Nioh is an Incredible, Challenging, Booty filled game that uses parts of the Souls formula and capitalizes.

Nioh offers a nice mixture of available stat and character builds. You are obviously a Samurai who can use a Katana, Dual Katana, Spear, Axe or Kusigarama. In addition to your main weapons there are Bows, Rifles and Hand cannons but combat and ways to play Nioh go beyond just that. There are stats to level Ninjitsu and Onymo. Ninjitsu offers Ninja type items such as shurikens and smoke bombs along with poison and paralysis weapon buffs while Onymo uses magic and elemental weapon buffs. While I personally don't use much Ninjitsu both are great to have leveled up, ready for use and have plenty of other passive and active abilities. So you could technically level to be more of a Ninja or Magic user than a Samurai but at the end of the day the weapon combat is still going to be an extremely part of combat.

The combat system is fluid and spot on. Team Ninja added a target system that wasn't in the alpha demo. This is an extremely useful addition that makes playing the game better. As for the mechanics, there are 3 stances and switching between them during combat is simple. There's high, mid and low stances all of which provide different attacks with each primary weapon mentioned previously. The player can have two main and ranged weapons equipped at all times, switching between the two is an easy transition in combat. There is also a Ki [stamina] bar in Nioh but unlike other games there's a mechanic called Ki Pulse which allows you to regain a lost portion of Ki by tapping a button at the right time. This is extremely helpful to continue attacking or to have the ability to move from offensive to guard against a series of attacks without running out of Ki and being dead meat. There are also Guardian Spirits who give you different stat boosts and allow you to call upon them using their strength to perform a Super [Living Weapon] for a certain amount of time. Each spirit varies and there are items to improve length and other aspects of the Spirit, or Living Weapon. While the player starts with one of, I believe, three Spirits, throughout the game you encounter many other spirits that are added to your list of Guardian Spirits accessible via Shrines. To utilize all the spirits and bonuses they offer it is wise not to ignore the Spirit stat when leveling up.

While Nioh doesn't offer an integrated open world like Souls games the map along with the progression work extremely well. Once a mission is complete you are sent to a Map which holds the location of Missions, Sub Missions along with a castle logo in which you will find a Shrine (your saving menu), Blacksmith, Dojo, Teahouse and Storehouse; feel like I've forgotten one. I often felt this took me out of the game having to visit the Blacksmith and break down or sell all the booty I received during the mission then had to decide what to do next. Despite my own quarrel, as I said, the setup and system actually works great. In the Blacksmith you will find Buy, Sell, Forge, Dismantle, Refashion (change appearance), Reforge along with Soul Forge. Soul Forge is an extremely useful option in which you're able to upgrade an item you really like and ensure it stays useful in DMG or DEF. The problem is that often times the cost for soul matching is rather expensive so at times it's best to find or forge a new weapon or armor to use. It's a great aspect just one that I wish were more viable, rather, cheaper. However, some items are priced cheap or reasonable and I find it to be a great feature in the game. As is reforging which allows you to remove a perk or perks from weapons or armor to find ones that are more suitable or likable to the player. I strongly suggest familiarizing yourself with everything the Blacksmith offers and don't be afraid to use them. The Dojo offers training along with challenges once Ninjitsu, Onmyo, weapon familiarity, etc reach certain levels and you've progressed so far into the game. While the Teahouse, which unlocks later, is where you can join a clan. Clans give you bonus stats and allow you to fight the spirits (fallen soldiers, sword in ground, forget exact name) for a weekly battle. Also the teahouse offers Gestures, items and other goods that can be bought with the currency from fighting those who have fallen.

Nioh is definitely a challenging experience that does get somewhat easier with time. If it's too hard one could always spend time leveling or focus on using the Guardian Spirit/Living Weapon during boss fights to make the game easier. While I do see some areas for improvement or things I'd personally prefer Team Ninja truly knocked this one out the park. Nioh is an incredible game that is definitely worth playing. If you're not a fan of the Souls series there's a chance you will not like this. However there is also a chance you will as I've read quite a few comments online from those who didn't like Souls games but were loving Nioh. Either way, if Nioh has caught your attention and you don't mind a little challenge do yourself a favor and pick this game up. From top to bottom it is solid and a blast to play.