#13. NIOH 2
The original Nioh already got most things right the first time around, so all Nioh 2 had to do was stay the course. And by and large, that’s exactly what the follow up to Team Ninja’s comeback game did. Like the first Nioh, Nioh 2 is their take on the “Souls-like” genre, and it is characterized by the same tense and punishing encounters, requiring finesse and mastery from the player, fearsome bosses inspired by Japanese folklore, and its multitude of interlocking systems and mechanics – with even more thrown on top in fact. The Soul Core and Burst Counter manage to greatly alter the flow of combat, introducing entirely new considerations and strategies for players, and doing just enough to keep Nioh 2 feel less like a retread of its predecessor. Nioh 2 manages to deliver a fine game – and if there is any criticism that can be leveled against it, it’s that sometimes, it feels just a bit too familiar. At the end of the day, considering how good the first game was, that isn’t such a bad thing.
