079REVIEW
BelowMumyo
is a fellowyokai
hunter,butyour
half-yokainature
makesherwary.
Canyoubecome
alliesdespiteit?we’re grabbed by a cold, dripping dread. What if
we really can’t get through the very first level of
the game? It’s a very real fear.
BIGGER AND BETTER
We get through thanks to preparation, and by
finally paying attention to the game teaching
us about this sequel’s new features, which are
more than simple additions. As enemies attack
they often use powerful strikes that glow a
bright red. By pressing i and e together at
the moment of impact you perform a burst
counter, temporarily transforming your half-yokai
custom protagonist into their demonic form,
and stunning the enemy, dealing a hefty amount
of damage to their ki meter and leaving them
vulnerable to strikes. Get used to recognising
these moments, as you’ll be needing to counter
enemy moves a lot.
You see, this time around you aren’t simply
protected by your guardian
spirit, you are able to fuse
with them to unleash your
own powers. Once the spirit is
charged, you can hit both w
and e to transform, giving
you access to a powerful suite
of devastating moves. It really
feels like this time around
you can unleash just as much
fury as your enemies. Being pulled into the yokai
realm affects your ki’s recharge rate, sure, but it
also increases the power of your yokai attacks.
Two can play at that game, and knowing when to
strike back is important.
HEART TO HEART
Felled, Mezuki vanishes, a beating heart left
in his place. This is his yokai soul core, and
there’s a chance that any of the demon enemies
in the game, from bosses to the powerful
regular enemies that lurk around each stage’s
corners, will drop theirs after you’ve defeated
them. Once purified at your bonfire-like shrine
checkpoints, two soul cores can be attuned to
your guardian spirit at a time, giving you access
to two powerful special moves by pressing i
and either w or r. Essentially they let you use
the attacks of previous enemies, and have their
own separate Anima meter (which is also used
for burst counters). These powers differ vastly
from one another – for example, one turns
you into a monkey that jumps into the air to
throw a spear; another sees you diving under
the ground like a worm and then rising for
an area attack. Anima flows plentifully from
attacks, so you’ll be able to use these skills
frequently to deal significant physical and ki
damage, and as ki recharges while you’re
using them, for a brief reprieve from
the pressures of battle.
You can stun
human enemies by
hitting their blocks
to deplete their ki
before they can regain
it, after which you can
use each weapon’s unique
finishing move to devastate
them. (You can unlock extra
finishing moves.) Yokai enemies,
on the other hand, have more ki, but it won’t
recharge unless they create
a circle of the yokai realm
around themselves, though by
attacking them enough and
using yokai abilities you can
deplete their maximum ki as
well. Smart management of
what they’re up to can mean
you dance as elegantly around
a hulked-out yokai with a
massive axe as you would your
common soldier.
Even though Nioh 2
allows you to wield such
strong power, you don’t feel
overpowered. Every enemy in
the game can bring you to the
lowest of the lows just as easily
as they can give you the highs
of victory. Even little Ganki,
corpse
parasites you
encounter
from the
beginning of
the game, can
grab you and
chip away
at half or
more of your
health if you’re just not quite
careful enough. Late into the
game you still have to beware
smaller enemies breaking
through your defence or
joining in with a larger battle.
Spatial awareness can help, as
ambushes are frequent, from
everything from the monkey-
like Enki hanging on overhead
trees to (Team Ninja had to
do it to us) fleshy eggs filled
with tiny spiders.KI BLADE
The key to success isn’t being
overly cautious (more often
than not if you are you’ll have
a tougher time, as while you
recuperate you allow your
enemies to recover too), it’s
managing your own ki meter.
After every weapon combo
you can hit u to restore a
large chunk of your ki, giving
yourself the stamina to keep
fighting. White orbs surround
your character (and a white bar
fills up on top of your meter
in the UI), and perfect timing
will substantially increase
the amount of time you can
stay on the offensive, or the
energy you have for a last-
second dodge to roll out of
the way of a string of nasty
swipes. Performing a pulse
will also purify a circle of the
yokai realm, making pulses ki
(geddit?) to taking yokai on.
Once you get used to
wielding your yokai-slayingweapon of choice, timing
your ki pulses will become
instinctive as your combos
and special moves grow
familiar. And there’s a lot to
dig through. Across the nine
weapon types, every weapon
has quick attack and strong
attack combos across three
stances: low, medium, and
high. On top of that, every
weapon has its own skill tree
of additional moves, grown
with points you earn simply by
using the weapon. These moves
include things like a throw
attack for the double-bladed
hatchets, or the ability to poke
your scythe-like switchglaive
out from a guard and use it to
flip over your enemy.
Bolt on two different schools
of extra weapons in the forms
of ninjutsu and onmyo, which
can be equipped to your
inventory (the former allows
you to craft tricks and tools,
the latter to do things like
shoot lighting or create areas
of healing), and it can start to
sound overwhelming. Except in
practice, it’s not. You increase
your proficiency in these by
using them, branching out a
little at a time, and learning
a bit at a time too. Really, all
these options give you a range
of utilities. High-stance attacks
are more powerful but slower,
for instance, and low-stance
always quicker, allowing you
to get those final slivers of
health on an enemy down. No
combos are hard to remember,
and all the inputs are basic, so
it’s more about deciding what
to do than failing to be able to
do it (except, of course, when
you panic). When you die, you
can usually see why, and figure
out what you should have done
differently. Combat is as hard
as yokai-cursed nails, but it
teeters delicately on that edge,
a triumphant balancing act.SENGO(KU) FOR IT
The story follows your custom
character, a yokai hunter who
is half-yokai themself, as they
team up with Tokichiro, a
cunning merchant who deals
in spirit stones – magical
items that can enhance yokai
powers. Together they hunt
the magic stones down,
eventually entering the service
of Oda Nobunaga, an iconic
and charismatic figure from
Japanese history. (This isn’t
the first time he’s been turned
into a videogame character; you“LATE IN THE GAME YOU
STILL HAVE TO BEWARE
SMALLER ENEMIES.”