Nioh makes a very mixed first impression, but it’s rather fitting looking back at it. With little explanation or narrative reason, I immediately found myself controlling William Adams as he escaped from a London prison cell. The game does the bare minimum of explaining how the game’s systems work (bafflingly, the proper tutorial isn’t unlocked until a few hours into the game), and I quickly found myself lost as there’s not a proper map to look at. Despite this initial frustration, I instantly adored the snappy combat that will feel familiar to anyone who has played Team Ninja’s past action games.
Now dozens of hours later, I’m largely left feeling the same way about Nioh. There are aspects of the design that are downright infuriating, but the action is so satisfying that I’m willing to put up with its issues. What really separates this from other third-person action games is that it features a Gears of War-style active reload mechanic to regenerate stamina. This allows skilled players to keep most of their stamina after a combo, and pulling it off during a clutch moment feels awesome. It’s one of my favorite mechanics that I’ve seen in an action game in years, and helps make the dullest of combat exchanges more fun to engage in. Raiken is my spirit animal. He is a certified cutie.
As flawed as Nioh is (more on that soon), the one area where I have absolutely no complaints is the combat. Weapons can be held i...