Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition

Soulslikes are probably one of the hardest kinds of games to get right when its not made by FromSoft. Most of these copycat games fall into common trappings when it comes to these games such as gank fights, poor level design, uninspired enemy designs, and unbalanced combat numbers; all sourced from developers that don't understand what makes Soulsbornes special and fun to play. Lords of the Fallen is a prime example of these shortcomings, it tries to be Dark Souls but it falls short in virtually ever facet. Lies of P on the other hand though is one of the best that Soulslikes have to offer, its quality matching and even surpassing some official Soulsborne titles. Up until recently I thought Lies of P to be the best Soulslike, however with my exposure to Nioh 2 I'm possibly rethinking my position on that. Level Design: A very important aspect of these games is nailing the true Souls dungeon vibes which includes properly and thoughtfully placed enemies, shortcuts, secret items/areas, and a proper sense of direction stemming from beautiful visual and environmental storytelling. Nioh 2 does this in spades, offering a wide variety of biomes, architectures, terrains, and well placed traps/enemies, resulting in a frustrating to learn yet satisfying to master feeling that these games should instill. Enemies: This game is very difficult, mainly because of the enemies. There are dozens of unique enemies, all with their own quirks to master and learn. Their designs are disgusting, monsterish, unique, inspired, and tough to fight. At times, the game may feel dauntingly hard because of how much damage some enemies dish out but with time you come to learn their patterns and attack combos. I'm also very impressed with the variety of enemies and their designs; they all feel very unique in their own rights, have smooth and polished animations, and are all very challenging to defeat. Even the very first enemy you fight, while easy by itself can become an extremely deadly opponent in the later levels as you will come to learn. Weapons: This game features one of the most in-depth, comprehensive skill tree systems for weapons I've seen in combat games. The neat part is that each different weapon has its own unique tree that unlocks over time as you master each one. This is an extremely fun system that allows you to naturally and gradually learn all the weapons and their combos over your playthrough(s) AND it adds an extreme level of replayability if you wish to run a new character. KOEI Flair: When a 3rd party dev comes along and makes a Soulslike, most feel that they must also add a new mechanic of their own to legitimize the game as their own creation and to set their title apart from what has come before. With Nioh they added Ki and the Dark Realm; two things that drastically alter the way you play. Ki is basically your stamina, however you must press the recover button at the correct time to recover your stamina quickly after an attack. This is sort of a quick time event that is integrated into the combat, becoming more necessary as you venture into the harder missions. The Dark Realm are areas of the missions where enemies are tougher and you have severely reduced stamina regen (hence the importance of mastering Ki recovery). At first, the Ki system threw me off and I didn't engage with it much but once I started implementing it in my combat, I was instantly more lethal and was also having a lot more fun. Instead of waiting around for your stamina to come back, you can get it all back instantly with a perfectly timed recovery. The Dark Realm is a fun and challenging addition to the game that changes what would be normal encounters into deadly ones, pushing your abilities to the limits. Special Abilities: Another thing this game added that is not present in other Soulslikes is an ultimate form that you can assume once you have charged it up enough. You enter a Shiftling state where you are essentially immortal for a short time and can deal devastating damage to enemies. There are multiple different forms you can take, all with their own abilities; and your Shiftling form also has its own skill tree. This addition to combat makes for a very fun and cathartic experience, using it to obliterate mobs that annoy you or using it to make that much more of a difference against a challenging boss. Story: The story is good too. It's emotional, riveting, mysterious, and it's all elevated by the environmental storytelling and cutscenes. The storytelling and narrative focus is more present and laid out in front of you in Nioh as opposed to Soulsbornes where literally everything is cryptic. Nioh does have its own level of mystery and unknowns as well, hiding a large portion of its lore within the text descriptions of items. Graphics/Animations: Everything is beautiful. Every combo animation, every limb and head you slice off, all the blood splashes, golden particles flying, dark pools of demonic matter sputtering on the ground. Everything is smooth, beautifully colored, rendered, and polished. OST: Level music is adventurous and spooky, daunting and looming. Boss music is epic and orchestral. Checks all the boxes really. Art Direction: This game is Souls painted in Japan. Think Sekiro but far more inspired and themed around Japanese architecture and motifs. Bosses: All bosses are very challenging and rewarding to defeat, all with very unique designs and attack patterns. In conclusion, I really, really love this game. It's crazy to me that I slept on this title for so long, not knowing that one of the best souls games is already out there and just waiting for me to discover it all for the first time. Nioh 2 is not an imitator or a clone or a copycat, it earns its own right as its own game through its expert execution of all the things listed above and so much more that you experience while playing. This game is an instant classic that can stand beside any official Soulsborne title in quality. If that is not an endorsement, I don't know what is. If you enjoy Soulslikes, this is for you.

