Nioh 2's post-launch support, and we've never hidden it so far, has partially disappointed us. The "basic" title had, in fact, although resulting in an evolution almost on a 1: 1 scale of the first chapter, convinced several times, thanks to a series of innovations and small changes able to elevate the already excellent work done with the first Nioh at a higher level, albeit without ever revolutionizing things. And, precisely in this regard, much of the fortunes of the first chapter were linked to the excellent work done in the post-launch content packaging phase, similar in the management of release times and in the format but, unfortunately, different in terms of what it concerns the impact on the general economy of production.
In short, the three DLCs of Nioh 2, while achieving the goal of making the experience more complete both at a narrative and a playful level, thanks to the new weapons added and some dynamics introduced little by little, they did not know represent a real step forward, remaining on the whole "anonymous" products and far from being memorable. The third - and last - DLC, which comes eight months after the release of the basic title to conclude the cycle related to the adventures of Hide, basically follows the same lines, resulting so pleasant and enjoyable but "listless", contenting himself with staying in the sufficiency without ever aspiring to something truly superior.
Looking to the past to face the future
The weakest aspect of this DLC package, probably, is precisely the narrative one and the third and last piece of the mosaic fails - albeit actually trying - to get out of this scheme, positioning itself on exactly the same wavelength as its predecessors, both qualitatively and from a thematic point of view. With a new leap in time, which opens the doors to a sort of temporal dislocation that until now had been hinted at in a more "light" way, The First Samurai tries to close the narrative lines basted during the path of Nioh 2, offering players a new and decisive close encounter with what is in effect considered the lord of the Yokai, that is Otakemaru.
To create a drier and less dispersive story, considering the longevity, however, always quite short of the story, Team Ninja preferred to go straight to the point, focusing the narration on the "internal" events of the ecosystem of Nioh 2, without wandering and without expanding the talk with characters and historical situations that really happened, focusing more on what is the fate of the known world and the fate of the half demon Hide, the protagonist of the story.
This inevitably translates into something more direct and concise, but it is impossible not to be left with a bitter taste, considering also the initial potential of the story which, in some way, has not been exploited properly, allowing itself to be harnessed by the mesh of the "sure shot" and unable to rise in any way. This is also combined with a very conservative technical and artistic aspect in which the new area, frankly stated, does not differ much from what has already been seen so far, resulting on the whole forgettable and all too much daughter of the desire to play savings on the part of the development team.
New bosses and new monsters - something moves!
Fortunately, the usual great ability of Team Ninja in the creation and conception of the bestiary takes care of saving the situation, which, even with Nioh 2, represents one of the most solid strengths of the entire production.
With the First Samurai, the Japanese software house brings to the screen an even greater number of new threats and above all of various creatures, eager to attack the life of our half demon with a voracity and an at times impressive enthusiasm. This obviously can be seen immediately by facing the very first boss of the package (of the three present, one of which has already been seen in the past): Otakemaru, which immediately makes clear the ruthlessly brutal nature of this third and last DLC, which calls the player - necessarily - to push the bar of quality and dedication higher and higher to withstand the impact of a level of challenge even more punitive.
The boss-fights, all on the whole very spectacular but for some "tasteless" reason, are joined once again by an excellent number of new normal monsters that expand in a more than valid way the already vast and much appreciated bestiary of the work of Team Ninja , such as the gigantic Itsumade, and a series of innovations related to the type of winged monsters so dear to the players of Nioh 2 which, however, in all sincerity, we want to let you discover with your eyes. The real fulcrum of this DLC, which seems from what has been said so far a sort of normal and obvious closure is inevitably, and we were also saying this a moment ago, represented by the level of challenge, once again decidedly calibrated upwards and perhaps never so much, in which some passages, even with our character of over 30 levels above the level of the mission, resulted to the limits of injustice, forcing us to experience a feeling of frustration mixed with satisfaction almost impossible to find elsewhere.
Longevity and difficulty, the Dream of Nioh: all the ways to get hurt according to Team Ninja
We said it before, and we repeat it even now: all the additional content of this Nioh 2 has been designed, in large part, for those hardcore gamers looking for a continuous challenge, sometimes even unfair and ruthless, that the second son of Team Ninja has been able to give especially with the three DLCs released during these months.
Inevitably and, predictably, The First Samurai is there perfect sublimation of this concept, putting in the hands of the players a product that makes the challenge its core. To crown this ideology we find the addition of the "Dream of Nioh", that is a level of challenge so difficult as to force even the most devoted of players to take notes of the saints listed day by day on the calendar, just to use an expression now well known to fans of video games and the genre in particular.
The dream of the Nioh, unlockable after completing all the missions of the Sage's Dream, is nothing more than a 2.0 version of the Abyss of the first Nioh, a sort of continuous challenge to endgame “towers” with increasingly difficult missions.
The new mode embraces dynamics roguelike, with lots of upgrades unlockable during the mission itself, points to spend in certain buffs and debuffs and so on, for an overall experience, we reiterate it, designed almost exclusively for lovers of challenges and dynamics related above all to gameplay rather than of the facets and veins linked to the narrative. It goes by itself that for each of the 108 levels present in the new format the player will always be pushed to explore and collect as many bonuses as possible to be able, consequently, to face the various bosses with greater peace of mind and fewer problems, even if the level of the latter always remains dangerously calibrated upwards.
And, in closing, let us say that it is a pity that all this is not accompanied by the introduction of a new weapon, the real most serious lack of this additional content that had the task of concluding the adventure of Nioh 2 succeeding, as we have repeated several times, only in part.
The First Samurai concludes Hide's adventure in Nioh 2 in an overall dignified manner, but fails to really leave his mark. The choice to leave the narrative an increasingly marginal space, however understandable for the type of game, was still felt, leaving the players with a feeling of bitterness in the mouth impossible to swallow. Added to this is the fact that the new content does not add new weapons and is reduced to a very tight duration, pulled along almost exclusively by a very high and sometimes unfair level of challenge. Fortunately, however, there is the new endgame, which will make the most daring happy, but which could have the exact opposite effect on all the others, discouraged by a sometimes incomprehensible difficulty rate. We loved Nioh and its DLCs, we loved Nioh 2 in its basic form, and you all know it, and it is precisely for this reason that we are unable to fully appreciate this pack of additional content and even more so this last one, since we had it precisely to him. entrusted our last hopes, hopes, unfortunately destined to remain so.
