[ENG] Nioh 2: The Tengu's Disciple - Review
(Possible Spoilers from Nioh 2, you have been warned)
(When talking about new things, I'll write about the pure Nioh 2 first and then proceed to add-ons and changes DLC provided)
I've been waiting and waiting for the first DLC for Nioh 2 to be finally announced, and after over 2 months after it's initial release – the first DLC was indeed announced. The Tengu's Disciple was supposed to see the daylight on 30th of July. And here we are 5 months after the initial release of Nioh 2, finally with DLC I've been so eagerly waiting for. Was it worth it? Let's find out!
The Tengu's Disciple, as we've already established is first DLC for Nioh 2; first out of at least three that were confirmed way before the release of the game. After playing through the entirety of Nioh 2 few times, getting a Platinum trophy and completing NG+ to the fullest – you don't even know how excited I was for the DLC to finally hit the spotlight!
(It's worth noting that I have left one character right after completing NG and haven't touched her to have a clean and reliable entrance for the DLC. I've also played a bit of the DLC with my overleveled character so... The opinions in certain places may vary a bit).
(These enemies' masks give me strong Sekiro vibes)
During these over 4 months me and thousands of other Nioh fans were waiting for more content, a lot of things were introduced to the game – more side quests and a photo mode which... Well, I've been using quite a lot – and the effects of that you can see in this article!
The Tengu's Disciple was going to be the first big test. I bought Season Pass together with Nioh 2 and the first DLC was going to prove if the Season Pass was worth it or not. (Okay, before anything else – yes, there are still more DLCs to come but... It'd be sad to have a bad aftertaste after the first one, wouldn't it?) And oh boy, was it more than worth.
(The beauty of the moment)
Nioh 2's story wrapped up in pretty nice and satisfying way if you ask me, with final boss being a true test of how well you learned the game. The story was indeed shorter than in the first Nioh, but... I think it's for the better, the pacing of the story is pretty good. But, even though it was nice and satisfying... The last cutscene has left us with a bit of a cliffhanger if you ask me... Though it shouldn't be a big surprise considering that DLCs were announced way before the release.
The Tengu's Disciple takes us way back into the past, into the 12th century, at the end of Heian Period in the history of Japan. We are sent into the past in a mysterious shrine and we land in Yashima, a coastal region (If any of you already have flashbacks of Umi-Bozus from Nioh 1... I'll just say this – these flashbacks aren't wrong.)
(Where everything started...)
We follow a story in which we learn more about past bearer of the Sohayamaru as well as the connection between the legendary sword, and the legendary demon we've conquered at the climax of Nioh 2 – Otakemaru. New allies, new enemies, new equipment and so on – there are quite a lot of new things in this DLC!
There are 10 missions in this DLC. – 2 Main Missions and 8 Side Missions. It may not look like a lot, but each brings it's own set of challenges and with many other add-ons that came together with the DLC – there are much more to explore and find than these 10 missions. I'm talking about the new hack'n'slash mode where we clear scroll missions to get equipment.
(New allies to help us conquer new enemies)
In it's basic form, Nioh 2 had quite a variety of enemies (Okay, thaaaat maybe a bit of a stretch, a lot of adversaries were repeated with a different element and they were considered a separate enemy), each and every one of them with it's distinctive move set and Burst Counter possibility, there were few old friends from Nioh 1 like Karasu Tengu and a lot of new in the sequel like Magatsu Warrior.
With the arrival of the first DLC to Nioh 2, there just had to be new enemies and some of them like Bakegani gave me a small heart attack when I first saw it. There are two new, characteristic additions in the enemies, Bakegani is the most characteristic and Nuppeppo that was the bane of my existence, aaand then there's Kiryoki but it's just a fancy variation of Enki enemy so... That's that.
(First meeting with Bakegani. It's pointless to attack it from the front. You can also see my character bearing a new weapon - Splitstaff!)
The juice of Nioh, and every Souls-like game in that matter are bosses. Large, powerful and sometimes just purely rage-inducing. Nioh 2 had a lot of bosses already, of course some of them were pathetically weak whereas others were incredibly powerful – but with enough patience, effort and muscle memory it was possible to best them all.
