

The combat system is surprisingly intricate Nioh is an exceptionally deep RPG, and seasoned Souls players are in for a surprise if they go in with any preconceptions. Each one offers pros and cons based on your prefered method of attack and there are stance specific actions for every weapon to unlock. If something's gnashing at your ankles, a high stance just isn’t going to cut it - quite literally. Stance is another component that you may think you can get by without utilising, but oftentimes you’ll need to switch it up based on the enemy you’re tackling. The way of your samurai is going to be drastically different to someone else’s, but unlike Dark Souls, you don’t have to lock yourself into a specific path as early on, so make the most of it and do a little dabbling. "The way of your samurai is going to be drastically different to someone else's, but unlike Dark Souls, you don’t have to lock yourself into a specific path as early on." Weapons at a time, so you can experiment with wildly different playstyles from the outset until you find your groove. What’s more, you can equip two ranged and two melee Each one has its own skill tree and you can pretty much wield anything you come across at the start of the game without having to sink a bunch of points into a specific stat first. The variety stems from the weapon types and abilities. What Nioh lacks in class types, it makes up for in nuanced layers that build on the basics.

Nioh neatly circumvents that problem by presenting you with a somewhat preset class William is a samurai. It can be a royal pain in the butt to veer off-piste and experiment with a new weapon or abilities.
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The Dark Souls series is notoriously difficult, and the gameplay can sometimes feel a little cumbersome and restrictive, even more so once you choose a class and build. If you’ve watched videos of the more skillful players in action, it has more in common with the quickfire combos and frantic momentum of Ninja Gaiden. Think of it as the equivalent of the Gears of War Active Reload for your stamina bar.įor me, it’s this mechanic that draws a line in the sand between the dogged, lengthy stand-offs in Dark Souls and the fast-paced action of Nioh.

Having metamorphosed into Ki, it surges with the beat of each successful Ki Pulse, encouraging you to dance in and out of the enemies’ range, giving you carte blanche to go to town on them. William’s stamina bar no longer refills at a crawl. Shortly after facing the first boss, you’ll be whisked away to the comfortingly familiar bosom of Japan and find that the combat system has had an overhaul, with stances, Ki, Ninjustu and Onmyo Magic now all threads in the rich tapestry of ass whooping. But looking past the surface, they couldn’t be more different. The parallels between the titles are borne from certain aesthetics and concepts, like the Shrines, ‘souls’, and player gravesites. It looks and feels very much like a Souls game.īut not for long. William bumbles around the cold, stony interior of the Tower of London, with the flash of a Ki Pulse and flourish of a stance change nowhere to be seen he fends off Beefeaters and the occasional silent, insurmountable knight. The prologue sets up the story nicely, giving the protagonist William a kick up the butt that will propel him to the shores of Feudal Japan, but it will throw players who have had hands-on time with the alpha and betas for a loop. The studio has previously worked on Ninja Gaiden and Hyrule Warriors, so action games are its bread and butter, and with it, they made a delectable sandwich of compromise with a satisfying RPG filling. Nioh began life as a JRPG, and after a short stint as an action-oriented Warriors-style title,Team Ninja was brought on board to have a crack at salvaging the project. Of course there are some similarities, but if you pussyfoot your way through the game like an anguished nameless undead, you’ll be missing out. It’s an entirely new beast altogether."Īt first glance it’s easy to mistake Team Ninja’s Nioh for a Dark Souls clone, with its oppressive atmosphere and a difficulty level that’s so unforgiving it’d refuse to give you a reprieve even if you were on your deathbed. "The combat system is surprisingly intricate Nioh is an exceptionally deep RPG, and seasoned Souls players are in for a surprise if they go in with any preconceptions. Let's count all the ways Nioh is better than Dark Souls.