Had been eyeing this game off for a while and would always put it off because some other game came along. Really glad I gave it a chance finally, it's been really enjoyable so far. Feels like a Souls-like with a deep RPG feel. Combat is really fluid and satisfying. Looks really nice on Steam Deck. Medium settings capped at 30fps with about 2 hours battery life.

Not terrible, but it's marred by abysmal balancing making the game far too frustrating to be enjoyable as a whole. The main draw to Nioh 2 is its combat which is very interesting and works well when things begin to flow, but it just doesn't ever fall into a good rhythm often unless you want to spend hundreds of hours slogging through the game's systems and NG+ cycles that lock major gameplay systems behind them just so you can have fun with it all. Primarily, Nioh 2 really starts to fall apart because of how overly punishing the game is. Outside of the extremely poor enemy placement with many encounters having enemies hiding around corners, enemies hidden under solid water textures and in bushes, or archers sitting in every corner of an arena with a tough enemy, or a gank of enemies that were not designed to be placed together, everything in this game will fart in your general direction and hit you for 80% of your health or just straight up one shot you, which just makes for a frustrating learning experience. Trying to learn a complex moveset or learning the patterns and timings of certain moves just becomes a chore when you also have to keep up with other aspects that are giving you trouble while any mistake, regardless of how small, will be nearly guaranteed to kill you. This wouldn't be such a big issue if the game had a proper training room like say Sifu, a game that lets you spawn any enemy and however many of them you want while also making your character unable to die, but all you get here is a small playground that can spawn like 4 basic enemies. This also isn't even taking into account important skills that are locked behind story progression, or something as integral and basic as having a ki pulse activating on your dodges be hidden in the skill tree among other important mechanics that are not explained. The games enemy design is also a rather noticeable blight on the combat. Some enemies are fine and can be interesting to tear apart with combos and abilities while not being too hard to learn, and then you run into others with comically large health pools that also have near unreactable tracking grabs that will one shot you, extremely fast and long combos that will shred through your guard or barely clip you forcing you into a stunlock, or the they will just bust out a frame 1 hyper armor move and kill you. A lot of enemies are also just a pain because of how little recovery they have even if their attack patterns are not that bad, it can just feel like a chore at times. The gameplay loop gets further bogged down by a horrible loot system that throws dozens of useless gear at you per mission making you waste time in menus for a system that doesn't really matter since even when your gear gets better the enemies scale up every mission with you, except the gear suddenly stops being useless in the NG+ cycles because then the game decides to give you the actual real loot that has proper set bonuses and special effects that actually make you stronger. While Nioh 2 can be good fun at times, it feels more difficult for the sake of being difficult rather than a fair and engaging challenge making the majority of the experience a test in frustration that fails to captivate in any other area with a story that has both lackluster writing and presentation, and a world that feels rather bland with most levels giving off a feeling of claustrophobia despite their open skyboxes.

I love how everything in this game has the ability to stunlock and threeshot you in a matter of milliseconds. But its your fault to do so. 10/10

[h1] Decent Combat With A Narrative Dumpster Fire & Cursed Loot System.[/h1] The story is so brain dead that I feel personally offended just by interacting with it, full with cheap plot twists leading to poor "historical revision" at every corner of the game. All historical characters butchered and diminished to a dull one dimensional version of themselves. Also the most bland and unlikable main character of all time. The most atrocious loot system ever implemented in a video game. The decent combat is not enough to save this trainwreck.

