LogFAQs > #875774226

Now lets touch the subject of atmosphere and lore. Nioh's lore is that of feudal Japan or more accurately for gamers... Onimusha. That's right you are gonna be seeing a lot of Characters you might already be expecting :)
The story is also strikingly similar to Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (the best game in a great series I might add) and while it doesn't quite have the depth of the Souls series, it is more upfront and plentiful if that's the sort of thing you prefer.

The variety of atmosphere in Nioh is outstanding by any other game's standards but a bar set as high as the Souls series have, is difficult to surmount. Nioh doesn't quite reach that bar. The metroidvania aspect being absent in place of a mission-based structure could be the cause of that.

Enemy variety. Now that as far as I know is the biggest complaint by most people about the game. I personally think it is overblown but in comparison to the Souls games, yes, it is a valid complaint. The variety of enemies in itself is actually more than plentiful but the game makes the mistake of introducing too many enemies too early in the game so by the time you're halfway or less past the game, you already know the moveset of 80% of the enemies. So it takes away that unknown and mysterious venturing-in-the-new-area aura the Souls series is so well known. I do agree that this is the one flaw of the game.

To end this on a high-note, lets talk about Bosses, another all important aspect of the Souls games. To put it in a sentence, if you are a fan of hard hitting mammoth-like figures and lightning quick foes that can end you in seconds, you will absolutely love this game.
IMO Nioh has overall more challenging bosses than the Souls series but only if you abstain from using an Onmyo magic called Sloth which really trivializes a lot of fights. I stopped using Onmyo after realising how broken it was and immediately had more fun with the game.
A particular optional sub mission boss fight against two insanely hard bosses put together stands as the hardest boss I've faced in the Souls series. Ever.

With that I conclude my review and highly recommend Nioh to anyone who loves the Souls series. It is a masterful fusion of Souls, Ninja Gaiden and Onimusha yet it is very clearly a Souls game more than anything at its core. It is also a very long game. I've logged a total of 61 hours doing everything in the game on a first playthrough. That is more than I took in any of the Souls games.

Stay tuned for bosses ranking. I'll spoiler-tag it of course but I highly suggest people who haven't played the game yet to not view it since it does contain a lot of plot relevant characters.

To rank Nioh among the Souls games:

Dark Souls > Bloodborne > Dark Souls III > Nioh > Demon's Souls > Dark Souls II

To be fair Nioh and Dark Souls III are almost equal.
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