a character suitable for their style of play and who knows how to get by in all situations. The skill tree, specifically, it has been modified and recreated, almost to remember not too remotely the spherography that we saw in Final Fantasy X (although much more simplified). Certainly a trick to make the menu of our progress clearer and less pompous on a visual level.
Another addition on the battlefield is that of entire areas of the map plagued by Yokai power, and which in order to be "liberated" require the killing of one of the enemies in particular: always the strongest. If they are not purified, it will not be possible to open the chests inside, and we will have serious difficulties in crossing them, since the number of Yokai inside them will always be high (by purifying it, however, the enemies will be drastically reduced). These zones will be activated as a kind of "fury mode" even by the final bosses themselves in story missions, but in that case it will be deactivated by the enemy himself after a set period of time. But be careful! In those situations, the enemy's moves will become more pressing and some of them will reserve unpleasant surprises for you.
We do not deny that getting used to everything, especially if you have not had to deal with the first chapter, can be quite complicated at first, but a good information system and tutorials (clearly translated into our language) help the player.
Breath, concentration, and no rush
It is no coincidence that Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja took their time to churn out this second chapter, and it is clear as sunshine that much of this time has been used to enrich an experience that was already good. All the additions, in fact, only modify a structure that, despite being quite solid, had some wobbly points. The technical sector of Nioh 2 is therefore refreshed, Where the level design has been cleaned up, where all the modalities proposed for the graphics work very well (apart from some unsightly frame drops for specific figures that move in the distance, typical of deafult), and where all the new features related to the gameplay go to fit in a natural way, almost had always been there. The labor file was also carried out largely on controls and fluidity of the game, which being decidedly improved, in a certain sense make Nioh 2 slightly "easier" (mind the quotes). Performance on PlayStation 4 Pro is great, and the uploads are extremely short (from 5 to 7 seconds for the start of a mission, and less than 5 for those between a defeat and another).
Honorable mention must be made dutifully throughout the artistic sector that this game can give: as happened for Nioh, every map and every model are imbued to the core of an incredible historical and folkloristic care (as well as for historical events). The settings, the clothes, the recreation of demons, the models of weapons and armor, but also the soundtrack that will accompany us in certain points, all recalls feudal Japan in its purest essence. Simply fascinating.
