As we begin to dig into our hefty backlogs for 2017, I argue that now is as good a time as ever to pick up the overlooked Sengoku-era action title packed with Japanese heroes, villains, and all the yokai in-between. It became easy for fans of the Dark Souls franchise to make the leap into Nioh‘s brutal combat and convoluted levels, but its added complexity made it difficult to appeal to a wider audience. While Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Persona 5 captured the attention and admiration of the gaming community, Nioh garnered a more niche following. Nioh was one of the first games left to the wayside as this year’s early months of instant gaming classics crashed like waves month after month. The differences here are what make Nioh what it is.Only the darkest souls feed perilous yokai in Nioh, the Sengoku-era Soulslike Death is common in Nioh and it wears the constant comparisons to the Dark Souls franchise as a badge of honour, but simply labeling it as a remake of that game but with samurai set dressing is unnecessarily reductive. Nioh is a punishingly difficult third-person action RPG with highly strategic combat and respawning monsters. If you have somehow managed to avoid everything about this game until now, allow me to break it down for you. The prospect of different stances utilizing different attack patterns still feels fresh, and every player will find their own niche in Nioh, whether it involves the chain twirling antics of the kusarigama or just perforating foes with a massive sword like the odachis. The gameplay is fast and smooth, with enemies lulling the player into the trap of thinking things are too easy, only to viciously and brutally murder them-not that that ever happened to me (several times in a row).

Now, the original Nioh was released in the bygone ancient time of February 2017, but it still feels fresh and fun nearly a year later. Nioh: Complete Edition (PC) – gameplay images provided by Koei Tecmo for this review.

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