Nioh 2

Undoubtedly set to be one of the highlights of 2020, Nioh 2 is a confident follow-up that leaves the core of the game intact, renewing the experience by adding yet another rewarding layer. With its Yokai abilities, it further distances itself from the Souls-like genre, making combat deeper and more exciting then ever. This is effectively Ninja Gaiden cranked up to eleven with RPG elements and your own custom created character; one that has a demonic past that inexplicably provides them with otherworldly abilities. And if that doesn’t make you want to play Nioh 2, I don’t know what will.

Nioh 2 is an impressive evolution of its predecessor, strengthening everything that was already great, while mostly leaving its already existing issues alone. Its stellar combat is elevated by the addition of Soul Cores, Burst Counters, and the ways in which those two main new mechanics affect enemy AI and how you approach battles. It’s depth is impressive, even though that can also make it feel a little overwhelming due to how much time must be spent managing Nioh 2’s many systems. If you’re up to the challenge, Nioh 2 is no doubt one of the most difficult and rewarding games of this generati...

Nioh 2 takes everything great about the first game and dials it up. Despite a few returning gremlins, this is an instant hit for fans of the series.

If there’s one point I want to get across above all others, it’s this: Nioh 2 isn’t as revelatory as the first game, but that shouldn’t be held as a mark against it – at least not this time. Team Ninja was right to iterate and expand carefully. Nioh got so much right on the first go. While the new prequel storyline suffers from a slow and disconnected start, just about every other aspect of Nioh 2 feels upgraded.

When I started writing this review, I was tempted to follow Team Ninja's example and just copy whole paragraphs from the first game text, change headlines and add a few small changes. Fun fact: that review would mostly be accurate and relevant.

Nioh 2 is even tougher than the original, and you'll get on its level or happily die trying.

Nioh 2 is a great game that’s obscured beneath a mountain of frustration. I’m not one to shy away from a challenge, having loved Souls and Souls-like games, and even enjoyed Team Ninja’s impressive archive, but Nioh 2 broke me. The debate on whether games such as these should include a difficulty slider has been a hot button issue for awhile. While its own blend of the formula, this has begun pushing me into support for such a feature. There’s so much to Nioh 2 that many gamers will simply miss out on due to its ruthless difficulty, something that feels unearned in its own right. Those able to...

As far as sequels go, Nioh 2 isn't the most revolutionary. Developer Team Ninja has built and iterated upon the strong foundations laid by a predecessor widely considered to be one of the best Dark Souls titles not made by From Software, but is that enough in today's world? The follow-up does introduce new mechanics, weapons, locations, and an impressive amount of enemy variety, however, it never quite manages to shake that feeling of being more of the same. To be fair, that familiar loop is excellent at its core, although it's not going to convert any doubters into believers. Nioh 2 is a supe...

With Nioh 2, Team Ninja has done a better job than anyone else at making smart innovations to a treasured design template.

Overall, though, Nioh 2 is a worthy successor to its original, hitting nearly every beat there is to make it the best it can be. Where it drops the ball doesn't prevent Team Ninja from taking the bases it needs or hitting its homerun with the game. It's an easy recommendation for any lover of action RPGs, as it is one of the many reasons that 2020 is such a big year for PS4 fans.

Listen, you already know if Nioh 2 is going to be your jam. You know which side of the “difficulty is part of the point” argument you fall on. There are a lot of good, and even great things here for fans of the genre, but in the end, it’s another ‘one of those’. Nioh 2 is stylish, and polished, and well designed, and I hate playing it.

Team Ninja delivers a Souls experience with a heaping handful of options obfuscating the sublime combat.