As a personal challenge to myself, I tried several times to
write this review without ever mentioning the Dark Souls franchise. The
through-lines are obvious, and every review in the world is taking its
respective angle on how Nioh pays homage, subtractively enhances, or
capitalizes on the popular series, and I vainly attempted to do otherwise. I
think that these attempts were a helpful constraint to force me to think
outside the box and gather thoughts on the game based on its own merits, but
that being said, if you are reading this you know it's already too late. I
mentioned Dark Souls in the first sentence of the review. And that will
be far from the last mention of it. Nioh is a fantastic video game in
its own right, despite existing in a sub-genre of action game still many ways
in its infancy. It owes a lot to Dark Souls and the other From Software
games of its ilk, but I think where it breaks-free from the equation is where
it has its greatest moments, and exposes its greatest flaws.
Nioh is a third-person action-rpg from Japanese game developer Team
Ninja, most well known as the developers of the modern Ninja Gaiden
series. When initially announced I had assumed it to be another game of that
style, very fast action, punishing bosses, and stylish combat. After checking
out the early public alpha tests, I was pleasantly surprised to find a game
that was actually more akin to From Software’s 2014 PS4-exclusive title
Bloodborne than the stylish action that frustrated me to no end in the
early 2000s. Combat is taken at very deliberate pace: attacks and abilities
require a commitment to an animation that can be interrupted by enemies, and
enemies hit hard. Really hard. It borrows a multitude of other mechanics as
well: Amrita (your experience point equivalent) builds up as you defeat
enemies, but if not cashed in can disappear upon repeated deaths. Levels are
cleverly interconnected and progress can be made unlocking shortcuts. Different
weapons have move-sets and special abilities unique to them to keep the combat
interesting. Nioh also has a similar blocking and parry system as well,
but supplants baseline abilities in favor of a skill tree. While a novel idea
in context, it felt like I either had an excess of unspent skill points, or I
was upgrading skills that replaced skills I had already trained. And not a
great first follow up to the outstanding opening story opening.
Games like Dark Souls use the environment, found items,
and cryptic NPC dialog to assemble a world in the player’s head and leave them
intentionally curious. There is rarely a time in that process you aren’t asking
yourself ‘what exactly is going on here?’ and there is rarely a big reveal or
late-game payoff in the form of exposition or cut-scenes. It gives the story of
the Souls games a myth-like inscrutability, and allows for conversations
and interpretations in a way that I very much appreciated, especially in a time
of video games that hold your hand and tell you exactly what's going on. Nioh
succeeds in splitting the middle by giving you background regarding the
main characters actions and frequent story interludes that give you a better
idea of what’s going on outside of ‘I killed all the bad guys here, so I am
going to where more bad guys are’. I applaud Nioh for making a
straightforward yet varied story line, but at times it felt uninspired. I know
I am showing my bias on my sleeve as someone who is much more interested in a
game’s systems and mechanics than its story, but even taking a conscious effort
to understand and enjoy the story, I still found it disappointing.
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While the story itself was nothing to write home about,
characters and the narrative framing does shine through. Not to continue to
enforce the nerdy white-boy stereotype, but I have something of a piqued
interest in Japanese culture and folklore, and Nioh cultivates that
interest by rooting the story in a fictionalized version of the Sengoku period
of Japan. As someone who spent much of his youth entranced in Japanese video
games and the occasional anime, I picked up an affinity for some of Japan’s
more interesting tall-tales, historical figures, and cultural touchstones. This
affinity lead to some excitement when I found out that the story has ties to
real people in world history, especially when those real people are Ninjas,
Pirates, Samurai, and demon slayers. The parts of the story that had me looking
at Wikipedia entries and college history textbooks to see if such and such
character was real and what part they played in 17th century Japan were
amazing, but in contrast with the goings-on of the story it gave it an overall
unimpressive feeling.
