Nioh (Japanese: 仁王 Hepburn: Niō?, "benevolent king") is an action role-playing video game developed by Team Ninja for the PlayStation 4. It was released worldwide in February 2017, and was published by Koei Tecmo in Japan and Sony Interactive Entertainment internationally. Gameplay revolves around navigating levels and defeating monsters that have infested an area. Nioh takes place in the early 1600s during a fictionalized version of the Sengoku period, when Japan was in the midst of civil war prior to the ascension of the Tokugawa shogunate. A sailor named William (based on the historical first Western Samurai William Adams (sailor)), in pursuit of an enemy, arrives in Japan and is enlisted by Hattori Masanari, servant to Tokugawa Ieyasu, in defeating yōkai that are flourishing in the chaos of war. So I've just started this game, and so far it's a glorious mess. It puts the dark souls formula of action roleplay in a mission based format, which sounds oxymoronic, but the individual levels have enough twisty passages and backtracking to feel soulsian. The combat is Souls but with a few twists, like a number of different stances your character can take, and a Diablo loot system. ON THE OTHER HAND, dear god, this games writing and voice acting. It's this insane melange of historical fanfiction, tropey anime nonsense, endless cameos, and stilted weirdness on every characters plot. So far we have Elizabethan conspiracy, yokai, Celtic mythology, and the EXACT cold open from Jojo part 3. Is anyone else playing this? Is anyone else experience the bafflement? Please, I need to share this with someone.
I currently don't have time to play Nioh at the moment, but I have played a good amount during the Alpha and Beta runs of the game. As a fan of the Dark Souls genre, I am sure to get my hands on this game sooner or later. I'm also quite exited to also experience some of the glorious over-the-top nonsense that happens in the game.
