Nioh: Complete Edition

I love games like this. I do not like this. Even in Souls-likes that I'm not super good at like Mortal Shell, I understand the game and what I did wrong each time I die. I cannot for the life of me understand how you're supposed to play this. Dodging is worthless. Blocking is worthless. You can't really greed your way to a win, and the game isn't compelling enough on its own. I got the game for $10, so I don't feel like I overpaid, but I can't say I'll be continuing for anything other than raw stubbornness. if at all.

Definitely deserves more than "Mostly positive". It has incredible combat and tons of build customization. This can be a bit overwhelming at first, but you don't often get this amount of freedom for customizing the stats of your character in other similar games.

Most people will compare Nioh to other soulslike games, but that may lead to the wrong expectations. Apart from the combat being more fast-paced than usual soulslikes, Nioh presents a mission-based world inspired on historical events. There are some limitations that come with that. For example, many bosses are humans, representing their corresponding historical figures. This can be either a plus or a minus depending on how much you care about Japan's unification arc. I personally like it a lot and I have seen many of these characters referenced in other games/anime. But if you come straight from Dark Souls without zero knowledge about this period of Japan then you will probably wonder why do you have to fight so many dudes and why should you care about them.

Another limitation of the historical setting is the level design. Here I think they could have taken some liberties in order to expand their range of levels, because a lot of them are based on castles and this can feel a bit repetitive. Add to that that many optional quests take place on the same location as the main quests, and unless you enjoy the castle-based levels, it is gonna feel a bit of a slog sometimes.

For the most part the voice acting is quite good. I could recognize some of my favorite Japanese voice actors, for which I would have liked them to have more lines. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the main character, William, and the main villain, Kelley. Their voice acting is so bad it's straight up ridiculous. Also their lines are so vanilla I would prefer sometimes they would just stay quiet.

To summarize, although there are some points that can put off some players, it has amazing combat, deep build customization, and an interesting dive into feudal Japan and their folklore demons (Yokai). I finished the game (no ng+) including DLCs and all optional quests, and it was a lot of fun. Although some of the double boss fights (completely optional btw) were a bit infuriating. I do think the base price is a bit high for a 2017 game though, but it gets massive discounts and then it is a steal.

Finally I could buy the game that give me a lot of fun long time ago. It's still fun like the first time

I might change my review later on but as of now, consider this a warning. The game has its fun but it is NOT a souls-like. This game does not respect boss design nor scaling. its closer to something like DIablo in over the shoulder with a pseudo soulslike combat system rather than a true souls like. Tons of gear with random stats that you wont understand, Bosses that don't respect your time or autonomy, and a system that just feels forced. Overall this game is not a fun experience for me so far, even with some select highs. When you're fighting humans is where this combat really shines because you feel like a bad ass, blocking, parrying, and dodging similar movesets. But the main schitk of the game, the Yokai, don't and feel more like they don't value your input. The first boss for example is portrayed as your stereotypical slow first boss for example. Except rather than respect boss and arena design they put you in a cramped room that is not conducive to a fun experience when the boss has large hitboxes, some of which take up the majority of the room. This leads to a loop of walk in, bait, dodge/ run left, attack twice, back up and hope you dont hit a wall because 3/4 of the arena is about to be filled with an object that WILL take 4/5s of your health, or all your stamina if you manage to block. Then in phase two the boss moves faster with smaller hitboxes and the "yokai realm" effect (It removes stamina regen until you get a perfect refresh). Except the boss now has a ranged attack that auto tracks and will one shot you if you're not full health. When I say auto track, I mean "Throw an iron ball forwards and it will magically boomerang behind him to hit you" auto track, meaning positioning really isnt that important. Just pray you can dodge before you have to start the ball crushing slog over again. I beat the boss but it never left me fufilled, and to my dismay, in the second main mission im now seeing this pattern repeat with another REGULAR Yokai, except this one refuses to move, making getting close near impossible without getting hit by a gigashit hitbox the size of new york city (Since you will be out of stamina/health from dodging) while they sit in a yokai realm pool. This game just feels like it doesn't respect my time or skill as a player. I've nearly 100% Elden ring (No DLC) and pushed through Demon souls and Bloodborne, none of which have ever made me feel like a death wasn't my fault or was bullshit, however nearly every boss death in this game has.

This pain will make me stronger!

