The areas of Japan William travels to are all beautifully distinct and really encourage a heap of exploration and discovery. You’ll find shortcuts that make back-tracking after death easier and tonnes of hidden treasures waiting to be opened. This means Willam can revisit areas to complete extra missions, grind XP, search for gear and heaps of other things. Instead of just blitzing it from one bonfire to another, this game’s actually split into chapters.
Speaking of missions, that’s another big change-up from the usual soulsborne formula. Though at the end of the day, the story mostly serves as a bridge to tie all the missions and events of Nioh together. You might find yourself engaged with the slick directing or how hype the stakes are at times. The story itself, following real-life, western samurai, William Adams in the 1600s is passable at best, with a lot of tongue-in-cheek, serious, yet not serious moments. Characters come and go at the drop of a hat, lacking any solid development (besides one or two people) and the main protagonist’s portrayal can be stiffer than Harry Potter’s broomstick at times.
