Nioh: Complete Edition

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 612 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 441 out of 612
  2. Mixed: 83 out of 612
  3. Negative: 88 out of 612

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  1. ZEDFRA
    Oct 29, 2019
    6
    Nioh is a good game, but there are some glaring issues with it.

    Let's start by saying what's good about Nioh. Combat is swift and unforgiving, it walks the line somewhere between dark souls and Bloodborne in terms of its feel. You can choose between 3 stances which have their own sets of attacks. Ranged combat is adequate too, although it's not really possible to make a build around it    Nioh is a good game, but there are some glaring issues with it.

    Let's start by saying what's good about Nioh. Combat is swift and unforgiving, it walks the line somewhere between dark souls and Bloodborne in terms of its feel. You can choose between 3 stances which have their own sets of attacks. Ranged combat is adequate too, although it's not really possible to make a build around it unfortunately. In Nioh you have access to various ninja and magic techniques and spells which add a bit of flair to combat, and can improve your damage, slow enemies or blind them.

    There's a mission structure to this game rather than just journeying through one large connected world like dark souls. Players can pick between sub-missions and main missions that unlock on the world map. And this is fine, I've hard some people disliking this design choice, but I think it suits Nioh.

    However, almost everything else that I want to praise about the game is coupled with negatives. I WANT to say that the boss battles are good, but, a lot of them just aren't. There aren't any that I really remember or really enjoyed for that matter. Compare this to something like DS3 where I remember fighting Midir or the Nameless King with great fondness, or in Bloodborne where I fought Gehrman or Gascoigne I can't really say that for Nioh. A lot of the bosses feel bland, and worse infuriating with moves that feel a bit cheap. In short, most bosses in Nioh are just not fun to fight against unfortunately. Although there are a few which stand as exceptions to the rule.

    The story and lore of Nioh, I've got to say, is just bland. I didn't find myself caring about the world or the characters in it to any degree, and I was barely bothering to pay attention to any of the story. It sounds brutal to say out loud, but I just didn't give a **** about what was going on.

    Something else to note is the game's loot, it's armour and weapons. I liked acquiring them, some armour sets and swords look totally **** badass and this along with the great gameplay was basically my driving force to finish the game. However, even this comes with it's issues, the main one being is the levelling system. I don't like this system, like at all. In DS you might find a sword, and then you'd have to upgrade it as the game went on, in Nioh, weapons and armour are integrated into a level list, this doesn't sound so bad at first but it means that when I'm running through an area, i might acquire literally 5 different versions of gauntlets, and I have to trawl through my inventory comparing stats and tossing some aside just so my inventory isn't clogged to **** This isn't a massive issue, but it lead to me not really feeling attached to my gear. As I said, I still enjoyed acquiring stuff, and this isn't a big deal, but it's still something I want to say

    A massive negative of Nioh is the recycling of enemies. You'll encounter the same enemies over and over and over and over and over again, I can't tell you how many times I've killed the demon with the sword or a one eyed ogre, or a generic soldier with a spear. The game doesn't even bother to add true variations, they don't even come in different colours. This also applies to the bosses believe it or not, which are recycled in the game's side missions, the 2nd boss of the game, I've fought it about 6 times now and that's probably a low estimate. It's pathetic. It really is, and it makes the game feel like a chore to play through, when all I'm doing is seemingly fighting the same handful of enemies in a generic location, which brings me to...

    The generic locations. Nowhere is memorable, everywhere is bland and non-descript. I can maybe remember one area that I liked, actually no I can't. There's nothing particularly horrible about them, they're just meh. However this is very problematic for the game, because now I'm just trudging through areas I don't really care about, in a world with a story I don't care about, fighting the same roster of about 20 enemies literally every single mission.

    And that's what I have to say about Nioh, there was a big craze amongst the console gamers back in 2017 about this game, and honestly, I don't get why. It's a good game, but the only really standout feature is it's combat. I played it a lot, but, perhaps it wasn't worth it. It's certainly not worth spending £40 on it. I'd wait for a sale till it went for £20-£30. Or you could always be a scumbag and buy it on G2A. Like I did, I'm sorry.

