Publications:
Mitchell Saltzmann: IGN:
(9/10) Nioh 2's many systems may be a little overwhelming, but the stellar combat and satisfying difficulty make it worth it.
Daniel Tack: Game Informer:
(8.5/10):
Nioh 2, like Nioh before it, is an unrelenting and extremely punishing ride that has you weighing every resource available. Despite some flaws, this experience carves you from an unrefined button-mashing flailing pustule into a precision-striking samurai.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell: Eurogamer:
(Recommended)
An absorbing, tense and well-wrought samurai adventure let down by a little too much recycling and some muddled new systems.
Kai Powell: Wccftech:
(9.6/10) Nioh 2 builds upon the successes and failures of its predecessor and offering new tools to battle with the role of a half-yokai as the player character. Some may say this iteration is even more brutal than the first!
Mollie L. Patterson: EGM:
(8/10)
Nioh 2 takes the ideas of its predecessor and greatly expands on them, bringing a greater sense of depth to everything from gameplay, to stage design, to your ability to have a main character customized to your particular play style (and visual preferences). Admittedly, some of the simpler elegance of the original Nioh has been lost in the progress, but the result is still a game that'll terrorize and thrill those looking for a real challenge.
Jon Bailes: Gamesradar+:
(★★★★ 1/2 out of five)
Nioh 2 might play it safe in some respects, but the fluidity, depth and intensity of its combat is incredible.
Garri Bagdasarov: Playstation Universe:
(9.5/10) Masterfully crafted and executed, Nioh 2 sets the benchmark for action/adventure games that people just have to experience. Team Ninja's latest provides one of the most in-depth combat systems and an addictive loot system that may put all but the best dungeon crawlers to shame. It's quite simple, Nioh 2 has Game of the Year written all over it.
Jordan Devore: Destructoid:
(9/10)
If there's one point I want to get across above all others, it's this: Nioh 2 isn't as revelatory as the first game, but that shouldn't be held as a mark against it – at least not this time. Team Ninja was right to iterate and expand carefully. Nioh got so much right on the first go. While the new prequel storyline suffers from a slow and disconnected start, just about every other aspect of Nioh 2 feels upgraded.
This is a finely-tuned sequel that fans will obsess over for years to come.
Michael Sainsbury: Digitally Downloaded:
(★★★★ 1/2 out of five)
Just as I have a special reverence for Demon's Souls, even as I recognise Dark Souls was able to refine and improve on "the formula", I recognise that Nioh 2 is the better game, while also missing spirit and originality, which has gone by the wayside. That said, Nioh 2 is still going to be better than just about everything else that will be released in 2020. Brilliantly creative monster and level design come together with subtle - but important - improvements to the complex-but-rewarding mechanics. This is something that only people with patience and perseverance should sign up for, however this is also a rare case where the rewards truly exceed the demands that the game makes of players.
Michael Leri: Gamerevolution:
(4.5/5)
Such a wonderful amount of variety wasn't quite the first game's strong suit and Nioh 2 has more than addressed that blind spot. Levels are more diverse, especially considering the side missions that drastically change the lighting or color of the sky to an unrealistic yet enrapturing effect. Bosses run the gamut from ghoulish bull-spider hybrids to skilled human enemies and all take different strategies to kill. Grunts benefit the most from this newfound diversity as they constantly keep the game from stagnating and yield a steady flow of new Yokai abilities. All of this is designed to guarantee that Nioh 2 keeps you guessing and visually engaged, which wasn't always something the first game had.
Nioh 2 is, at times, also designed to evoke controller-throwing rage even in the most peaceful individuals. But while the difficulty is dialed up a smidge high in some areas, it's also designed to be one of the best takes of the genre that far surpasses its promising first entry. An overwhelming amount of RPG systems, sublime controls, and fast-paced, skill-based combat mixes in with Team Ninja's own stylistic flair and puts Nioh 2 more than a few cuts above other games that shamelessly ape From's precious formula. It's a sharp blade, one that cuts back with unrelenting precision, but it's one Muramasa himself would be jealous of.
