Edit: Update, at between 590-600 hours, I have completed all 30 floors of depths. This game is indeed a masterpiece.

As of this review, I have clocked over 350 hours* and just completed ALL achievements for this game on steam.
*This was made possible as part of my unemployment break in May and June, and I have not grind myself to death in underworld nor the depths.

Nioh 2 is a souls-like game (but not actually souls) 3rd person action game taking place in Feudal Japan (Sengoku Period, 1550-1620) where players are basically assured death for bad decisions, bad mistakes, bad techniques, and... well, bad luck*.
*See Fuki, Hellish Hags, skeleton warrior memes, and slippery cliff edges in laggy multiplayer games.

The goal of this game is to make the manliest or prettiest hero and kill hostile demons while figuring out the best approach and available equipment to killing them.

Game Play:
The best part of this game is character customization. No, seriously, it's the best I have ever seen from a console based game and r/glamurai has enough threads to prove it.


There is a variety of weapons to choose from ranging from the iconic katana to the exotic ninja kusarigama, each with 3 stances (High, Mid Low) with the weapon's innate strength and weaknesses.

On top of the complicated weapons and combat styles, there are also 3 types of armor (Light, Medium, and Heavy) with possibly their own hidden stats* and vaguely defined letter grades (from C to AAA)**.

*SUPPOSEDLY, according to an old thread on reddit, Full light armor offers 8% damage reduction, full medium offers 15%, and full heavy offers a whopping 25% BEFORE the raw defense is used to calculate damage taken by the player.

*Levels play a huge hidden role in my own experience. If you are getting wrecked in normal mode on certain missions, go back to it later when you are at least 20 levels over the recommended level - you will notice you stagger a lot less and the enemies are more easily staggered (first fight against Honda Tadakatsu and Yasuke the obsidian samurai).

**Nioh 2 does not clearly specify what stats stacks nor how damage is calculated... So you end up with a good number of autistic players and tryhards trying to "proof" something (thankfully, because I can't do that and I cherry pick what fits how I play from their guides).

Armor weight is a thing in this game, and it is best to keep armor weight no worse than "B" agility (< 70%) otherwise dodging and running will be painfully difficult for the player.

Unlike souls game, blocking (and deciding when to block) is a valid defense technique, however, this is further made complicated by a stat called "Toughness" (again, ranging from letters AA to F, anything worse than "B" means blocking an attack will take away far more stamina).

Suffice to say, the combat stats calculation is opaque and deep enough to keep people guessing and experiment a variety of character builds*.

*This game allows you to respec your character after advancing enough, so don't worry about creating new characters.

tl;dr

1. Make waifu.
2. ? (git gud, get gear)
3a. Slay demons.
3b. If slaying demon fails, git gud and try again.

Edit: Update, at between 590-600 hours, I have completed all 30 floors of depths. This game is indeed a masterpiece. [i]As of this review, I have clocked over 350 hours* and just completed ALL achievements for this game on steam. *This was made possible as part of my unemployment break in May and June, and I have not grind myself to death in underworld nor the depths.[/i] Nioh 2 is a souls-like game (but not actually souls) 3rd person action game taking place in Feudal Japan (Sengoku Period, 1550-1620) where players are basically assured death for bad decisions, bad mistakes, bad techniques, and... well, bad luck*. *See Fuki, Hellish Hags, skeleton warrior memes, and slippery cliff edges in laggy multiplayer games. [u][b]The goal of this game is to make the manliest or prettiest hero and kill hostile demons while figuring out the best approach and available equipment to killing them.[/b][/u] Game Play: The best part of this game is character customization. No, seriously, it's the best I have ever seen from a console based game and r/glamurai has enough threads to prove it. There is a variety of weapons to choose from ranging from the iconic katana to the exotic ninja kusarigama, each with 3 stances (High, Mid Low) with the weapon's innate strength and weaknesses. On top of the complicated weapons and combat styles, there are also 3 types of armor (Light, Medium, and Heavy) with possibly their own hidden stats* and vaguely defined letter grades (from C to AAA)**. [i]*SUPPOSEDLY, according to an old thread on reddit, Full light armor offers 8% damage reduction, full medium offers 15%, and full heavy offers a whopping 25% BEFORE the raw defense is used to calculate damage taken by the player.[/i] [i]*Levels play a huge hidden role in my own experience. If you are getting wrecked in normal mode on certain missions, go back to it later when you are at least 20 levels over the recommended level - you will notice you stagger a lot less and the enemies are more easily staggered (first fight against Honda Tadakatsu and Yasuke the obsidian samurai).[/i] [i]**Nioh 2 does not clearly specify what stats stacks nor how damage is calculated... So you end up with a good number of autistic players and tryhards trying to "proof" something (thankfully, because I can't do that and I cherry pick what fits how I play from their guides).[/i] Armor weight is a thing in this game, and it is best to keep armor weight no worse than "B" agility (< 70%) otherwise dodging and running will be painfully difficult for the player. Unlike souls game, blocking (and deciding when to block) is a valid defense technique, however, this is further made complicated by a stat called "Toughness" (again, ranging from letters AA to F, anything worse than "B" means blocking an attack will take away far more stamina). Suffice to say, the combat stats calculation is opaque and deep enough to keep people guessing and experiment a variety of character builds*. [i]*This game allows you to respec your character after advancing enough, so don't worry about creating new characters.[/i] tl;dr 1. Make waifu. 2. ? (git gud, get gear) 3a. Slay demons. 3b. If slaying demon fails, git gud and try again.