Amazing game with it's incredible combat and a good story, there's something special about playing a "souls-like" game made from Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja that just hits the spot, definitely moving on to Nioh 2 when this is finished, highly recommend this game if you haven't played yet!

Dang this game was really difficult at the start, unforgiving mobs, bosses, etc. Then came sloth, and all was well.

Great game. Very complex and lots of loot. Definitely hard and slow to start but if you stick with it its a very fun game. Great coop implementation too!

This is hard and frustrating at times. More often than not, the terrain is the final boss moreso than the final boss of each mission. You can try to blitz through each stage, only after you cleared it and unconsciously learn to maneuver every corner of the stage. Beating each mission is very satisfying. 10/10 would recommend.

Game felt good for the first 20-25h then it become anoying to play. Bosses seems to have some anti-agro mechanicks where if you attack them too much they recovered instantly with some AOE attacks. Too much waiting with your thumb up your ass because if you try to make a first move enemy would punish you. Dodge felt inconsistent, a lot of time i was convinced i did a good dodge but enemy hit me anyway, leving me unsure what did i do wrong. Also sometime game seems to ignore my inputs. But i am to stubborn to leave it unfinished so finished it anyway.

It's hard not to recommend Nioh. I don't even like soulslikes all that much, and Nioh 1 and 2 are a couple of my favorite games ever. Nioh's plot is basically "A western weeb's anime waifu gets kidnapped and taken back to Japan. The weeb sets out to rescue her, and while en route, he reads a samurai book SO HARD that he becomes a samurai himself.". The game itself is mostly that zany. Fire gameplay, and the monster designs are straight bangers.

What the hell is this port though? It doesn't matter if you're not using a controller, all in-game prompts will be displayed as XBOX controls. You have to go in to options constantly to find out which button is which. The actual default KBaM layout is pretty good at least... its just trying to remember which is which. LB/RB/LT/RT are all different keys depending on if you're in combat or in menus...

The worst thing is that the game hitches for like, half a second every five seconds... The internet says that this is because the game is checking every five seconds to see if you have a controller connected. This can apparently be remedied with something called Vjoy, but I am limited by my mortal flesh, and do not commune with the machine god so I don't know what that means... It's not terrible, and hasn't caused me to take unnecessary damage yet, but it's still annoying.

Still, Nioh is too good not to recommend. Just use a controller if you got one.

amazing game is awesome must play if u like souls games or good videogames and can read on a 1st grade level

This game gets me tilting like no other soulslike. Skill issue, but its way too punishing imo, getting stun locked or one shot is with the best armor is not fun for me. Youd be better off playing quite literally any other soulslike for the same dopamine rush, without the 10s of hours spent tilting, which will certainly happen no matter how good u are. Not really worth it imo and i kinda regret playing, feels like i wasted so much time and didnt even have fun

Fantastic game. Great atmosphere, fun maps, interesting locales and enemies. The inventory management can be a bit annoying, but if you just sell off the stuff you don't need after each mission, it's not that bad. The combat is excellent, and there are enough unique enemies to keep the game challenging. The story is decent, nothing ground breaking, but serviceable enough to explain your character's journey. Highly recommend.

This game makes me sad, because there's so much potential to it, and so much I want to see in it, and I don't think I'm going to get to half of it, just because it's 'Ninja Theory Hard' instead of 'Fromsoft Hard'.

The duels especially show how the NPCs really don't need you around, and could probably deal with the threat entirely on their own.

Amazing aesthetics but insanely full of stupid mechanics, playing co-op should never be this obnoxious and needing to beat all abyss stages prior just to repeat them with a friend is unacceptable.

This is an excellent game and a game like this deserves to have a spot in your collection

the base game is good, but the balance after ng+ is actually horrible

The game's difficulty is like gradual slaps to the nuts. They increase in force slap by slap. It may be uncomfortable, but you soon grow accustomed to them.
This is the game prepping you for the sledgehammer.

Pretty fun all things considered.

Honestly a fun and fantastic 80 hour adventure, played through the base game and all DLCs right after. Must mention that the DLC was a very distinct difficulty spike, adding more enemy variety to keep me on my toes.

I didn't know about the mission based structure of the game prior to playing but I must admit that I enjoyed it much more than the open world of other souls-like that I have played, it was very easy for me to pick up and complete a couple of missions and put down the game during weekdays with work.

Overall enjoyment 10/10.

