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Team Ninja's Nioh 2 releases into an industry populated by a large amount of Dark Souls clones and ripoffs. Even From Software has release six soulslike games in the last decade. At this point in time fans of the genre have their pick of dozens of different titles in order to get their fix, and this has led to an over-saturation of games that play very similarly. Nioh 2, while leaning on some of the same tropes and ideas from its predecessors, manages to keep feeling fresh and exciting all the way through.

Nioh 2 is actually set a few decades before the events of the first game. This time instead of playing as the blonde haired, blue eyed William, players are given the opportunity to fully customize and play as their own character named Hide. Unlike William though Hide is part Yokai, a kind of Japanese demon, and is therefore able to access powerful abilities through the use of Soul Cores. Players will be tasked with working together with a man named Tokichiro who is trying his best to make his mark on the world, and isn't afraid to use Hide to move up in society.

Nioh 2 actually sports one of the most in-depth character creations tools ever seen in a mainstream video game. Players are able to customize almost every facet of Hide from gender, face shape, body type, voice style, and more. Players are able to add tattoos, scars, and even give their character highlights. The amount of customization is fun to play around with, and even more interesting is that Hide can be completely reworked at any point in the game just by visiting their Starting Point in between missions.

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Nioh 2 is better looking than its predecessor. The environments are varied as players explore rain soaked mountains, gloomy forests, and sunny villages. The enemies are also much more varied and numerous than in the first game, and it feels like every level introduces a new and unique set of enemies. Animations are fluid, and it actually feels like there is weight behind every swing of a sword or spear. Every time the player turns a corner there will be some beautiful new piece of landscape to explore as they attempt to survive. Nioh 2 is graphically impressive.

On its surface, gameplay feels very much the same as it did for the first game. This is still a soulslike game at heart, so fans of the genre will quickly adjust to Nioh 2's systems and mechanics. The control scheme is almost exactly the same and the UI hasn't changed much at all. The upside here is that players who played the first game will quickly be able to jump in and get to work, but may be a little disappointed that there don't seem to be many gameplay innovations at first.

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Quickly, players will begin to realize that the formula for Nioh 2 has been experimented with in interesting new ways. The introduction of Yokai Skills and the Burst Counter mechanic make it much easier to deplete enemy Ki and deflect powerful abilities. Yokai Skills can be accessed by acquiring Soul Cores from enemies and tapping into special abilities that are specific to certain enemy types. The Enki Soul Core for example allows the player to throw a giant spear and can stun enemies at critical moments.

The Burst Counter is one of the most intriguing additions to the game series, as it allows players to counter specific attacks. Any time that an enemy glows red before attacking, players will have a short window to trigger the Burst Counter. This will not only stop the enemy attack, but also cause massive Ki depletion. This can save players from taking a lot of damage while setting up enemies for a few quick combos.

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The newest addition that may take players some time to get used to is the Yokai Shift. This incredibly powerful transformation will allow players to temporarily tap into their Yokai powers and become invulnerable. This also increases their damage output considerably and can come in quite handy for boss fights. All of these new mechanics have cooldown periods and players must fill certain gauges up by fighting enemies before they can be used. This means that they can't be used repeatedly, but can definitely turn the tides of a difficult fight.

The difficulty level of Nioh 2 is high, but at the same time quite forgiving. Players will find themselves overwhelmed unless they are playing patiently and smart, and the game rewards players who take the time to understand its mechanics. Unlike other games like Dark Souls or Bloodborne, having access to those special skills can help tone down the difficulty level. Players have a lot of combat methods at their disposal and can experiment with what works best for them or for the current situation.

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This also holds true for the amount of weapon types that players have access to. Each type of weapon feels different and has certain strengths and weaknesses. For example, a sword may be considerably faster than an axe, but won't be able to cause as much damage. Some players may decide they want more reach and therefore pick a spear in order to poke at enemies from afar. Nioh 2 also gives players access to bows, rifles, bombs, and other throwable weapons that can be used to inflict pain on adversaries.

The loot system is one of the biggest downsides to Nioh 2 though. Dead enemies drop a large amount of loot like in games like Diablo 3, and the first few times this happens it is exciting. Players will quickly find themselves swimming in a sea of useless loot with no idea what to do with it all. It's frustrating to spend several minutes digging through the inventory system trying to decide if an armor increase is worth losing a lighting resistance or if a 1% increase to acquired amrita really matters. The whole loot system is bloated, but at the same time players won't want to ignore loot and potentially miss out on something game changing.

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As in all games of this kind, boss battles are the most important part. Nioh 2 does a great job here as players are thrown against all manner of difficult creatures. The first boss, Mezuki, for example is a giant horse-headed demon who swings a large cleaver at players. This fight is fun, challenging, and bizarre all at once. All of the non-human boss enemies prioritize learning patterns and are each unique. Human bosses are another issue entirely as most of them can cheaply beaten by spamming certain attacks. Players who figure out how to take these characters down quickly, will feel understandably cheated for missing out on some equally unique fights.

At the end of the day Nioh 2 takes the formula laid out by other soulslike games and manages to improve it at almost every turn. The game is both uniquely challenging and while still having the same addicting quality of other games in the genre. The addition of mechanics like the Yokai Shift manage to set Nioh 2 apart from the pack and add a layer of combat not seen in similar titles. Veterans and newcomers to the soulslike genre alike will get be able to squeeze dozens of hours out of Nioh 2.

Nioh 2 is available on PlayStation 4. A PlayStation 4 code was provided for the purposes of this review.

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