Dengeki Online held a special Christmas stream on December 24, showing various games including the anticipated 2020 release Nioh 2.
Koei Tecmo, along with developer Team Ninja, has been hard at work creating Nioh 2 since the release of the surprise hit Nioh in 2017. Since the release of the beta for the sequel, players have gotten a taste of what the new game has in store, while some seem to have already mastered what we have of Nioh 2. Like its predecessor, Nioh 2 seems to be Team Ninja's answer to From Software's Dark Souls series.
The stream from Dengeki Online this Christmas Eve featured a new gameplay sequence that revealed the Battle of Anegawa stage and a new boss character called Makara Naotaka. During the stream, producer Fumihiko Yoshida provided context and commentary on the new features. These features differ right off the bat from what we've seen in the beta, which should mix up people's already defined strategies for the yet-to-be-released game. Immediately apparent were menu and user interface changes. The gameplay featured showed a boss battle with Makara, the ice youkai. The stage is likewise filled with ice, thanks to this boss character.
The stream is only in Japanese, but plenty can be gleaned from it for English speakers. For instance, we get a first look at the new transformable weapon called Switchglaive and even see it in action. While the streamers fought the youkai, it transferred itself and the player into the dark realm, where the youkai live. This makes it so the player is at a major disadvantage unless they transform into a youkai themselves. This element forces the player to strategize when to use their transformation. Much like Dark Souls,the strategies for boss fights in Nioh are frequently discussed and perfected online, and the sequel will likely follow the same trend.
The updated interface for Nioh 2 is looking good. Considering the beta's UI was simply a reused version of the previous title, it nice to see changes for the new iteration. It also begs the question of what else will change between now and release.
That being said, Nioh 2 looks like it will bring more of what was loved about the series. The original Nioh was a critical and commercial success, and there's no reason the sequel wouldn't follow suit.
Nioh 2Â releases on March 13, 2020, on PS4.