Possibly the best game in its genre. The depth of mechanics is second to none. To anyone struggling I recommend really looking at your skill tree to try to understand how your weapon works, play into this and you'll find everything clicks. No other game has this depth of mechanical interaction and provides so much room for experimentation and personal flair in combat.

Fun game, similar to dark souls but with character action flair from the pedigree of the team behind ninja gaiden.

This is the only Souls-like I have ever enjoyed. I have always hated really clunky combat but love difficult games, so I always liked the idea of souls-like games I have never enjoyed one, but this game keeps the difficulty while still being very fluid and fun. To anyone who is up for a challenge but can't handle the overly clunky combat of games like dark souls this is a must buy!

Probably Team Ninja's best game. Incredibly tight weapon mechanics plus magic and demonic/spiritual powers. Very expansive game and a loot system like Diablo. Co Op is the definition of fun. I'm always returning to Nioh 2 for some reason....

The best "souls-like" out there. Easily. Combat is so complex, but just like any other good souls game, once you learn and get the hang of it, it's so addicting and rewarding. Nioh 3 just got announced and can't wait for it!

Fantastic gameplay with tons of replayability

really like this game , love the fact some side missions are more difficult than main missions .

Nioh 2 is one of the most fun and challenging games I have played. The weapon playstyles are unique, and add a lot of dimension to the game. The bosses are difficult, and often need a particular strategy to beat. The Oni and samurai setting reminds me a lot of Onimusha that I played when I was younger, and this game has a lot of the same elements.

a unique blend of PvE and monster capture that works seemlessly

This is my first time playing this game or any soulslike game. Difficult is an understatement.

After Elder Ring this is the second game which makes me play binge very hard in the starting phase. 10/10 Loved It <3

This game doesn't actually support 16:10 resolutions? They can't even be bothered to implement a simple letterboxed full screen mode?

Nioh 2 is a masterpiece, hard as all get out, but it manages this unique style of gameplay I've always dreamed of trying to make. Having different combat stances, a demon mode, demon skills (strictly seperate from demon mode), a guardian spirit skill, magic and ninjutsu all available to use in one game. It's got a learning curve but it's really good once you get into it.

Imagine if DMC/Ninja Gaiden, Dark Souls, and PoE/Diablo had a baby and it doesn't have an identity crisis - that's Nioh 2. The more I play, the more I am impressed how this game miraculously blend fast-paced technical action, extremely punishing action RPG game structure and almost gratuitous lootfest. I say miraculous, because all these elements mechanically interact with each other in significant ways, and while I have my personal preference and opinions about them, I cannot say they "don't work." Nioh 2 wants you to practice your hardcore action skills, understand and plan your stats allocation, and run around collecting shiny gears all at the same time. And that loop is fun. In some way, that may also be this game's shortcoming. For technical action game lovers, being "limited" by the game's stamina system (and by extension, stats and gear progression) would be a turn-off. On the other hand, for Souls-like fans used to the elegant simplicity, the high demand of precision and variety of action control may lead them to find the game "clunky," and the gears rather redundant. For lootfest enthusiasts, the action and stats allocation required may inhibit their pursuit of min-maxing. And there's nothing wrong with those takes, as Nioh 2 indeed does [i]not[/i] pretend to satisfy those needs individually. But once you accept the borderline-cluttered package of mechanics (and even a pokemon-like critters collection lol), you are in for a ride of your gaming life. Practicing your action is extremely impactful, also giving you more stats and gears. Those stats expand your range of action as well as gears you can equip. Gears have passive effects that feed back into the action, changing how you play, and the circle completes itself. New Game+ and beyond further enhances this core gameplay loop, by giving more stats and gears, mixing up enemy moveset and encounters to push you to perfect your action even more. Did I mention there are 11 weapon types, all of which play very differently? And there are so many build options that gives a lot of freedom in how you play on top of that? Now I for one am not the biggest fan of Diablo-esque lootfest, so I somewhat fell off once getting into NG++ (for the record, completing NG main story and the 3 DLC extra stories took around 100 hours or so). But that's my own preference, not a shortcoming of the game design. Even then, I am still playing it on and off, also started doing co-op with a friend recently (it's [i]really[/i] fun), which speaks volume to how strong the core structure of this game is. Also, this game's spear is the [i]best[/i] spear action fantasy I have ever played, making it not just "a longer sword" like in most action games, that alone was kinda worth it. Even beyond the core gameplay loop, Nioh 2 is full of little details that make the game shine. The flavor texts of characters, enemies, weapons, gears, even the short intro to the mission during loading time, is full of fairly well-researched (but also with enough fantasy twist) description of history, craftsmanship, and folklore. If you are into that, this game is a genuine treat. The story is an interesting interpretation of certain historical warlords as well, especially if you know some historical details. The music also sets the tone very well, from more ambient Japanese horror tracks to energetic war-like tunes, all the way to heroic music playing at really great moments. To conclude: Nioh 2 is a Stylish Action, Souls-like, and Diablo-like all at the same time, and it won't work otherwise. The blend of gameplay elements from those 3 subgenres is what makes Nioh, Nioh. You do not have to like it, but it is important to have an open mind and flexibility to the unique fun and frustration Nioh 2 is going to throw at you.