    So, if you're looking for a halfway decent souls game, you could spend you're money on worse things. or better things, like the Surge 2 or Ashen. Ashen is a great game btw, it gets a lot of hate, but if you really want an amazing souls game play Ashen it's **** beautiful, Actually this just reminded me to write a review of Ashen. I love Ashen.    … Expand
  2. LetMeInPlease
    Aug 22, 2018
    6
    Could've been a much better game if not for rehashing assets and uninspiring locations. I mean, people made fun of Dark Souls for reusing the same boss 3 or 4 times, but in Nioh it's like a normal practice. You complete the same missions and fight the same bosses over and over as if you play New Game and New Game+ simultaneously.
    Enemy variety is also extremely poor. It's especially    Could've been a much better game if not for rehashing assets and uninspiring locations. I mean, people made fun of Dark Souls for reusing the same boss 3 or 4 times, but in Nioh it's like a normal practice. You complete the same missions and fight the same bosses over and over as if you play New Game and New Game+ simultaneously.
    Enemy variety is also extremely poor. It's especially disappointing because devs chose such a rich material to work with but in the end didn't do much with it. Enemies that you encounter in the first 5 hours are basically the same enemies that you'll be fighting for the rest of the game, which is like 40-50.
    Nioh has some interesting mechanics and presents a fair learning curve. It starts off very promising, but overstays its welcome eventually.    … Expand
  3. Stefanten
    Nov 9, 2017
    7
    I beat the game on PS4 and played about 5 hours of the PC version.

    If you have a good PC and a controller (no kb/m support), it's a neat Souls-like with really fun and satisfying combat. My biggest problems with it are lack of enemy variety and the missions feeling too samey. I recommend skipping a lot of the side missions to avoid burning out on the game as well as making it too easy.    I beat the game on PS4 and played about 5 hours of the PC version.

    If you have a good PC and a controller (no kb/m support), it's a neat Souls-like with really fun and satisfying combat. My biggest problems with it are lack of enemy variety and the missions feeling too samey. I recommend skipping a lot of the side missions to avoid burning out on the game as well as making it too easy.

    I'm playing it on a Ryzen 5 1600, GTX 1060 machine and at 1080p it's mostly running at 60 but with fairly frequent frame drops when there's a lot of action on screen. There's really no reason for it to be that demanding, it's an alright looking game for the most part, but sometimes it looks like an early PS3-era game in high res. If your specs are lower than mine I would wait for a performance patch before buying it.    … Expand
  4. Mahdiar
    Dec 24, 2017
    7
    Gameplay : 7
    Graphics : 7
    Story : 7
    Sound : 7
    **********************************************************************************
    Overall : 7
  5. AJO112
    Nov 14, 2017
    7
    A bit repetetive 8/10
    ................................................................................................................................
  6. fumo
    Nov 17, 2017
    7
    我的PC配置是I7-6700K、16G DDR4、GIGA GTX970，性能至少比PS4强多了吧，但在1920X1080下玩游戏帧数已经不到30，不知道什么的配置才能达到流畅的60帧体验。
    游戏想模仿黑暗之魂系列，骨子里确实一个刷刷刷的游戏，不能暂停很不友好，接个快递就完蛋了。
    武器虽多，架势分上中下三段，真打起来拿管得了那么多。    我的PC配置是I7-6700K、16G DDR4、GIGA GTX970，性能至少比PS4强多了吧，但在1920X1080下玩游戏帧数已经不到30，不知道什么的配置才能达到流畅的60帧体验。
    游戏想模仿黑暗之魂系列，骨子里确实一个刷刷刷的游戏，不能暂停很不友好，接个快递就完蛋了。
    武器虽多，架势分上中下三段，真打起来拿管得了那么多。
  7. faircritic
    Jan 5, 2018
    5
    This game is so darn difficult that I cannot understand why was a PS4 favorite.
    At the prologue I liked it and after some tries of failing against common enemies I beat a boss easily but, now I´m stuck at the second boss and I´m forever grinding with no difference. I just got at a boss demon in a ship beating out the crap out me and aiming at nothing with the results and without    This game is so darn difficult that I cannot understand why was a PS4 favorite.
    At the prologue I liked it and after some tries of failing against common enemies I beat a boss easily but, now I´m stuck at the second boss and I´m forever grinding with no difference. I just got at a boss demon in a ship beating out the crap out me and aiming at nothing with the results and without understanding what the heck is going on. I have a controlller and no issues about framerate or something like other fools but the difficult is getting on my nerve. And from a fan of Team ninja games like Ninja Gaiden and DOA, a harcord gamer from years; don´t know if I don´t get the system or it´s the game crazy difficult or the port but at the end ,stinks. Looks like Playstation lives only by hype to have this game as a seller. Maybe I update later my review but seems pretty improbable.    … Expand
  8. vlxedits
    Mar 20, 2019
    6
    ++Game mechanics and audio design are superb
    ++Tons of weapons and playstyles!!