Despite that disappointment, I knew going into Nioh that
story line was not primarily why I was there. The combat and the systems,
that’s what draws me into most games, and the same can be said here. Something
that defines the moment to moment combat is Nioh is resource management.
Dark Souls used a system of refilling stamina that would drain when
attacking or running, and required skill and patience to not get caught void of
it. It certainly was not the first game to include a stamina meter or other
gate to consecutive actions, but managing it rapidly became one of the most
important skills for players of the series’. How Nioh manages stamina is
what I consider its single greatest strength in gameplay. Enemies in Dark
Souls operate on the same systems as the players, but their stamina bars
are often much larger, and additionally so aren’t exposed to the player. Nioh
eschews this by not only giving the player attacks that specifically can
damage your opponent’s Ki (the stamina equivalent in the world of Nioh) but
also showing your opponent’s Ki meter, something that gives you another tool to
exploit to your advantage in a game where challenge is paramount. This leads to
having to manage both your Ki and your opponent’s, and also enables high-damage
attacks and executions when your opponent’s Ki is weakened: abilities that not
offer a satisfying payoff to using the Ki mechanic, but also shows off some of
the style that faster action games are known for.
There is a driving force behind the action and systems of Nioh
and other RPGs: Gear. You can’t just level up you need to get the loot, and
that goes for just about any game. The loot system was a unique spin in Nioh,
but for me it is one of the mechanics that totally fell flat. The feeling of
deliberate design via items being painstakingly placed for the player to find
was kind of lost on me in a world where armor and weapons drop like it was a Diablo
game. Now, don’t get me wrong, I spent hundreds of hours over the better part
of a decade playing Diablo II and I loved every minute of it. Loot is
fun, exciting, satisfying, and keeps players coming back. But, in a game built
on mechanics rooted in subtlety and patience, wading through countless menus
full of equipment was overwhelming. I always had an excess of equipment,
requiring what seemed like hours of tweaking and stat comparing over the course
of the game. That in itself came to a personal surprise in me; I love doing
deep-dives, I love numbers and optimization, but the differences were so minor
it just felt like a constant chore with no real payoff. Fortunately the game
does combat this by allowing you to break items down into component parts for
crafting, but even the crafting system was flawed. Spending time early game
crafting items was not worthwhile because dropped items quickly outclassed
them, but when you reached the late game and crafting became useful, you need
the highest quality crafting materials to get the best possible items, which
your early game items would rarely break down into.
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| Nioh uses a dark visual style rooted in Japanese history, and is more brooding than beautiful |
Fortunately for what it lacks in story and polish, it makes up
for in feeling. The enemies feel unique, the combat is tense, and the boss
fights (sans one of them) have all been phenomenal. Few games have ever gotten
my blood rushing like bosses in Nioh, and I was immediately reminded of
why I adore games of this style as early as the first boss. There is the mental
progression that mirrors the gameplay progression of the bosses in games of
this style that I have still never to this day found elsewhere. You find a new
boss, often by accident at the end of a harrowing journey, and over and over
they crush you to bits. There is a constant cycle of unease, progress,
confidence, overconfidence, and frustration, but with practice and clever
dissection you carry forward. Eventually you get to the run, it just clicks,
you’ve learned this boss like the back of your hand, and you feel like a god as
this enemy that bested you countless times is like putty in your hands. That
feeling right there, that is why I loved Nioh, why I loved Dark Souls,
and why practically any game in this style out there.
Nioh is not a masterpiece, and it’s certainly not for everyone, but I
think it might be the most approachable game of its style. I have enjoyed
dozens of hours in Nioh, and I plan on at least a few more. Most
importantly, I think it is a step-forward for establishing games like itself as
its own sub-genre of action game, one that I think has mountains of unseen
potential. I look forward to Team Ninja’s inevitable sequel announcement, and
even more what the future holds for this genre as a whole.
Score
-Justin Wicker
Developer: Team Ninja
Platforms: PS4
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
Reviewer’s Platform: PS4
Publisher: Koei Tecmo Co. Ltd.