One of the best games ever, for real. Has a learning curve, but once you are into it, it is over. You will dedicate yourself to be a better player, in campaign, all dreams and underground-depths. This is the game.

Probably the best combat system and freedom of self-expression in an action rpg game I've ever experienced. So many ways to play, so many options, endless fun, and so finely crafted (for like 95% of combat encounters). I cannot recommend this game enough if you enjoy fast paced moderately difficult games where you just duke it out (the game ranges from thoughtlessly easy to "You breathe wrong and you die" and you can choose your difficulty based on your "build"... but then there's also straight difficulty stages in new game+ modes).

never playing a fromsoft sadly, the combat just straight up doesnt compare to nioh. combat so good it ruined my favorite games 10/10

This game is just good. Deceptively, it seems like a soulslike but it's not really. It lets you get what you want from it, unfortunately that means if you treat it like a soulslike, it will feel like one. Theres a bit of a learning curve to it but if you're willing to learn, you can do some pretty crazy stuff with this game. Combat is more intricate than it initially seems and the gear builds can get really interesting if you enjoy theorycrafting. Every time you progress NG, the game gets more depth, so if you enjoy the elements of the game, it essentially rewards you with more as you keep playing. It's a fun once through, and then has the option to progress NG+ and do some crazy stuff if you enjoy it enough to want more from it. The most TLDR I feel is accurate to explain this game would be, soulslike but action combat with borderline arpg gear builds. It's one of my favorite games I always come back to every now and then just to join some randoms and kill stuff.

One of best action RPG's of all time. Hard for beginners to pick up, but once they do they will love it.

My favorite thing about this game so far is the combat system and co-op mode. The game is enjoyable in single player mode but also more difficult when fighting multiple opponents at one time. It's nice to have a friend who can tank damage while you're learning how to play the game and get comfortable with the controls. My 2 complaints so far is 1) the game does lag from time to time and it can become so bad that enemies will teleport from one location to another and you don't have enough time to block an attack. That's frustrating. And 2) the AI will agro at random times and even if you try to block you'll take the full force of an attack. It's not bad enough to take away from the enjoyment of the game. The challenge is what make it fun. Also, it's a beautiful and (for the most part) well made game. Highly recommend!

One of the most hostile games I've played. At times it feels like it doesn't want you to play it or enjoy it -- everything is lethal, even the lowliest of enemies can ruin your runs. But given enough time and patience, I think I ended up playing one of the best action games ever. I rarely play ng+ in these kind of games, but I was pleasantly surprised to notice that not only enemy composition and placement is different, as you might expect, but also movesets and AI are improved in the new cycles. After playing for 30 hours, quitting, coming back, restarting and finishing the campaign... I feel like I barely finished the tutorial.

The most physically satisfying game to play that I have ever played. Team Ninja making a Souls-like is brilliant. It doesn't have the deeper meaning of Souls games, but every moment spent on this game feels like it has a tangible benefit thanks to the multi-faceted progression system. I hate 90% of the games I play, and I absolutely sing the praises of Nioh 2. If you are looking for an action game, there is zero reason not to try this out.