There is no words to describe how good this game is. The difficulty in some levels is pretty rough and challenging, I recommend this game to people that consider themselves true resilient and very determined.

combat is fire enemies are cool and unique combat system

Only post reviews for games i unlock 100% achievements for.
So here is my short take on Nioh after 800h on Playstation and about 90 on Steam:

PRO'S:
-fluid game play in the form of combat mechanics and the depth of those mechanics
getting better at the games core mechanics is a guaranteed way to feel very accomplished and the reward for taking the time and putting in some effort is being able to progress in the further difficulties of the game

-optimization is pretty much up there
i don't have a 4 000 dollar pc and it runs extremely smooth and looks incredible

-the look, feel and overall aesthetic of the game are a straight 10
colors, visuals,sound and atmosphere are impeccable



CONS:
-The difficulty scaling is definitly brutal and almost too brutal
you go from finishing the last mission and feeling great straight to feeling humbled and getting 1 or 2 shot on the first mission of NGplus

-The infamous equipment grind and upgrade system is really overwhelming and most certainly not easy to get a grasp of it without numerous guides and even after that you're following a guide and still not actually understanding what you're doing

- repetition
a lot and i mean A LOT of re-skins of MAIN missions are used as a base for SIDE missions and at a certain point through the NGplus cycles you will be kinda done with SIDE missions



SUMMARY:
Insanely fun and challenging game with great visual and sound design.
A lot of re skinned missions and a lot of confusion, a lot of grinding too sadly.
Give it a go if it is on sale or pay full price if you know what you're getting yourself in to if your a souls fan
I give Nioh a 9 out of 10

Buy on sale. Pretty fun but suffers from lack of enemy diversity though level design is good. Combat pacing and dodging much more like Nier than Dark Souls but closer in difficulty to the latter. Already copped Nioh 2.

It is really fun once you get the hang of the combat and the world is really explorable.

This is my favorite non-FromSoft Soulslike game. Just picked up the complete edition recently and I'm hooked. Gameplay is super fun and I love the looting system.

Game relies on hyper armor too much. Combat is unsatisfying as all combos just get interrupted by a boss that can 2 shot you. Cheesing is required therefore I cannot recommend.

I feel so conflicted about this game. On the one hand, this feels like a culmination of the Dark Souls format, with everything turned up to 11. On the other hand, this game might actually be too hard.

Starting with the good: I love the combat. It feels satisfying to get the hang of, it is fast, but not too fast, and, one of my favourite small things is that you can use two weapons (not at the same time) plus a ranged option, an all are viable, which I love for build variety. The story is also really good, if completely batshit insane. The level design, once you get the hang of things, is really good, with checkpoints (at least in the early game) coming fairly regularly, more regularly than any Souls game. It's also clear that the devs have a sense of humor, which I enjoy. The bosses are fantastic, no complaints for the most part.

Now, the bad: I really dislike the enemy spam. It feels as if there is just one or two more enemies than there should be in every encounter. The combat works well facing tough enemies one-on-one, but when there are a bunch of weak soldiers surrounding some challenging Yokai monster, it just feels like too much.

And, what I think could be the turn-off for many people: the difficulty. I've already touched on the enemy spam, but my least favourite part of the game is that it feels like the game is hard for the sake of it. Every attack two shots you, even in the first level. I wouldn't generally have a problem with this, but the fact that there are so many enemies means that you will most likely take a hit in every encounter, and the healing system doesn't keep up. Now, this is totally a skill issue on my part, but I still love games like Sekiro because they feel fair. This game doesn't.

Overall, I think the benefits outweigh the cons, but I'd advise anyone on the fence about the game to consider if they can deal with it. This is quite a step up from any FromSoft game, but I can see why this would be enjoyable for people who have played a lot of Souls-likes and want to play something harder. This is not a good first Souls-like, so if you've never payed one before, I'd say steer clear for the time being. I'd say 7.5/10, great game but may be too hard for a good chunk of people, including myself.

I'll write a better review later probably but I think it has a lot of problematic and very Japanese style, 'busy-work', game design choices. Basically it combines a lot of genres in not such a great way possible. Player moveset is like Devil May Cry but limited by souls like stats and stamina. It's debatable whether its more or less souls like but there are some very souls like decision except done in the worst way. Basically Elden Ring before Elden Ring in like how to make an enemy from dark souls 1 tougher? Just give them a fuck ton of bullshit. Like there is basically something like the wheel skeleton from the painted world. Except no matter the armor, he will always stagger and always do enough damage to kill you in a few touches of a roll and apply fire debuff. Or basically like how some of the bosses get crazy tracking so that they can face the opposite direction but their projectile turns around, phases through them and smacks you anyway. And over the top super/hyper/mega/giga armor.