    --Pirate-samurai-ominous storyline gets boring fast
    --Bosses uses cheese tactics
    - made me think I had no shot of beating it without studying the game for hours beforehand
  9. XDashRipRockX
    Mar 22, 2019
    6
    I’m a newcomer to this game however even after having beaten other soul games, Bloodborne and every ninja Gaiden game to completion my largest issue is with the convoluted controls.

    To switch weapons you have to hold the right bumper and select your weapon by using the d- pad. This makes switching in fights a chore since Nioh has to back off to do it instead of it being fluid which    I’m a newcomer to this game however even after having beaten other soul games, Bloodborne and every ninja Gaiden game to completion my largest issue is with the convoluted controls.

    To switch weapons you have to hold the right bumper and select your weapon by using the d- pad. This makes switching in fights a chore since Nioh has to back off to do it instead of it being fluid which every Ninja Gaiden game was able to pull off beautifully.

    To change stance you have to repeat the process with the other D-pad options. Again making it a chore to swap out stances, although the animation is briefly quicker for this.

    If you decide to heal, you better take a two second break and hope you don’t get hit by anything.

    Enemies in your area aren’t shown to be behind you so many times you’ll feel cheated til you repeat it all over.

    The game doesn’t make out leveling to much a possibility, so it won’t get any easier. You have to stand toe to toe with a boss which usually can be easily beaten by upgrades which are usually well past the encounter. Kind a like you have to face off and repeat til hopefully you land the final blow.

    Finally, I did very much appreciate the differences this game has from any Soul games however the whole managing your stamina thing actually pulls away from the fun and engagement.

    You lose stamina when you block or get hit - fair enough.

    You can’t regenerate stamina if your blocking - this alone killed the fun in keeping any pressure up .. falling back to heal or dodge while the stamina on the enemy refreshes.

    You lose stamina for taking damage, attempting to swing and cannot regen any of it back except to evade til your .. well energized to swing.

    IMHO, if the stamina recovered faster or while even holding block then for me it’d be considered a fair fight.

    The game is beautiful and will keep most interested til the frustrations leaves them to shelve it til patience has restored or those hard memories forgotten.

    Truly, I wanted to really enjoy this game - totally. For me, personally I didn’t enjoy due to the way we have to fight in this game. It wants so much to be real in many ways but some of the realness sacrifies the fun.    … Expand
  10. Geralt123
    Apr 30, 2020
    7
    Pros
    ===================
    + Good, complex, fast combat + Epic boss battles Cons =================== - Graphics too bad for a 2017 game - Story ... very superficial but the cutscenes are nice. But the story is weird. - Annoying camera and lock on issues when using keyboard and mouse - Sometimes keystrokes not registered which is EXTREMELY annoying in fast boss fights - Copy/Paste    Pros
    ===================
    + Good, complex, fast combat
    + Epic boss battles