It's a pleasure to revisit this game after so many years, and to support the developers at the same time. At one time I played the 1st and 2nd game for a total of more than a thousand hours (on PS), I was wondering how they aged? Answer: they aged well, still among the best in the subgenre. Although I prefer good level design with exciting exploration, Nioh captivates with its advanced combat system (stance switching, Ki pulse, etc.), build variety (starting with the new NG cycles) and a bunch of other mechanics. Absolutely a must-buy for any fan of the souls-like subgenre!

It's Nioh baby. The first 3 NG cycles are a tutorial and the "real game" starts at NG+5. It's a fantastic game. Sure, a good amount of the mechanics are complicated and not explained very well if at all, but that doesn't mean they're bad. Nioh 2 is a well crafted game that will absolutely enthrall certain kinds of people. Looking forward to Nioh 3.

crazy fun combat and very cool boss fights. i died 50+ on the first three bosses but you get better just gotta be dedicated and get that muscle memory. there's a dopamine hit when you finally get that boss that you just don't get anywhere else

Nioh 2 completely took my breath away the first time I played it, and cemented Team Ninja as my favorite action game developer. This game will kill you over and over and over and yet if you want to beat it the tools are always in your hands. No challenge is too extreme, no conflict comes without danger, and there are thousands of ways to express yourself and survive. Word of advice for new players; the max level is 750, so you will keep getting better gear every level for pretty much the entire game the first *few* times through (there are multiple NG difficulties that raise the level cap). This makes the early game actually harder, because you will be learning the game with only a tiny fraction of the options you will have at the end-game. Blacksmithing and soul smithing are absolutely critical to creating strong builds, yet both are expensive with very limited rewards early on. Just disassemble everything except what you're currently wearing, and swap better gear in as you get it. The story of this game will also sneak up on you. I did not really expect much coming in, and the star of the show is still the action combat itself, but the characters are all so memorable and over-the-top without feeling out of place in this fantastical historic/folkoric/mythologic past, and the things I have taken away from the game have enriched me greatly.

Easier than Nioh 1, yet more optimized in almost every aspect. Much more relaxed than Nioh 1. Excellent battle system, good visual, perfect story. Easily THE best action/soul like game till Nioh 3. Strongly recommend.

Apologies to Team Ninja for sleeping on this for so long. I wasn't familiar with your game.

Had it already on the PS4 and beat it. Liked it so much that i bought it again on PC after saying bye bye to my PS4. Ended up sinking 200hrs into it. With all the different possible builds and weapons/skills/yokai ability combos possible the replay value is insane. The game is hard and like my Nioh 1 review, the urge to rage chuck my controller was hard to suppress but my man, if you endure and get through the game, your patience level will be god tier. Story was good and engaging despite being a custom main character and if youre a gooner like me, customization is point on 😉😉 if you like the main game def recommend getting the dlc as it is v challenging but so satisfying once completed. I keep coming back to this game when i run out if things to play. Def get this if on sale bc the value is amazinggggg

it's so, so, so fucking peak. i finished nioh 1 but it never really clicked with me. but with nioh 2 going on sale and several friends telling me it improves on nioh 1 i decided i should at least try it. they really did improve on everything. having more tools makes fights so much more enjoyable than they were in nioh 1. cannot wait for nioh 3 now.

Brutally difficult with unnecessarily complicated combat controls that punish you with death instantly for every mistake. Possibly harder and more complicated than Sekiro. Beautiful yet completely rage inducing, even more so than Dark Souls was. This game makes me feel completely emasculated, and makes me question my manhood and not because I'm playing as a five foot tall 90 pound Japanese girl with a large chest.

very fun, smash bros combat with dark souls level layouts and diablo loot/crafting

Hated my first hour with the game because I was expecting a classic souls formula so I got my ass kicked by every enemies. After doing the training and figuring out the combat loop with KI and all that, I was able to finish the first mission and first boss without real problems and the game clicked! Great game so far but punishing!

