PREVIEW – Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo team up to bring us the latest Sou… I mean original IP of 2016. The story follows the adventures of Ken-Sama, a character that is loosely based on the real-life Williams Adams. Here however besides the usual men, there are demons aka. Onis and huge bosses (Just like in Ninja Gaiden or Dark Souls). The demo allowed us to glimpse into two levels, with two bosses. Is the game The newest „Souls” game that will make you break the controllers, or is it just a quick cash grab? Well, the alpha indeed had left some impressions on me…

Well, NiOh is certainly not a new game, not by a long shot. It has been in development on and off since 2004. With development finally getting on the right track in 2012, Koei Tecmo felt confident to confirm that the game is now finally heading to the PlayStation 4. Finally, in 2016 of April we finally had a chance to play the „alpha” version of NiOh. A small glimpse as to what we can expect from the game.

Initially, while playing the game, I felt it was a bad Dark Souls rip-off with annoying tutorials (that do not help too much), and with worse combat. However after the first hour, and digging through the game menus, the game took a turn for the better. It is definitely rough around the edges, but that’s nothing new especially from a Team Ninja game.

NiOhhhhhhh… that took a long time

The graphics are okay; it’s nothing outstanding and at times it can be ugly, even with the cinematic option being chosen in the menu. The enemies are basic yet deadly if you try to take on more than two you can end up being carved into pieces. Luckily you can tear them to shreds also with your trusty weapons. These weapons can be swords, axes, bows, hammers, and spears.

However these weapons have to be repaired over time ( which can be done with a very rare item), or you can just pick up new weapons from fallen enemies that drop them. Same goes for armor and every other item in the game. Which is a bit of a shame as instead of trying to find quality items you’ll just end up using the newest „sword etc” as. every weapon that loses durability will have severe damage reduction applied? It would not be a problem if some of the weapons did not degrade so quickly.

While the gameplay might seem reminiscent of Dark Souls, it is entirely more tactical. Even if you leveled up quite a bit, a few enemies such as the Oni or the bosses could destroy the character in a matter of seconds if we do not watch out. Besides the usual leveling up, you have to spend Samurai points to unlock skills to further your conquest of demons. The idea is great but falters on a few points: most unlocks are good, but there are some that are purely baffling to be locked behind a skill tree such as Parry. Skills can be even upgraded to consume less Ki, deal out more damage.

There are also items to aid us in our battle such as exploding bombs, rocks to lure enemies away from groups, talismans, things that regenerate stamina quicker, and the usual health regain items. That’s pretty much it for special items for the demo (though rocks are a must have as certain enemy groups can only be taken out one by one).

The stamina system is a bit tweaked compared to the usual tropes of such action games. Unlike in most games, here in NiOh, you can regain the used stamina if you press R1 at a precise moment. It allows for a much more streamlined combat, and you do not have to rely on blocking, or constantly rolling to finally land a hit.

Oooooh, should I care?

NiOh is in a weird spot. Many people call it a Dark Souls rip-off, but it has enough new ideas for it to be something entirely original. If you die, instead of just the usual bloodstain, you leave a Revenant behind. If you can defeat the other player’s Revenant, you can get some sweet loot. Summoning players is also much more straightforward and easier compared to Souls.

The combat is great, albeit frustrating against more than two enemies, and the enemy placement seems unfair at times as you’ll end up dragging four of them in certain encounters.

Still let us see where this lone samurai ends up, we’ll be back when the full game is released.

-Dante-

Publisher: Koei Tecmo

Developer: Team Ninja

Genre:  Action role-playing

Publication: TBA 2016