Nioh
Best RPGs of Q1 2017
Nioh is a game made for those players in Dark Souls who only ever used Katanas and built absurd amounts of DEX. Coming out of Team Ninja, Nioh takes the wildly popular Souls-like subgenre and mixes it with a little bit of Japanese history and a lot of Japanese mythology to create one of the flat out best Souls-likes ever released.
Set in the 1600s during a period of clan conflict in Japan, Nioh’s main character, William, is an Irishman who sails to the warring country in an effort to reclaim a Guardian Spirit that was stolen from him. William lands in Japan only to realize the fighting has brought about dark spirits, called Yokai, and that the one manipulating everything is the same man who stole from him, another westerner Edward Kelley. This dark fantasy take on Japan’s history creates a fantastic environment for Nioh’s specific tone and the game’s abundant mythologically-inspired creatures.
Although Nioh maintains the harsh difficulty we’ve come to expect from this style of games, it’s made easier through the game’s different methodology to equipment. Using a Diablo-esque loot system, each player is able to equip gear sets and emphasize specific builds through equipment drops with randomly generated stats. Not only can this help skew combat encounters in your favor, but it also allows the player expansive freedom on which weapon, elemental attributes, and more they want to focus on. On top of that, each weapon type has a large skill tree filled with various techniques and passive bonuses. You can also choose to take skills into Ninjustu or Onmyo Magic if you’re looking for a less direct approach.
Nioh is filled to the brim with things to do, Yokai to slaughter, and loot to farm. Through its fluid, yet complex, gameplay, Nioh easily locks in its position as one of this quarters best.