    Cons
    ===================
    - Graphics too bad for a 2017 game
    - Story ... very superficial but the cutscenes are nice. But the story is weird.
    - Annoying camera and lock on issues when using keyboard and mouse
    - Sometimes keystrokes not registered which is EXTREMELY annoying in fast boss fights
    - Copy/Paste Levels
    - Copy/Paste enemies
    -Bosses can be annoying (1 hit, run, 1 hit)
    - No open world ("Missions")

    So after all this is a good game, but it is not as polished or perfect as Dark Souls 3, for example. It is like a "cheaper" version of Dark Souls.    … Expand
  11. jarvitom
    Nov 15, 2021
    6
    I can appreciate the world and combat system of this game its just not my cup of tea after dark souls and I always hate to see console buttons when playing on PC
  12. Pmstz
    Jan 30, 2023
    7
    Very nice souls like.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  13. saplign
    Feb 2, 2023
    7
    7 ok‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
  14. Defoxx
    Dec 2, 2020
    7
    Очень необычный соулс-лайк в сеттинге древней японии с кучей интересных механик типо стоек и духов хранителей. Сама по себе игра очень приятная и сочная.
  15. SilverOrlov
    Jul 1, 2021
    7
    First of all, I want to write that I am familiar with games of this genre, and although I am not a true samurai and cannot "play the Dark Souls on bananas", as in YouTube was, I have faced difficult game battles, so if you are some sort of true ninja/samurai/hokage/monster - you can pass my review.
    ...
    What I liked: 1) Even if you don't really know the history of Japan you can like that    First of all, I want to write that I am familiar with games of this genre, and although I am not a true samurai and cannot "play the Dark Souls on bananas", as in YouTube was, I have faced difficult game battles, so if you are some sort of true ninja/samurai/hokage/monster - you can pass my review.
    ...
    What I liked:
    1) Even if you don't really know the history of Japan you can like that plot. But if you know something - it will be the bonus, of course. And good notes and descriptions of each object, enemy, character - help to better understand the world and mythology of the game. Normal and pleasant music.
    2) Normal Entourage, although it could be better in graphics. But... PlayStation, yes, I remember.
    3) Demonstration and binding of all active skills is very convenient. It was an awesome thing. Thanks.
    4) Red ghosts of dead players - very good idea that add more challenge and add more entourage.
    5) System of reputation and joining a clan: It's not new, but it's good that this game also has it.
    6) It's f***ng difficult. Overall, it's cool. But periodically there are enemies that are difficult, not because they are difficult, but because they are crookedly created and It's infuriating... but in most cases the difficulty is like tabasco sauce or paper chili. Really great game-play for hours.
    7) Crafting and hardening are made very good.
    What I didn't like:
    1) First and the most enraging - auto aiming. In general fighting's it works ok, but If you meet 2 or more monsters, or even 2 but strong monsters, it starts to endlessly jump from one to another and it was hell to control that "cursed whirligig".
    2) The second and almost enraging - Freezes without a game-pad. A port on the PC from PlayStation is very bad because without it every 2 seconds you get freezes on a second. And even If you play on keyboard the game-pad buttons still dominate and shown on the screen and in a safe-zone.
    3) Too many times you return to the same locations that are practically unchanged. Too many similar monsters and they are totally deaf(You can cut one enemy into a salad and the other one standing next to you will not hear anything until you take another step closer).
    4) About 60% of side-quests are not interesting at all, and almost all are similar to one another. Like monster hunting, where only the mission poster changes. The rest 40% - yes, it's more interesting.
    5) I really hate several monsters because of their BROKEN influence in battles. For example stupid flying heads. If they fly up close to you, then it is impossible to hit, push them away or something else, they stupidly endlessly butt you, not letting you do anything at all. And having no "ki" do it endlessly until you jump back... Or another example: Stupidly inadequate speed of foxes, that is apparently designed exclusively for the "game samurai and ninjas" mentioned at the beginning.
    6) Half of the skills are overly pretentious and beautifully designed, but useless. Either in terms of damage or control usability.
    7) The levels of objects, and especially talismans, are mostly bulls*t: In weapon it shown slightly. But many talismans of 40-45 LVL in my inventory were MUCH! better than talismans level 70-80.
    Continuing the subject of items: A LOT! of trash. Too many loot in general, and very little useful. At least different from the one found a minute ago.
    8) The enemies that are encountered at the beginning will also be at the end. This game will give about two dozen of enemies, and they will all be beautiful and interesting... but that's all. Too little for such a vast mythology, and such a not short game. But all the bosses 100% are magnificent.
    9) 80% of story are shown in mission posters and static comics pictures when you receive a new spirit guardian. And only about 20% are showing normal video movies. It's criminally little.
    10) This is the last point and the last disappointment in this game: I completed the game and did not f***ng understand the merge option. I tried to figure it out many times, but it was just wildly incomprehensible and I abandoned it... The same with parrying: In other games I did not master it quickly but did it well. In this game, 1 out of 5 times worked... 1/4 of the sword skills are tied to this.
    11) Almost forgot it: Translation. It's bad. Many mistakes and even false translation, which is unforgivable, at least in describing of the actions of skills.
    ...Overall, despite a lot of drawbacks, I really liked this game. Despite the green rating that I really wanted to give it, with a creak in my soul I will give it only the maximum rating from yellow zone.    … Expand
  16. VG_Alex
    Jan 6, 2023
    7
    Nioh

