Nioh

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For the Buddhist manifestations, see Nio. Not to be confused with the chemical formulas Ni(OH)2 or NiO(OH).

Nioh
File:Ni-Oh Tecmo Koei promotional title art.jpg
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	JP: Koei Tecmo Games WW: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Director(s)	Fumihiko Yasuda Yosuke Hayashi
Producer(s)	Kou Shibusawa Hisashi Koinuma
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Nioh (Japanese: 仁王, Hepburn: Niō, lit. "benevolent king") is an upcoming historical fantasy action role-playing video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo Games in Japan and worldwide by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The game follows the story of a fictionalized William Adams, a white-haired English samurai, during the dawn of Edo period Japan in 1600. The game will release worldwide on February 9, 2017.

Plot

The game follows the story of real-life Western Samurai, William Adams as he hunts for an adversary in Japan near the end of the Warring States Period. Throughout the campaign, fictionalized versions of other real-life historical figures also make an appearance, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hattori Hanzō, Tachibana Muneshige, Tachibana Ginchiyo, Kuroda Nagamasa and Kuroda Yoshitaka. As his trek progresses through the mystical landscape, William is forced through a crucible, surviving not only against bandits and ruthless ronin, but also supernatural threats such as yokai and oni who have crossed over from the Underworld.

Gameplay

Nioh's gameplay has been compared to that of the Souls series, primarily because of its semi-realistic, high-stakes swordplay where one can die very quickly if not careful. Combat takes place in real time and features various weapon types such as katana, spears, axes, bows and Tanegashima rifles. The player can switch between three main stances for any melee weapon: 'low' which is fast but weak and has an effective dodge ability; 'mid' which has the best blocking techniques but is neither fast nor specially powerful; and 'high' which causes the most damage with slower movements. Players can also use their fists, utilizing an open-hand parry that catches a human opponents weapon and turn it against them.

Attacking, dodging and blocking in Nioh cost 'Ki' (stamina). When the player runs out of Ki they are briefly incapacitated, leaving them open to enemy strikes. To mitigate the high stamina cost of various abilities, players can use the 'Ki Pulse' mechanic to regain spent stamina immediately after finishing a move. Ki Pulse is mapped to the same button as changing stance and weapon, allowing players to build larger and more complex combinations of strikes, dodges, stances and weapons while sustaining their Ki as long as possible. Players also earn 'skill points' for displaying proficiency with various tools and these can be used to purchase new moves for weapons, new ninjutsu techniques (ninja tools such as shuriken, bombs and caltrops) and new onmyou magic (passive buffs such as giving weapons elemental properties). There is also a hub world, where the player picks their next mission as well as visit NPCs for upgrades to equipment and weapons.

Many people have faulted the game for taking a lot of its influence from the Dark Souls trilogy, from game-play mechanics to atmosphere.

Notable for a console game, Nioh will allow players to select between a higher frame rate or higher display resolution, similar to options offered to players on a PC, whether they value a smoother gameplay experience or a more visually appealing one.

Development

File:Nioh PlayStation 4 gameplay screenshot.png

Pre-release gameplay screenshot of Nioh, taken from the alpha demo. Nioh takes heavy inspiration from From's Souls series, Capcom's Onimusha series, and Team Ninja's own Ninja Gaiden.

Originally announced by Koei in 2004 (before their merger with Tecmo made them Koei Tecmo), the game was to be based on an unfinished script by filmmaker Akira Kurosawa titled Oni (Japanese word for demon). The game was to be released with a companion film, also titled Oni, that would have seen the directoral debut of Hisao Kurosawa, Akira Kurosawa's son. Hisao Kurosawa was completing his father's script with assistance from game producer Kou Shibusawa of Koei, with a combined production budget of ¥ 3 billion for both film and game. "When reading Hisao Kurosawa's script", Shibusawa said during a press conference, "it gave me the impression of stories like Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress". The game originally centred around the eponymous protagonist, Oni, the son of a Japanese lord and a Western woman, and was set in Japan during the 16th century.

The first announced release date (with the new title of Ni-Oh) was summer of 2006. Although this was the first release date to be announced for any PlayStation 3 game, it was slated several months after the PlayStation 3's planned release in spring 2006, suggesting it was not intended as a launch title. In preparation for the 2006 release, a pre-rendered game trailer was shown at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, and a similar trailer was shown at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show.

"We ran lots of tests and trials for Ni-Oh. After we ran through these we found a style that fits this title. At Team Ninja, we want you to experience the feel of action in our games. Ni-Oh is set with during [sic] the samurai era and we want you to feel what it's like to be a samurai."

— Yōsuke Hayashi; Team Ninja head, in an interview with Siliconera, describing the company's vision of the adopted game.

The game missed the initial 2006 release window without comment from Koei. It wasn't until 2009 that Koei confirmed that the game was still in development, apologizing for the lack of updates. In 2010 Koei (now Koei Tecmo) announced that Tecmo's Team Ninja would be finishing development of the game, which had been suspended by Koei.

In 2012, Koei Tecmo's President and CEO, Kou Shibusawa, announced that the game had completed its alpha development cycle, and that the work was "continuing steadily."

In August 2014, Koei Tecmo filed a new U.S. trademark for the game. In an interview with Venture Beat from November 2014, Hayashi confirmed that the game was still in development and that "it is starting to come together and feel good."

The game was officially re-revealed, now slightly retitled as Nioh, for the PlayStation 4 at the Tokyo Game Show on September 15, 2015. A public alpha demo for the game began on April 26, 2016, and ended on May 5, 2016. Players who successfully cleared the first stage in the alpha demo were given access to the The Mark of the Conqueror downloadable content, which will be accessible when the full game is officially released. A second public beta demo began on August 23, 2016, and ended on September 6, 2016. Originally scheduled for a late 2016 release, Nioh is set to be released on February 9, 2017.

See also

• Shōgun (novel)

External links

• Official website