Nioh 2, undoubtedly, perfectly embodied the concept of "more of the same", for better or for worse. The second chapter of the souls-like by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo, since its arrival has never hidden that desire - in some ways excessive - to remain deeply linked to its predecessor, offering fans of William's journey an overall experience " revised and corrected "compared to that experienced a few years earlier, with few obvious but significant additions and able to push the quality of the brand to a higher level.
Relying heavily on this policy also for post launch support, Team Ninja demonstrated with the first DLC dedicated to the game - the Disciple of the Tengu - to want to continue to "play at home" bringing on the screen a content that is strongly in line with the general framework of the production, but allowing oneself to be carried away by a conservative drive in some cases perhaps excessive, albeit always comprehensively understandable and justifiable.
After about three months Nioh 2 is enriched by the second expansion of the three planned, Darkness in the capital, also focused on time travel and on the fight now to the last breath between the protagonist and the lord of the Yokai, Sohayamaru, whose machinations and his tyrannical hegemony have dominated the world for centuries and centuries, well before the arrival of our half demon, on balance the only one able to counter the dark traveler. Once again, we found ourselves faced with an incredibly conservative content, both in terms of structure and quantity and quality of proposed activities: a new weapon, a new (but aesthetically always "not very innovative") setting and above all new bosses to defeat, some of which are memorable and ruthless, able to offer - as per tradition - a new and demanding challenge that will take you several hours away.
Overall, we still enjoyed it, although it is undeniable how much the desire to continue to "recycle" the material in one's possession could in the long run discourage fans, even those most loyal and eager to test themselves with the new challenges proposed by the exclusive PlayStation 4 .
Setting and historical period
As in "The Disciple of Tengu" which we have already spoken to you extensively in recent months, Darkness in the Capital will drag you into a different era, a journey into the past in search of the truth about the mysterious legendary sword and the time travel they bring the player on the trail of the mysterious and dark main antagonist of the series.
Darkness in the Capital is set in full swing Heian period, one of the most glorious and important in the history of the Japanese Empire, a period of great artistic and cultural flowering, which, however, at least in the reconstruction of Team Ninja, the threat of a dark and incomprehensible evil faces overwhelmingly. The location in question, Heian-kyo (today's Kyoto) is the site of a long and much more rooted conflict than one might imagine since the shadow of the terrible sorcerer was already hovering over the "human" world six centuries before the beginning of the main story.
Our protagonist is therefore catapulted even further into the past, forced to face an invisible threat but at the same time oppressive and apparently ineluctable. In this fight, as well as in the first DLC, fortunately, Hide is not alone. Alongside the half-demon hero we find two important historical characters, as always readjusted following the needs and style of Team Ninja, called to make a common front in order to defeat the advancing evil.
It is Minamoto no Yirmitsu, for the occasion converted into a splendid and lethal hunter of demons (with whom we will also cross the blades) and of the famous magician Abe no Seimei, one of the best known faces of Japanese culture and tradition. Both play an important role in the hunt for the dark lord of the Yokai, even though their presence fails to help a narrative that is once again too weak and that does not offer the player truly important or memorable moments in terms of writing. Basically, Darkness in the Capital keeps in line with the tradition of Nioh 2: great inspiration, so much fighting, but once again the son of a narrative imprint only hinted at a little deepened.
New weapon
Among the most interesting novelties of this second additional content (part of the season pass or can be purchased individually at the price of 9,99€), as in the case of the first, there is certainly the new weapon, i Tekko brass knuckles.
These make the game experience and especially the combat system particularly fun and rewarding. The tekkos climb by force and this means that, also combined with the new armor wearable by the character, which give the player the possibility to greatly enhance their character and to use a series of violent combos and in particular a very varied series of weapons ; let's not forget that by force the heaviest weapons scale, so something like tekko, agile and fast, which scales from the same statistic can give the player a more freedom at the build level since he could thus find himself using both heavy and light weapons. Tekkos come in two "variants", a base that makes speed and pace its main strength, and a "modified" one with claws that have the ability to inflict an altered status on the enemy; during our session, we tried the fiery ones, which made our tekkos capable of inflicting very insidious fire damage over time.
As for the nature of this new weapon introduced, it is clear how, unlike the others, Team Ninja wanted to push strongly on the yield and agility of the weapons to pull up a branch of skills very different from what we saw for the others weapons present, based mainly on the desire to push the player to be more aggressive and attack the enemy continuously, and this is also evident from the fact that the unlockable skills tend to enhance and expand the series of combos that can be performed with the tekko.