On top of that, there is Skyrim Legendary 'difficulty' ass damage scaling so that basically every region/ng cycle, your weapons become a toothpick and the slightest nudge from the most basic enemy can disintegrate you. So to fix that, you have to keep fucking about with a Diablo ass loot system until you get something relatively decent so that you get two shotted instead of one and take one hour instead of two to kill a guy. And the inconsistency between enemies becomes more obvious higher up. Some of the bosses are literally programmed to trip over their own dicks if you so much as breath on them at the wrong time opening them up for cycles of stabbing or you can just hang about their fat asses while they try to ineffectively reach back to smack you before you inevitably proc some devastating debuff to neuter them to death. Others you literally have to have the precision of a quantum computer to even touch.

Like its bearable and somewhat fun on ng for which I will say you can buy it on a sale and play. But I really don't think its worth it afterwards and I don't really feel like supporting 'hard' games with a lot of deceptive designs, in this case primarily to draw out the hours of content available. So I will not be recommending it. I mean its been forever since the release of this game so hopefully things have changed in the industry in general but I don't know enough to say so.

The game is great. Playing with keyboard and mouse can be confusing sometimes but overall doable. A few of the bosses share the same weakness as most of the enemies. Just know dodging is your friend. Its very possible to snipe and even shake an enemy down unharmed. Be mindful of the ex gained because it can also be what your fighting to get back in the event you die. I encourage players to play this game atlease once. Its very much so worth the price whether on sale or not. The only conflict i have is that this is the pc port of the original but no option to display keyboard and mouse controls icons realtime.

A Dark souls with superior combat, no cap

I'll probably end up sticking through it because I really wanna find the enjoyment everyone finds in this game, but man...this game is hard.

I've played a lot of souls games in my life, with the genre probably becoming my favorite over the years.
Nioh is so mechanically demanding though, I feel like it feels good when I find my flow but there is so much to learn I'm having trouble finding that flow to be honest. I think this game is worth a grab and is fun, but definitely not as an entry to the souls genre in my opinion. Only grab if you really want a challenge in the genre.

Challenging combat but rewarding once you master it

heavy ki based game; manage your stamina wisely. attacks get queued, so you can't spam click. the fighting mechanics suck for me, but if get used to it, you can have fun.

i cant really play a game where you go to the controls and it shows a controller instead of keyboard and mouse, i dont care even if the game is world of warcraft, if the devs dont care to change how the controls show in the game and change them from controller to keyboard and mouse then the game is worst of the worst for me and it deserves a negative vote.

This game is GOOD. It's not just a Souls ripoff like many others. It has its own, unique personality and combat. You can transform into all kinds of magical creatures and I absolutely love them. The enemy variety is also great. The story is fun but forgettable.

game is good but REALLY annoying kinda like DS2
worth a shot if you enjoy challenges

This review is a bit late I finished Nioh a while ago, but who cares, I just finished Elden Ring, and now I can compare the 2. In my opinion, Nioh has much better movement; it's much more fluid and quick, and the weapons feel lighter and faster. I like open-world games, but I appreciate that Nioh has missions instead of an open world. It is better if you just like fighting instead of exploring. The boss design was decent, but most of the female bosses had " unnecessary designs, " kind of like fan service in anime. Also, for some reason , Nioh loves forcing you to fight fat ass bosses in tiny rooms , so you constantly get trapped in corners, which gets annoying. also you fight the same bosses a lot throughout the game so its gets kinda boaring fighting the same boss over and over. However, the thing I really liked about Nioh was the soul matching and reforging; it made the game a lot more interesting and lets you customize weapons and armor how you want. I give Nioh an 8.5/10.

Used too finish in PS4

Come back to play Nioh because rise of ronin have a really bad optimise.

By the art style I feel Nioh is better and graphics never look old and Gameplay so great as always

Highly recommend!

Nioh is just not that good. If you played any DS game, this feels inferior in every aspect. It just makes you want to play DS again and uninstall this mess of a game.

