Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition

Having just beaten Nioh 2 and Nioh 1 earlier this year I can say that Nioh 2 is without a doubt better in every way than the original. That isn't to say, however, that the game doesn't still have some glaring issues. The biggest pro for this game is for sure the combat system. They fixed one of my biggest disappointments with Nioh 1 by adding what they call "Burst Counters". This mechanic acts as the game's true parry system; I really enjoyed using them, and it made the game a lot easier for me personally. While on the topic of difficulty, I found Nioh 2 to be much easier than the original. The game also looks nice and runs great, I didn't experience a single crash in my 40 hour playthrough. The skill tree has been greatly improved and was a lot easier to understand compared to Nioh 1. The level design has also been improved; it's not perfect, but it's a definite improvement. When it comes to the story, I did find it better than Nioh 1, but it still isn't the focal point. This is fine for me, as I don't play Soulslikes for the narrative. The two biggest negatives for me are the lack of enemy variety (yet again, as this was also a big issue in Nioh 1). Because of the addition of Burst Counters, I didn't mind fighting the same enemy 100 times as much, but it is still disappointing that the enemy pool is so small. My other major complaint is the fact that there are levels in this game that are copied and pasted directly out of Nioh 1. It surprises me that I don't see this talked about more often. Both of these issues feel more like laziness from the devs than anything else. Also, the UI can be a little confusing and could be streamlined better for the player. 8.2/10