When it had yet to enter the market, no one knew how the finished product would be received by the public, with the various alpha and beta versions that had aroused conflicting opinions from those who had tried them. But as we told you in our review four years ago, the strengths of Nioh there were many, and although some players have maintained their position by failing to be "kidnapped" by the feudal Japan created by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja, the work was a success. With the arrival of the DLC, the offer has been improving even more, increasing the game time and the hunger of the fans by a lot. With the arrival of the new flagship from Sony, the Japanese soulslike is finally ready to return in the form of Nioh Remastered: The Complete Edition. In this version of the title, players who enjoyed the original work will be able to return to the battlefield on PS5 enjoying a decidedly superior quality, and it will be a fundamental opportunity to discover the origins - and the connections - for all those who have never approached them. This version of the action RPG also enjoys all add-ons and expansions released, in addition of course to the various PlayStation 5 specific upgrades.
We meet again, William
Clearly we are faced with the same game that we enjoyed long ago, and therefore we will relive the adventure of William in all its passages. This is the legendary golden-haired Samurai, who arrived in Japan from England during the Sengoku era. After a short prologue that will serve as a tutorial, which will explain the importance of Amrita, but above all it will introduce us narratively in Nioh and will immediately make it clear who is the antagonist to be defeated, the real experience begins. One of the features that brings the development team the most pride is the historical and cultural accuracy of the various sections, with different characters who really existed to make their appearance, the presence of real historical moments (clearly all in videogame sauce, therefore fictionalized and made more "imaginative" to include our hero in everything) and a multitude of demons.
For those who have never approached the title, it is a soulslike Action RPG that uses a practical mission system, replacing the "single map" generally used in this type of games (especially by the progenitors of the genre). However, to bring the game closer to FromSoftware titles there is only the general line (loss of Amrita after death, restart from the last prayer point, respawn of the enemies at each visit of the sanctuary, challenging bossfights). In fact, Nioh managed to deviate a lot, creating a circle of specific enthusiasts, mainly thanks to multiple ways to manage your weapons and movesets, proposing a variety of different builds dizzying (also clearly linked to the armor worn, to the weight, and to your style of play). And again, three different stances for the weapon (grips), stamina management as Ki, variety of enemies between humans and yokai (several carefully recreated demons of Japanese culture), and much more. A unique title of its kind, but extremely complex and complicated to assimilate, so much so that some players could take almost an entire run of the game to understand all the mechanics and nuances. Those who have overcome certain obstacles, however, have hardly found a way to break away from the game.
Justice is done
What changes with this version? The task of this remastered is to re-propose the progenitor of the series, but giving him a luster that he could not enjoy at the time of release. Hence, as we have anticipated, Nioh Remastered: The Complete Edition wants to give the best of itself by exploiting the capabilities and potential of PlayStation 5. The resulting result is truly splendid. Although it is only a remastered work, the difference between this version and the original one is evident immediately, with a leap in quality - obviously - much more evident than that made with Nioh 2 Remastered. Both games can be played in three different modes, depending on your preferences and above all depending on the TV you have. These are the 4k mode, which offers high definition 4k resolution graphics (and which is only supported by 4k screens), the 120 fps mode, with a very high frame rate to make animations even smoother (also applicable only to screens that support them), and the Standard Console mode ps5, which optimizes the graphics capabilities of the Sony console for viewing on standard screens. Clearly the latter is the least performing, but nevertheless manages to provide players with more than satisfactory feedback (consequently, however, the players who use Nioh Remastered in this mode will hardly feel the generational gap between this and the old version) .
It must be said that with the right TV the difference between the two main modes is really minimal, being able to enjoy an incredible glance even in the mode that rewards 120fps. What has been retouched very little are the videos, which in terms of frame rate still feel the fatigue of the past generation, a real shame. The next gen on PlayStation 5, however, also brought a fundamental aspect: ultra-fast uploads. This factor is anything but to be underestimated, because it makes the gameplay more immediate (for example between one death and another) and helps to streamline the entire production, which in many cases suffered from excessive heaviness. Last little feature, but noteworthy, is that if you have a save on PS4, you will be able to continue the game from where you left it.