The Tengu's Disciple delivers another set of huge adversaries for us to conquer – remember when I mentioned Umi-Bozu? Well... Now imagine buffed up Umi-Bozu that's actually fun to fight against. Yes, they did it. And they brought back another boss from the original Nioh – Nue! Now with more attacks and less bullshit! And bosses here require precision and sometimes really good reflexes to react, but other than that - they aren't nothing 'boo hoo unkillable and unbeatable'.
Duh, the very first boss in this DLC killed me much more times than I really want to admit – mostly because I was too aggressive before I actually took the time to carefully look for attack windows, but... I had fun!
I have to mention the difficulty here. Because, as some of you may know, the difficulty of DLCs in Nioh 1 compared to the base game was really painful. How does it look in Nioh 2? The Tengu's Disciple really makes a good job of balancing the DLC. With my original character that had around 120 level I had a decent challenge and fun of playing through DLC, however – with my 200 level character it felt a bit too easy... That was until I went to DLC in NG+. I had similar fun and challenge like on 120 level character.
The point is – Nioh 2 is much better in balancing difficulty and 'recommended levels for missions' than Nioh 1 which was difficulty tornado, especially in recommended levels for DLCs. On basic New Game, not NG+ or ++.
(We meet again, Nue.)
Nioh 2 had a lot of weapon types right from the start, even more than the prequel had with all the DLCs. There was a weapon for everyone – you wanted something fast? Boom! Twin Swords and Tonfas!; you wanted something powerful? Boom! Axes, Hammers and Odachi!; you wanted something stylish? Boom! Switchglaive and Kusarigama! There was a lot of variety when it came to build and each weapon could become deadly in the right hands.
Nioh 1 started introducing more weapon types with it's DLCs and... Well, you would think that 9 weapon types, ninjutsu + onmyo magic (Making up for whopping 11 skill trees) would be enough? Well let me introduce you to Splitstaff! A weapon pretty flexible, versatile and stylish! As much as I liked using it, I really couldn't get a grip on how to use it effectively so I mainly stuck to my Switchglaive. But, as with every other weapon – in the right hands, with the right amount of practice – I am more than sure that Splitstaff can be pretty insane in terms of effectiveness and damage!
(A moment of relief after series of fights)
There is a trend following almost every Souls-like game with a lot of different armor and weapons. And this trend is called 'Fashion Souls!' - to put it shortly, wearing matching armor and weapon or different but somehow perfect for each other pieces and feeling fabulous! Nioh 2 with it's pile of various armors and weapons is a perfect candidate to fight in fashion battles! (If you add customizable character, your fashion options may expand a bit).
So, does The Tengu's Disciple grant more opportunities to mow down enemies in a beautiful fashion? Well... I don't think I need to answer this question. Just Splitstaff gives us several options to choose from in terms of how does it look, there are quite a lot of new armor pieces and accessories so... Yeah, The Tengu's Disciple expands the already wide array of fashion in Nioh 2!
(Two demons fighting for the inner peace)
As for the first DLC, I think The Tengu's Disciple is amazing, it was worth the wait. There are a lot of things that expanded the already wide array of adversaries, fashion and lore and I truly hope that DLCs that are yet to come, will continue that trend. From what I've heard the 'DLC Trilogy' is supposed to tell one, continuous story just like in the original Nioh – if that's the case – I'm more than eager to see what happens next!
The Tengu's Disciple places very nice foundations for the DLC Trilogy and... Well, just like the main story - it leaves us on a cliffhanger but for that, we'll have to wait for another DLC to come out.
To put it shortly – I enjoyed The Tengu's Disciple immensly and I'll probably play through it a few more times with different characters and... Well, I'm eager to hear another announcement about next DLC (It's presumably going to be revealed in Fall) and it's release date, but... I don't think it's gonna happen soon so for now, I'm going back to wrecking havoc in style!
The Tengu's Disciple is quite a good example of how to properly balance a DLC and give players a decent challenge even when they feel quite experienced in the game! Let's wait and see what interesting weapons, enemies, bosses, stories and more will next DLCs bring!
Kind Regards,
Wing.
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