These new weapons are really very pleasant to use but also require the player to use different equipment as there is a need to fight hand to hand and in close contact with enemies to use them and, given the ability that our opponents of Nioh have 2 to inflict huge damage, it is necessary to refine both your equipment and your build in order not to succumb to the blows of the enemies. In any case, the tekkos are among the most interesting additions of this add-on, in line with what we saw in the first DLC, “The Disciple of Tengu”, which introduced another very popular weapon: the composite Bo.
New monsters and new bosses
In addition to the new weapons, certainly very appreciable, as we said earlier, in the second DLC of Nioh 2 to make a good impression are the new monsters introduced. We have faced on various occasions different variants of enemies already encountered in the base game, but we also found several new very interesting additions, including two monsters that impressed us a lot not only for the power but above all for the derivation on a thematic level and the aesthetic aspect.
We speak in particular Oboroguruma (monster with the features of a wagon), which the first time scared us not a little, taking us by surprise because it was, in fact, a stationary wagon that then came to life, with the wooden body and the humanoid head of one yokai, revealing not only very scary but also one of the most difficult enemies of Nioh 2, the Yasha, which seems to be inspired by the Catholic religion, but also by the Buddhist one, as having the features of a woman with a mask on her face and with punch a cross, used to punish our character after grabbing him. These monsters are certainly very fascinating and require a lot of effort from the player to be put down.
Once again, in fact, the level of challenge of the DLC is really very high, even if, in all honesty, compared to the base game and the first DLC it is a less demanding challenge than you can imagine, at least as regards the progress. within the map until arriving in the boss areas.
Just this last, quite numerous, are really very strong, but also very beautiful to look at. We refer in particular to the final boss of the "plot", which took an important amount of time to fall under our blows, making it necessary to learn the patterns by heart, also given the very generous amount of elemental damage that he inflicted on our alter ego (think that the boss was able to get the better of us with a few hits despite the twenty levels of advantage over the recommended level of the mission). Its extreme strength prompted us to re-evaluate attack strategy and equipment in order to be faced.
This is a sign of how Team Ninja has once again been able to put on content capable of satisfying the palate of players who are passionate about the series and soulslike, notoriously products designed to face their limits and push themselves to face continuous challenges.
Longevity and Stone of Constriction
Going back to the discourse on longevity, with precisely about three main missions and seven secondary missions, which settles around six hours to complete the various activities (obviously based on the skill of the player the time required may vary), we can note the addition of another interesting mechanic, designed to make the experience more hardcore and more generous towards those who want better rewards: the stone of constraint.
It was introduced with the intention of motivating the player to engage in merciless farming. Once used, the stone of constraint increases the strength of enemies as it fills up. Once this stone is reached its maximum, it allows for better rewards once enemies are defeated; making the clashes more difficult, it goes without saying that it is a mechanic capable of increasing longevity, in addition to the sense of satisfaction aroused by the defeat of a more difficult opponent and the possibility of obtaining better rewards. However, it is necessary to evaluate everything in the long term, to understand to what extent the stone of constraint will allow you to strengthen, if there is a limit to the possibility of improving your equipment, if it will always make sense to use it.
In any case, it is a very interesting addition that, although it does not scream a miracle for innovation and creativity, it is a good "plus", a valid extra for all Nioh 2 players, especially those eager to put themselves to the test. try higher level challenges.
Nioh 2: Darkness in the Capital is a product absolutely in line with both the first additional content and the base game. A new setting, full of historical charm and important characters in Japanese culture, is the backdrop to a series of events that are actually uninteresting and "side dish", as well as a bit of tradition in the series. On the other hand, however, we find the introduction of a new weapon, the Tekko knuckles, which have convinced and passionate us from the very first contact. The new weapons join the new bosses and monsters, which put together offer the player several hours of content and fun, but also and above all of application, dedication and strategy, thanks to a level of challenge as always calibrated upwards (sometimes perhaps excessively). Even the addition of the Stone of Constriction can keep you glued for several hours, and for a cost of € 9.99 the DLC can be considered overall more than satisfactory, but we continue to argue that Koei Tecmo should come out, with the Nioh saga and with Nioh 2, from its comfort zone. It could reap incredible benefits ...
