NIOH MAY BE THE BEST CLONE OF DARK SOULS, AND THAT’S FINE

Nioh may be the best clone of Dark Souls, and that's fine

Fight with demonic entities in Japan Sengoku period.

Head of development Fumihiko Yasuda not afraid of comparisons of their new action-RPG Nioh with the famous TV series Dark Souls by From Software. During a game at the Tokyo Game Show was asked how he felt about the similarity of the projects, and what makes them different. “I will not dissemble, that we are not familiar with Dark Souls, – admitted Yasuda. – It would be a lie. Certain influence the show has had on us. ”

 

“I would say that the biggest difference lies in the fact that our main character – the samurai – he continued. – We work with many developers Ninja Gaiden, familiar with the subject, and this is reflected in other fighting positions and using a variety of Japanese arms. I think it brings Nioh element of strangeness. ”

From the standpoint of loyal fans of Dark Souls studio From Software reinvented the genre, when released Demon’s Souls on PlayStation 3, a game where the strength of the hero and his opponents seem inherently unequal, forced to feel a strong sense of satisfaction from a victory than a little what the game can boast. Death Souls thrown back, but it also allows you to learn from mistakes.

In action-RPG from Koei Tecmo similar approach. But even if you leave one description of the project from the Yasuda as the game about samurai student through permanent death, as in the work of From Software, we can say that Nioh can succeed on its own. Of course, retaining the same feeling of satisfaction that accompanies a successful finale seemingly insurmountable battle.

 

But to understand NIOH, you should know exactly what this brutal action-RPG, because, although its action takes place in a fantasy world, the story is rooted in real history. According to Yasuda, NIOH events occur in the 1600s, in the Sengoku period, when Japan was a civil war. Exhausted military conflict and unrest faced by residents in addition to the new challenge.

“After the war, the world entered youkai”, – explained Yasuda. These fantastic creatures from Japanese folklore have become a real threat to the local world. But not everything will try to kill you: some can wait for help.

And what about the unusual protagonist? William can be blue-eyed blonde from Europe, but, according to Yasuda, the hero is a real prototype, once really hit from the West to Japan and became a samurai.

 

During his journey, William will meet many famous military leaders of the era such as Ieyasu Tokugawa, who could be seen in the recent trailer from TGS. As the story of the hero will cooperate with some of them, and with someone and fight. Yasuda said that players will be able to get a special pleasure, having obtained the weapons and armor of the military leaders, but did not explain how to achieve this.

During TGS we play a new demo, which suffered in our snow-covered village, where the Honno-ji temple damn, where Oda Nobunaga was forced to commit suicide. The map was rather small, but relatively simple way to the boss yet made it possible to penetrate deep combat system Nioh. In the end I had to fight with Yuki-onna, youkai, attacking the ice with spears and able to freeze enemies. The fight was difficult, and our demo ended before we were able to defeat her.

We have to admit that sometimes Nioh combat system seems overloaded due to a large number of possible attacks and positions, but over time it begins to investigate. And although it is clear that some of the fans of Dark Souls can ignore Nioh because of its borrowings, it is undeniable that this is still a deep game, where an important role is played by the plot and action is so exciting and stressful, as can be expected fans of the genre.