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“ Nioh has the ability to shift seamlessly from lighthearted to epic to terrifying.

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“ Interesting levels make exploration a fun and important part of the journey.

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“ Nioh's charm is a nice surprise.

Channeling Your Ki

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“ Nioh's many combat mechanics play off each other in strategic harmony.

But Nioh also boldly asserts a fresh and surprising identity of its own with an intricately layered combat system that allows just enough room for customization while still adhering to the interesting constraints of its stamina-based framework, forcing you to adapt your playstyle by the second. A welcoming variety of foes to face, clever bosses to take down, and a story that’s equal parts endearing and terrifying make every step in Nioh’s long journey even more exciting than the last.Nioh’s story functions mostly as interesting flavor for your adventure. You play a fictionalized version of real-life sailor William Adams, who becomes an almost comically inexplicable demon-slaying action hero in the Sengoku period of Japan. William is sadly underdeveloped, but his adventure through the foggy mountainsides, war-ravaged villages, and hellish battlefields of 1600s Japan is captivating thanks to appearances from other famous historical figures like the mysterious Hattori Hanzo and the fierce Tokugawa Ieyasu.With effectively two tutorials and myriad systems, menus, and enough skills and item shortcuts that you need to hold down R1 as a modifier to access them all through the controller’s face buttons, you’d think Nioh would seem overwhelming at the start, but the way its opening acclimates you to each mechanic is a thing of beauty. The Tower of London, where we first see our hero, William, breaking free from prison, teaches you the very basics of combat and movement, while the standalone (and conveniently skippable) Dojo tutorial runs down the more complex stuff involving stances and managing your Ki meter.Tons of handy optional training missions provide a deeper understanding of Nioh’s many systems, including melee combat, ninjutsu, and onmyo magic. While it’s easy to get the hang of these on your own, doing the missions provides some nice skill bonuses that make taking the time to run through each one worth it.All missions – including main missions, the many exciting side-missions, and training missions – are accessible in an overworld screen that pops up after you’ve completed a level. That gives you much-needed time to breathe, upgrade weapons at the blacksmith, and buy items. While I was initially worried that the disjointed approach to progression would deny a sense of movement through the world, the striking variety of environments more than makes up for it. Each self-contained area is a visually distinct, intricately laid-out space that’s dense with meaningful combat encounters.Nioh’s combat is where it shines brightest. It combines the slow-paced and position-based nuance of Dark Souls and the precise, combo-executing thrill of a fighting game to create some of the freshest and deepest melee action I’ve experienced in recent memory. I’d put it right up there alongside Dark Souls and Bloodborne — what it lacks in the purity that makes those games so strong, it makes up for with an even more demanding tactics-based approach that allows it to stand boldly on its own. That’s owed entirely to its Ki system and the compelling dynamic it produces with its weapon options and stance-based fighting styles.