    Graphic/Art: 75/70

    Music/Sounds: 70/70

    Narrative/Performance: 65/70

    Gameplay: 60

    Overall design:65

    Score:67 (-1.5%)
  17. Wweald
    Aug 23, 2021
    5
    Game with a lot of potential brought down by absolutely terrible game design. The combat is really good, and the game has a really great aesthetic. However everything else is obnoxious. Most of the enemies are fine, they might 1 shot you or something but its not a big deal, but some of them are just dumb and annoying. The boss designs were all boring I honestly couldn't tell you myGame with a lot of potential brought down by absolutely terrible game design. The combat is really good, and the game has a really great aesthetic. However everything else is obnoxious. Most of the enemies are fine, they might 1 shot you or something but its not a big deal, but some of them are just dumb and annoying. The boss designs were all boring I honestly couldn't tell you my favorite because they were all so forgettable. Some of the bosses were cancer to play against but most of them were fine, just boring. The level design is awful, it's so easy to get lost, the areas look boring, they love to add obnoxious traps like collapsing floors or enemies that cheap shot you as you run around a corner. I barely even did any side quests and just from the main quests the cheap shot must have happened to me like 50 times at least. And falling through the floor at least a dozen. Even the main systems of the game like the kodama blessing and the way items and gear work were obnoxious.

    If you're interested in Nioh, start with Nioh 2. It is miles more enjoyable imo.    … Expand
  18. Chalkbrood
    Jan 10, 2022
    5
    We all know Dark Souls. Take that and make every element worse and bloated and you have Nioh. They added a busier HUD and a little radar in the top right because I don't know why, they added item crafting even tho you get so many items so quickly that the idea of even bothering to manage them is beyond me, there are pointless side missions, a map where you select where to go instead of aWe all know Dark Souls. Take that and make every element worse and bloated and you have Nioh. They added a busier HUD and a little radar in the top right because I don't know why, they added item crafting even tho you get so many items so quickly that the idea of even bothering to manage them is beyond me, there are pointless side missions, a map where you select where to go instead of a beautiful cohesive world, more enemies that kill you in one hit than before (which begs the question of why there's even a health bar), just dumb **** everywhere. It's still sort of fun, thus the 5/10, I'd rather play it than force myself thru a sonic game but good god it's probably not worth it. everything is so slow and awkward, it comes with 30 pages of tutorials but still asks you to play thru tutorials to do certain things, the pacing is awful, blah blah blah why even bother… Expand
  19. Paltalmen
    Jun 28, 2020
    7
    Nioh ist ein Souls-like Spiel mit einigen neuen Elementen die das Gameplay schön erweitern.
    Die Bosse sind oft eher eine Gedultsprobe als ein Skilltest, da viele Bosse einfach zu viel aushalten.
    Eine Open World wäre vermutlich eine bessere Entscheidung gewesen. Die letzte Mission ist einfach nur anstrengend mit insgesamt 7 Bosskämpfen. Wenn man die Nebenmissionen nicht spielt ist man    Nioh ist ein Souls-like Spiel mit einigen neuen Elementen die das Gameplay schön erweitern.
    Die Bosse sind oft eher eine Gedultsprobe als ein Skilltest, da viele Bosse einfach zu viel aushalten.
    Eine Open World wäre vermutlich eine bessere Entscheidung gewesen.
    Die letzte Mission ist einfach nur anstrengend mit insgesamt 7 Bosskämpfen.
    Wenn man die Nebenmissionen nicht spielt ist man ständig unterlevelt und braucht erst gar nicht das DLC anfangen.
    Das Kampfsystem fühlt sich gut an und hat mit den KI Impulsen eine Gelunge Erweiterung bekommen.
    Die Story war für mich etwas verwirrend aber in sich stimmig.
    Wer Souls-Like spiele mag wird sich auch hier wohlfühlen.    … Expand
  20. Jeabus
    Jul 30, 2020
    5
    I played this basically when the game launched. And quite frankly it's not great. It's fine for the first while as you get used to the combat but then things spiral wildly out of control and it's ridiculous. It's just Weeaboo Dark Souls. Not Anime or even Samurai Dark Souls, quite literally the definition of a "Mixed bag".