Andrew Beeken: Next Gen Base:
(9/10)
As with the original, Nioh 2 is once again quite the looker. Full of bright colours and characters, it's areas pop and are fun to explore, adding in new environmental dangers like the "Yokai realm", areas that have been corrupted by demons and affect your ki regeneration until you take out the offending Yokai. As with the first game you've got a couple of modes that either offer a fully 60fps experience with cut down resolution and graphical effects, or a locked 30fps with shinier visuals – personally I found the former to be perfectly servicable and a fantastically zippy way to play what is a brilliant game.
Adam Matthew: PowerUp Gaming:
(8.5/10)
That said, I felt that Team Ninja's shortcut game still isn't on FromSoftware level yet. There's no lovely eureka moment when you discover a sneaky loop back to the safety of an old shrine, it's simply "oh yeah, I expected a gate to be there and it totally was." It also has to be said that while Nioh certainly wasn't an ugly game, the visual evolution from that title to this won't blow your hair back.
Be all those minor disappointments as they may, I find it hard to put Nioh 2 down much. Literally, too — now that the campaign is dusted — I'm thoroughly addicted to the online co-op where you and four randos gear up and go ham on a mission.
Bottom line; this isn't a huge reinvention, but it sure is a damn solid sequel.
I can see myself happily re-grinding through before DLC season hits, mastering yet more weapons and hoping the loot gods favour me with sick ninja armour. That or my aforementioned masochistic tendencies will kick in, and I'll foolishly try to beat this with nothing but a wooden sword and a "kendo attitude".
Either way, Nioh 2 has carved out space on my hard drive for months to come.
Lucas Rivarola: RPG Site:
(9/10)
At first glance, Nioh 2 might be more of the same, and on some level that is true. But what Nioh had to offer was an incredibly good, extremely enjoyable mix of elements that worked surprisingly well together. By now, Nioh 2 simply embraces all its predecessor did well before, improves on some aspects that were there, and even allows you more freedom to enjoy the game however you want to play it. Those same elements that made the first one so enjoyable, combined with a better story, better customization systems, better level design and more, make Nioh 2 a confident sequel that stands above the previous game and firmly establishes itself as its own. No longer should Nioh be compared to other games; those other games should be compared to Nioh 2.
Adam Beck: Hardcore Gamer:
(4/5)
Nioh 2 is a great game that's obscured beneath a mountain of frustration. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, having loved Souls and Souls-like games, and even enjoyed Team Ninja's impressive archive, but Nioh 2 broke me. The debate on whether games such as these should include a difficulty slider has been a hot button issue for awhile. While its own blend of the formula, this has begun pushing me into support for such a feature. There's so much to Nioh 2 that many gamers will simply miss out on due to its ruthless difficulty, something that feels unearned in its own right. Those able to overcome the difficulty curve will find complex and highly-versatile combat, inspirational enemy designs and an imaginative world to explore. Team Ninja has crafted something worth investing your time into, just maybe not hours into a single boss.
Jeuxvideo:
(Review in French) (17/20)
With Nioh 2, Team Ninja signs a very successful sequel. Better staged and very generous in content at the same time, the title manages to give personality to a series that lacked it, while strengthening the basic formula. Yokai abilities, which unleash powers in the middle of combat, bring diversity and a new technical dimension to combat, while judicious timing and attention to the opponent's stamina hit the mark. In addition, Team Ninja does not leave newcomers aside by incorporating tips to facilitate progression. But the title remains as formidable as ever. Nioh 2 thus manages to find a rare balance: that of a demanding and accessible action game, where fans will take as much (or more) pleasure than on the first game.
Alejandro Pascual: 3DJuegos (thanks to Lant_War for translating)
(Review in Spanish) 7.5/10:
Nioh 2 is a fun game and very similar to the first entry. Not only in its systems, it also reuses many elements of the first game's UI, equipment and enemies - even bosses and levels-. If you don't have a problem with this, you have something close to the DLC that arrived afterwards, only with a greater length and some improvements like Yokai abilities and counters, which mix up combat a little. However, even enjoying Nioh's formula, I grew more and more tired from mission to mission, once the lack of surprises and reused elements started piling up.
Video Reviews:
Fextralife:
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