We tested the next Team Ninja game, creators of Ninja Gaiden, who return to the Souls genre with one of the most difficult titles of 2020.
Have you ever been to a Nioh event? Yes, man, yes, of these that Sony organizes so that people can try the game. Do not? What a pity. They don't know what they are missing, really. It is a show that would be worth paying a ticket and not just to play. But calm down, we sum it up. They meet a group of journalists, who obviously do not have to be experts in the Souls genre, we know, and everyone tries to overcome a demo of the game in just an hour or two. So far it might seem like any event, but soon the swear words, complaints and curses, the bad faces before the screen and of course the smell begin to proliferate. The smell of those drops of sweat that populate your forehead and soak your back. The smell of fear of showing stumps before your coworkers and the shame of dying ten times in the first bout of the demo. Because this is Nioh 2. Terrible. Delicious.
The word that is most repeated in such an event is "hardcore." Luckily they are celebrated during the day and you don't have to take a shot every time someone says it. Hard game, public hardcore, hardcore experience and even invented words like "masscore". Normally there was only one question capable of making Yosuke Hayashi, master of ceremonies and general producer of Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja smile. "For those of us who like Nioh's story and setting, but we are very bad at this type of game, is there any help?" Poor Hayashi only had to shrug, laugh compassionately and invite us to start with the tutorial. Nioh 2 has no mercy. The number of people who left before completing the demo and the continuous tongue clicks, snorts and snorts speak wonders of the game. Fans of the genre must be rubbing their hands. It seems one of the most difficult and challenging titles of the year. One of those proposals that require such an amount of courage, patience and ability that you have to have a masoca point to embark on them. A balm for the soul of all those bored with help and automatisms.
The level we could try is located towards the middle of the game and is set in a Japanese castle of the late 16th century. An authentic labyrinth full of rooms, corridors and shortcuts where the sensation of verticality also stands out. There are lots of floors and many ways to get on and off from one to another. Inside we find the usual: just a couple of sanctuaries to keep and dozens of enemies, traps, chests, summons and even hot springs. The design of levels was one of the weaknesses of the original, but those that have been shown of Nioh 2 so far (the one of the beta and this one) scratch to a great level and invite to be optimistic in this section.
This "Kitanoshe Castle" is inspired by those who were grazing the flames during the Battle of Shizugatake, a real warlike conflict that ravaged Japan in May 1583. Nioh 2 serves as a prequel to the original and is set at the same time as that, the Sengoku period. Like its predecessor, the title will mix fantasy and reality. Throughout the adventure we will meet historical characters from feudal Japan, such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobutaka. Perhaps even with some of the protagonists of the first, as Yosuke Hayashi dropped us. Speaking of protagonists, we should remember that this time we will not put ourselves in the shoes of William Adams, but we will create our own samurai through an editor. We will see how it affects the narrative and if this does not mean losing the opportunity to recover and share a forgotten legend as it was with Adams.
Something that is more scary than the difficulty of Nioh 2 is to talk about its playability after the great article about it that our teammate Francisco J. Brenall wrote after playing the beta. His dissection and Reviews of the genre is a mandatory stop for all concerned and from here we strongly recommend: "Nioh 2, impressions after the beta: the action of Team Ninja is transformed." As he pointed out, the main novelty of the game is that this time our protagonist is a changing one, that is that in addition to fighting yokais, he can transform into them for a few seconds. This ability materializes in a new bar next to life and resistance, the yokai force meter, which allows us to make a whole new catalog of attacks, blockages, feints and parries.
Now by defeating certain enemies we can take control of his soul and equip ourselves with it in the different sanctuaries that are scattered throughout the game. After equipping one, if we press and hold R2, all the action buttons will have a special movement that consumes the yokai force meter and transforms us into one of them for a couple of seconds. Although it seems a simple addition, a new attack, increases the depth of the fighting and the amount of strategies and ways to deal with each. We must learn a greater number of skills, with which enemies each one is effective, which ones are best suited to us and, of course, when we will use them. Enemies also have new movements (such as those that give off a red halo) and sometimes the only way to counterattack or survive them is to use the powers of the Yokai. As if that were not enough, souls consume different levels of energy, have many limits and particularities and can be combined with each other to form even stronger ones. Come on, that opens a new playable world.
The fighting is still bright. Each of them is a world, whether they are more or less strong enemies. Life or death duels loaded with tension and in which only our technique and ability are worth. The game is a tremendously addictive challenge that invites us to fall and get up again and again and that brings with it a spectacular repertoire of weapons and enemies. The first Nioh was already a very particular game with respect to the first ones, because it allowed us to choose the position of our character to grab them and their attacks and movements changed depending on it. The sequel not only maintains this option but also incorporates weapons that are completely transformed depending on how we hold them. We have, for example, swords that become scythes when using a high combat position and axes when passing a low guard. Or what is the same, a richer experience if possible.
As for the enemies, there are for all tastes and colors. With humanoid, animal or even spectra that change their constitution in a matter of seconds. Ninjas, samurai, demons, giant rats, skulls wrapped in fire, wizards that float, soldiers of the Japanese army, monsters that walk with one leg and go jumping … the repertoire is fabulous and makes us never relax. The rivals we face change in each room and their mechanics and movements too, so we must constantly be looking for new weaknesses and combat plans. They shine with their own light and they add the rest of the elements that made the original reach a 8.7 in the FreeGameTips Reviews: objects, inventory system, forging, loot of weapons and armor, leveling, etc., and so on.
In short, the next time there is a Nioh event, try not to miss it. If you look at the attendees, you will have fun with the different reactions of the human being to feel humiliated and defeated. If instead they look at the screen almost better. They await the next jewel of Team Ninja, a game only suitable for the brave that will arrive on PlayStation 4 on March 13, 2020.
