Nioh Review | Game Review
Nioh Review :- You can easily say that Nioh is the clone of Dark Souls, but stating it that simply loses the lustre the game hides in itself. The structure and style of the game are similar to that of Dark Souls but Team Ninja has done a great job in giving the game a completely new personality.
This game is certainly the best work of Team Ninja in the past decade and is much more than just the concept of Dark Souls laid into another game. The signs of Dark Souls being an inspiration for this game are clearly visible. Unlike Ninja Gaidens’ fast paced action and blood shedding, Nioh is a slow paced game with challenging combats and exploration at its centre.
“Amrita” earned by killing your enemies can be used in levelling up or upgrading stats at the shrine. If you die you will reappear at the nearest shrine with all you equipment but all the amrita you have earned will be lost. To get all the earned Amrita back you will have to find your glowing grave and touch it.
The pacing and general feel is similar to that of Dark Souls. You start the level by exploring the area, figuring out the positions of your enemies and making plans for attacking or avoiding a particular enemy. In the meanwhile you have to collect amrita and upgrade your equipment without which you cannot further survive in the game.
You will test your enemies, get into fights with fiery ones and lose miserably or will make silly mistake to die all the same. You will find new shrines along the way providing you the opportunity to explore further. To get to your objective you will have to fight tougher enemies and even a sub-boss. The boss fight is tricky and will force you to be patient and figure out a strategy to win it.
Despite the similarities there are several small differences between Dark Souls and Nioh. The games gives out armour and arms generously most of which is of absolutely no use. But, you can get bonus goodies and amrita in exchange for these arms at the next shrine. It also offer you a wide range of tools you can work with, like magic talismans, ninja equipment and abilities, throwing weapons like grenades and buffs.
Dark Souls encourages you to use goodies only when you really need them but Nioh is less restrictive. All the health potions and items you have gathered are respawned every time you die or pray at the shrine, you only lose the amrita you have collected each time you die.
Team Ninja’s work is clearly visible in the sleek and cleverly interlinked combat system of Nioh. It gives you an instant choice of two ranged and two melee weapons at any point of time in the game and low, medium and high stances with all your close combat arms. Flexibility in fighting can be easily achieved in this game.
You can choose high stance for aggressive moves, for defensive moves you can choose low stance and for keeping the balance between aggressive and defensive moves choose the medium stance. You can change stance and weapons within an instant.
Your consumption of Ki, similar to stamina in Dark Soul, gets effected with the choice armour, stance and weapons. If all your Ki is spent you are left defenceless. High stance attacks and heavy weapons like axes use more Ki. The combination of both will lay a serious damage on you enemy but use Ki unnecessarily if the strike fails. Heavy armour gives you more protection but also consume more Ki every time you block an attack.
Managing to get hold of Ki Pulse is also necessary for the game. Hack your enemy and as you lose the Ki white energy will make a cloud around you. When it come together press R1 button and your Ki will get recharged in an instant. It is very difficult to get hold of but becomes necessary for passing the later ages of the game.
The game also offers you an incredible guardian spirit for your protection against grave dangers. Whenever you start killing your enemies, the spirit starts getting charged which can then be used to attack your enemies.
There are several kind of spirits, some may slow your enemies giving you more time to defense and attack while the others may give you light protection. Charging your spirit and timing its use in the attack is central to the game. This spirit is bound to your grave when you die, so it is important to find your grave and retain control of your guardian spirit.
In Nioh you will learn some Dark Souls type skills like dodging, exploiting weaknesses of your enemies, blocking and striking and will also learn the skills which were part of old Ninja Gaiden games like chaining attacks together and retreating.
You can also earn Samurai skill points after levelling some stats which can be spent for new moves and combos which can be used even when you are blocking your enemy’s attacks. The feel is faster than that of Dark Souls and gives you the ideal points in the gameplay.
There are basically two types of enemies present in the game. First is the category of human enemies which range from easy targets to the people who are well-armoured and armed, in possession of some formidable skills. They also get respawned whenever you die or pray at a shrine.
The other category of enemies is Yokai, they are a bunch of demons, cyclopean thugs, ogres, skittering ghouls, etc. Some can been seen hiding in a place or digging to find something while other only appear as clouds of evil when you move near to them.
They can also act mini-bosses in the game and block certain area of the game. To get to those areas you have to destroy those Yokai. Some disappear permanently after you kill them while the others may just keep getting respawned every time you do. They can be used to collect more and more amrita by killing them again and again and then levelling up.
Initially, Yokai can be really terrifying and unbeatable. They are really fast and have some attacks which cannot be blocked. Slowly, you will learn how to tackle them, figure out their vulnerabilities and defeat them. You will learn how to get close to attack and evade their attacks just in time. It is very thrilling and most enjoyable part of the game.
There are also some restless warrior spirits which can be summoned and defeated for amrita and useful kits. When you summon such spirits you get the warning about their level, but they are deceptive and can be really hard to mow down making it more satisfying when you kill them.
When in online mode you can also summon the spirits of other players and fight them for new gear and amrita. Unlike other games where in online mode players are called for your support the concept of fighting the spirits of other players is very different.
Unlike Dark Souls’ Contiguous space, Nioh is a more linear and step by step adventure and you have to clear levels to move forward to the world map which have individual missions. You can also repeat some areas but they will have different difficulty levels, enemy positions and objectives each time you repeat.
PS4 users have choice between 60fps frame rate and brilliant anti-aliased visuals. And PS4 Pro users have a choice between 4K with variable frame rate, 1080p at 60fps and 4k at 30fps. If you want to enjoy the gameplay we recommend you to choose 1080p at 60fps.
But a lot is missing from Nioh’s style of storytelling. It is generic and the missions do not truly connect with the ongoing plot. Heck, even the hero William is not interesting when compared to Dark Souls. When talking about boss fights, the bosses may look invincible and fiery, it is not very much fun when you start fighting with them.
They punish your every mistake, no matter how close you are to winning your battle if even a single barrage of their attacks makes contact you are as good as dead. They don’t even give you time to drink your health potion. Proper timing and strategy are not only the requirements but the necessities.
Team Ninja has used the gaming aspects from Dark Souls and some of its own previous hits and merged them together to create Nioh. The action of their creation is addictive, and instils a curiosity about what is going to happen next. The game is challenging, compulsive and will make you experience all your emotions in the journey.
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