    Some things work in theory but not in practice. Some things are    I played this basically when the game launched. And quite frankly it's not great. It's fine for the first while as you get used to the combat but then things spiral wildly out of control and it's ridiculous. It's just Weeaboo Dark Souls. Not Anime or even Samurai Dark Souls, quite literally the definition of a "Mixed bag".

    Some things work in theory but not in practice. Some things are just overpowered and broken. The balancing is probably some of the worst I've seen up until Code Vein launched and the game itself is filled with reskins and "different element" bait.

    There are a few good things I could mention, but then I'll probably remember 6 other things that made the experience masochistic at best.

    I probably wouldn't recommend this game which is a little sad. There's alot of interesting things that they either took too far or didn't properly explain to the player and leaves them stumbling around trying to figure it out.    … Expand
  21. Darkell64
    Dec 29, 2021
    7
    DARK SOULS + SOME RANDOM LOOTER SHOOTER GAME = NIOH

    Enemy designs and moves are pretty good, bosses are making you sweat and my controller is still in one piece. But map designs are too simple and the story is pretty crap.
  22. C4NAB1Sx
    Jan 27, 2022
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff… Expand
  23. Tintler
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Çıktığı zamana göre grafikleri kötüydü fakat oynanış açısından build açısından ve loot açısından çok zengin bir oyun. Oyun bittikten sonra abyss ile oyun süresi daha da uzuyor.

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PC Game of 2017
36
#36 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
65
#65 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 24, 2018
    80
    The fantastic game has earned not so fantastic PC version. If you are not afraid of gamepad play and high difficulty, give Nioh a chance. Only then you’ll understand that label Nioh as a Samurai Dark Souls is surprisingly inaccurate. [Issue#283]
  2. Ragequit.gr
    Feb 7, 2018
    92
    Labelling Nioh as "another Dark Souls clone", just doesn't do it justice. The Complete Edition is a package brimming with content, challenging gameplay, deep combat mechanics, Diablo-like looting and a fun crafting system to boot. It does not stick to its peers' blueprint, but it endeavours to evolve in a different beast, and for the most part, succeeds.
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  3. Worth Playing
    Jan 11, 2018
    85
    If you're lucky enough to not have been plagued with port issues, then you'll find Nioh: Complete Edition to be a wonderfully difficult action game. Though it brings along a high level of difficulty that seems to be en vogue for recent action games, its emphasis on faster action makes it a perfect complement for the competition. Similarly, the loot drops are a great addition, and the oddball story makes the game feel more distinct. It would've been nice to see more PC-specific optimization, but Nioh is worth checking out for fans of difficult action games.
    Read full review
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