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Nioh 2 is not to be trifled with. Building on the original's tough-as-nails track record, Team Ninja's 2nd samurai action-RPG brings back the original's fondness for penalizing and extremely nuanced fight. The sequel hones the original's distinct take on the Souls-like without completely reinventing itself. The result is a long, hard slog that will push even the most challenge-hungry gamers to their breaking points as they fight for every inch of ground and end up being master samurai.

Regardless of the title, Nioh 2 is a prequel, revealing the secret history of a decades-long period of war in middle ages Japan. As the quiet, personalized hero Hide, you fight to uncover the secret nature of "spirit stones," which grant supernatural power, and defeat hordes of Yokai across the country. The plot, which you primarily hear through cutscenes and exposition between objectives, has an interesting historical bent, but it is truly simply glue to hold the levels together. Historically pertinent names like Nobunaga and Tokugawa play into the legend, however whatever flavor they add in the moment fades the 2nd you take control and it's time to begin killing satanic forces.

However that's fine. Nioh 2's story gives just adequate context for you to follow along and make you feel like you're making progress without obstructing of the gameplay. Nioh 2's definitive feature is its challenge. With core mechanics fine-tuned from the bones of Dark Souls, Nioh 2 come down to a series of battles and duels in all kinds of situations. These battles require intense precision: Not just are your skills and attacks limited by a stamina meter-- called Ki-- however any extra attack or mistimed movement will leave you exposed, frequently to an attack that will cost you a substantial amount of health. Like other Souls-like video games, there is an unpleasant enjoyment in mastering whatever challengers the video game tosses your method.

Nioh 2 builds on the incredibly diverse range of options for establishing an individual fighting style. The original systems return: Each of the 9 weapon types offers an unique balance among speed, power, and range, which you can tweak on the fly by switching amongst 3 positions (low, mid, and high). Each weapon type has its own ability tree and progression, for which you make points by utilizing it. The core weapon fight stays largely unchanged from the initial, beyond some brand-new capabilities and 2 new weapons types, the quick two-handed Switchglaive and actually rapid double-hatchets. That said, the battle is very exact. Nioh 2 demands that you have a profound understanding of all the attacks your weapon(s) can perform, however there's a wide variety of attacks and they each put their own spin on how you battle.

There are also several basic skill trees, plus character levels that increase your stats based on earning Amrita from killing opponents. Plus, Nioh 2 is a loot video game, so you'll continuously be looking at new weapons with tradeoffs that tweak your stats. It's a lot to handle, but it becomes manageable as you discover your specialty and concentrate on upgrading the skills you understand you like utilizing.

For Nioh veterinarians, that's all old hat: Nioh 2's greatest additions revolve around the concept that Hide can channel Yokai spirits. The most crucial is a tough parry called the Burst Counter, which allows you to counter powerful opponent attacks. Every opponent has at least one attack that's susceptible to the counter; they're typically big, powerful relocations that you'll be lured to dodge. Fighting that prompt and throwing yourself at your opponent to turn the tide of fight for a moment is important, that makes the fight feel more aggressive and tactical. In the minute when you find an enemy prepping a burst attack, you feel successful, like you've gotten one over on your opponent, even for a second. These little victories assist drive you forward since the video game is so difficult.