Nioh 2 is a bold experiment to determine how much you can copy off another video game without getting sued. Much like its 2017 predecessor, it borrows so many ideas from the Dark Souls series, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking it was developed by From Software themselves.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. The Souls series is one of the greatest and most influential new IPs of the last decade, even spawning its own sub genre: the Soulslike (or Souls clone? Souls-esque?). And Nioh 2 may just be the best one yet.. maybe even better than the real thing.

With this series of articles, I’ll be comparing two games, one being what started a trend, and the other being a game that followed that trend, possibly perfecting it. I know that Demon’s Souls is the true originator, but it was 2011’s Dark Souls that really caught the world’s attention, so that’s the one I’ll be pitting Nioh 2 against. It’s innovator vs imitator. Name brand vs knockoff. This is Clone Wars.

Each matchup contains five rounds, each one a category examining an aspect of game design important to the titles I’m examining. The five rounds this time around will be Combat, Level Design, Story/Lore, Challenge, and Boss Design.