I played this game on my PS4 for 370+ hours which was 3 times through the game and now it's fun to dip back in because I forgot how much I enjoyed it.

This was the first 'souls-like' I played that actually stuck and that I persevered with, which paved the way for Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls Trilogy, Elden Ring, The Surge and my all time favourite game Bloodborne.

So this review is biased but I love the stance mechanics and the ability to switch them on the fly during combos or have a combo that switches back and forth between stances if you invest in the right abilities. The ki pulse mechanic sometimes giving you the ability to dodge or finishing an enemy during a scuffle by recovering that Ki (stamina). The living weapon is also a fun addition to the arsenal and paired with the right spirit can become OP if you invest into it.

It's got some really fun bosses fights, varied mobs for the most part although the raven tengu can do one. There's a bestiary for all the enemies and main characters too and great music.

Heading for 390 hours in this game so far (including PS4 time) and I ain't complaining.

Take this review with a pinch of salt though, when considering this games place in MY gaming history because in all honesty Nioh 2 is a better game but this one is normally cheaper in a sale than the second one.....so, you know, there's that :)

Decent game but I think its biggest issue is recycling of zones and bosses. Especially in side missions

I tried this game twice...both times I got to Hino-Enma or whatever her name is. I just couldn't figure out how the game is intended to be played. Having beaten Dark Souls, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Wukong, etc. I thought I could handle any game's mechanics if I just kept practicing. This was not the case for this game. The mechanics feel weird and never got to the aha moment. I feel like the dodging sucks and the blocking sucks and you die from 2 hits from everything in the game. Just not a fun experience on any level. I am not wasting any more of my time on this game.

If you liked Onimusha and wished that it was developed into a game more like Dark Souls, then this is definitely the game you want to play! Unfortunately I do not get a lot of free time to play, but what time I do get I pour into this game.

The bosses are as hard as anything you would expect in the souls genre. Where this one shines the most is the combat system. The stance changes that affect your combos and damage are absolutely addicting!

The game is incredible, very entertaining and enjoyable. Full recommendation!

Everyone in the reviews keeps comparing this game to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and all the other trash "soulslike" games, but I'm here to tell you the truth. All of those games copy this one, they're niohlikes, and ALL of them are far worse than this game. Nioh is NOTHING like Dark Souls. It's like comparing gay porn to femboy porn. Sure they're both guys, but ones not gay. Speaking of men, this game puts hair on your chest. If you actually decide to play the game and treat it as an RPG then you'll realize it's gear based. You'll realize that there's more technical depth than a puddle like Dark Souls or Shitborne (bloodborne). This game will make your balls drop. This game will make you explode jizz all over your screen. This game will make you grow 5 inches both vertically and horizontally. After finishing Nioh I started making 200K a year, got a boyfriend, and got a 6 pack within 24 hours. This is a man's game and if you can't handle the lemons then don't make the lemonade you feel me? Better than every niohlike combined. *Cherry blossoms begin falling to the ground, the wind carries them across the way. I (6'7 M) walk into the sunset like an alpha and mic drops* 🎤🎤

I'm giving this a recommendation, but I have to point something out.

When I play the Souls games, I basically never need to grind if I have a plan when I start the game. There's more than enough materials and leveling to get me through without replaying areas over and over again. That's something that I enjoy and value to a high degree in those games. Nioh is different in that grinding is a much larger part of the game, and I find that to be a reason I don't run through Nioh as much. Replaying a level hoping something drops just isn't fun to me.

That being said, the game is still ultimately pretty cool, and it's not enough to completely ruin it or anything. Just needed to mention it.

- I like the level design
- boss design is ok
- combat is faster, with the addition of stances, it makes combat more fluid... BUT since all enemies can 1-2 shots you, you really can't do any combos, instead of completing a full combo, you might want to dodge instead.
- ki recovery is a good idea to recover you stamina and to perform a combo, but then again... (see point #2)
- itemization can sometimes be overwhelming because of too many stats, too many armors and weapons to choose from. The game is generous enough to dump you tons of good equips.

BAD:
the worst NG+ scaling ever in a game. Suddenly everyone can one shot you. They're expecting you to grind better gears and level just to get at least 2 shot'ed instead of being one shot'ed.

best soulslike after lies of P and nioh 2. its not hard once u get switching mechanic.

the pc version is terrible was not optimized for pc at all

Jogo bom, gameplay divertida, boa dificuldade e um endgame bem decente.