Nioh

I was relatively excited for this game when I found out it was gonna be Koei Tecmo's rendition of the Souls formula via Team Ninja. However I was a bit naive to think that the game would necessarily benefit from it... The setting of feudal Japan was tasteful and I really dug the alternative history approach to the story, allying with and fighting against real warlords and shit from that time period is pretty freaking sweet! The plot centres around a super boring Irish protagonist who's guardian spirit is stolen from him by another super boring villain who flees to Japan to act as a giant shit disturber in their ongoing clan wars. You arrive in Japan and you get wrapped up in the conflict and get introduced to the various Yo-Kai and supernatural shit that exists in Japan which we never knew about apparently... The narrative in this game is fine overall, I apprecieted the intentional "Engrish" and bilingual elements that were added in to really make your existence as a foreigner in Japan feel natural.

Let's talk about game-play, because this is where Dark Souls makes it's way into the conversation. This game; in structure, design, combat mechanics, and gameplay IS Dark Souls. The shrines replace bonfires, amrita replaces souls, Ki replaces endurance, guardian spirits replace spells/pyromacies, enemy placements/enemy types/bosses it's all designed the same as in Dark Souls. They've got the exact same booby traps like the pressure plates that trigger the walls to shoot you, poisonous statues, spinning wheel demons, and big guys rolling boulders down slopes. They've got the same types of short cuts right down to the fucking kick ladders and even the goddamn UI and inventory screens look nearly identical to that of Dark Souls... *sigh* The lack of originality in the design is pretty disappointing, more over the lack of different enemy types in general makes the game feel really repetitive especially in the late game. That said; the bosses were pretty decent, they're were some notable standouts like the Giant Toad ripped right out of Naruto and the ice sorceress Yuka Onna for instance. And again it was kinda epic squaring off against real life dudes from Japan's history like Oda Nobunaga and Shima Sakon.

Now I know there's a push by fans to separate this game from the Dark Souls brand and I respect that, since this game takes the Souls formula and puts nearly all of it's eggs into the combat. It's deep (relatively speaking), customisable and rich with upgrade systems and combo tweeking. You have a stance system that allows you alter your move set to account for different enemy types, tapping R1 at the right moment proceeding a combo allows you to replenish you're endurance, and utilising bows and guns is smoother with first person controls, though they're not at all practical or useful during fights like they were in say, Bloodborne. I dug the guardian spirit abilities, they kind of 1up the spells and pyromancies from Dark Souls and I found myself using them more often. The game also presents the world and story to you in bit sized chunks (i.e. missions) that are spread out over a fairly large map, there're even side missions that are mostly shite. Some having you needlessly retread old areas to fetch dumb items, others letting you train with powerful NPCs and rehash old boss fights. Some areas will throw in little twists like navigating through fire and poisonous gas, finding hidden doors and traps, or destroying generators that spawn enemies. There's a sense of dynamic level design from time to time which I certainly wasn't ignorant to, it's just that the bulk of this game's levels felt uniform and derivative in structure.

I'll also mention the game's presentation which I was admittingly disappointed by considering the setting in which the game takes place. Since this game's focus is combat it doesn't have the world's most interesting visuals. Buildings and castles are usually fairly empty looking and they reuse a lot of structures, there's not much of a vibrant color pallet here or a sense of background in any of the areas, there's a fog/mist in a lot of outdoor areas that make them look bland and the underground catacombs and caverns are all pretty dull. Music? Well the game actually does play music in certain areas which was kind of grating since it wasn't particularly good music, the recycling of the boss music was also a tad irritating but I think that's just because I can't stop thinking about how Dark Souls implemented music so much more effectively. If it wasn't for games like Bloodborne or Dark Souls III having such exceptional sound and art design I don't think I'd be nearly as hard on poor Nioh here, but the standards have been set and you're not gonna half ass this shit and not have me say a thing or two about it.

At the end of the day I can appreciate where Nioh differentiates itself from Dark Souls. I just don't think it's quite enough to stop the rigorous comparisons. This game has a lot to offer for those looking for a combat focused take on the Souls formula with a little bit of world history thrown in. Ultimately it lacks the creativity, polish, atmosphere, and world design of a From Soft title. I'd just stick with Ninja Gaiden if it were up to me ma bois.