If you slept on it last-gen and are looking for a souls-like, or are a fan of the Ninja Gaiden series its an easy recommendation -- game lies somewhere between the two in-terms of gameplay. - Game looks nice but it shows its age a near end of life PS4 port - 120fp on 1440p max settings with a 4070 - Great game-play mechanics, weapon, skill and build variety - Middling story

the UI in this game is ball cheese but man is it fun, with or without friends, when you get a grip of the combat and leveling systems. 11/10. Buy it

I enjoyed this game alot however on PC I died more to the janky camera views than anything. I've never stopped playing a game for terrible camera but this was a deal-breaker for me.

Absolute waste of time, imagine leveling up just for you to be doing/taking the same damage relative to enemy health/damage over and over. Kept playing in hopes for some good content and it just never delivered.

The game feels great mechanically, but everything else about this game sucks eggs. Pass on this one.

HOW to PLAY NIOH 2 OFFLINE: 1. Go into Steam settings and go into offline mode. 2. Close Steam while staying in offline mode. 3. Re-launch Steam offline. 4. Open the game, still offline, and it'll tell you it can't connect. Good. 5. Quit the game 6. Put Steam back online. You're good from there. Until either you reinstall or it updates or you accidentally hit R3 while in a shrine menu. if you have to ask why I'd ever want to stay offline in this game, either you haven't played it or you love seeing giant glowing red / blue neon swords dotting virtually every surface of the game's map. the reason there isn't an option to either remove / dull this "feature" in the game or even just go offline in the game is because ?????????. good game, and surely the best "soulslike". along with the first one. Rich Evans called Nioh bargain bin supermarket sushi, but I dunno. I disagree - I think it's got charms and mechanics all its own that the dozens and dozens of limp Dark Souls ripoffs out there just don't seem interested in attempting. they're more about "Vibe" and difficulty - Nioh's about stance, weapon variety and ... well, vibe, too. but a vibe all its own. this was Japanese Dark Souls before Sekiro, which is of course the superior game ... but come on. it's FromSoftware. Nioh and Nioh 2 = the best FromSouls-likes I've ever played, and not by a little. I'd even say it's better than the edgy emo pinnochio game. (which even that one is okay, I guess. maybe that's third place.)

about 104 hours into this hell hole and i've only managed to beat main game plus the first 2 DLC's. totally req if you like hard games that challenge your will-power!!!

primeiro boss do jogo: champion gundyr ng+ bom jogo, morri mto

If you have played Nioh and enjoy it I recommend it If you haven't then there are better Souls Like games out there. The biggest issue with this game is random loot generation. EVERYTHING including stats (aside from one fixed stat based on the equipment type) is random. It makes things annoying and relies on farming and random rolls to get what you want.

This has as much to offer as the first one. It is incredibly one note. I don't understand any of the reviews saying the combat is deep. Its so flat and boring. Stun lock and kill or be stun locked and killed. Just like the first one. It gets so old so fast. There's no depth to stun lock, kill, stun lock, kill, stun lock, kill. Rinse and repeat.

After reaching player level 100 I can definitely say that this game strives on artificial difficulty. You are so much weaker than basic enemies to a laughable degree, and any comments suggesting otherwise likely spam broken skills or weapons. There is an artificial depth to this game's combat. Every weapon has 1 or 2 skills that it devolves into spamming, and it actually feels suboptimal to do otherwise. It doesn't matter if "the game gets good in endgame", the core balance is just not good for the part most players will experience, the standard new game. Literally all you need to do is tweak numbers and everything is fine, but the game's need to "be a soulslike" is too forced for this game to feel fun. Too many enemies feel like mini bosses, and too many bosses feel like they have very little weakness. You are not punished for playing poorly, you are punished for playing at all.

• unbelievably sluggish movement and clunky control when you suppose to be a ninja/samurai • you fighting the same 10 enemies over and over on the same 10 maps over and over, including the very same map reused from the first game • literally can count the challenging and fun bosses with one hand, the rest are gauntlets of the said 10 same enemies just different combination, and god skin duos • their ideas of fun is cram you with god skin duos in a small area, lords of the fallen style • being repetitive and atrocious already but then have the audacity ask you to play the same game THREE times for a trophy and FIVE times for "end game" content where you fight more of the same enemies but spongier managed put all of the worst parts of the souls games into one, amazing also the story is pure dog water