Currently Playing: NIOH (also, a rant on why I hate dark souls)

So right off the bat I've decided to abandon any and all credibility I might have had by confessing something to you: I fucking hate the Dark Souls series.

For the unfamiliar, these are games that are frequently held up to other challenging titles and compared. The game "Cuphead" is the most recent example of this. I don't think there was a single gaming website that didn't include the sentence "Is Cuphead the 'Dark Souls' of the Platforming Genre???" somewhere in their title/review. In the gaming community this has become somewhat of a meme - and rightfully so, because the Dark Souls series are some of the most challenging games you'll ever play.

Seriously.

Im convinced that From Software (the developer) is mostly comprised by those happiness-sucking wraith things called "Dementors" from the Harry Potter series. I frequently fantasize about sitting them down in front of me and re-enacting that scene from The Office where Michael goes off on Toby. This quote comes to mind:

"Why are you, the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you . . . make it not that way." - Michael Scott referring to Toby, the Dark Souls of The Office

Don't get me wrong, I understand why Dark Souls is such a well regarded series, and I understand why they have a following. People love to be challenged, and the feeling you get when you finally take down the massive crow headed monster that killed you 1234097234 times in a row and made you reconsider your will to live... must be an amazing feeling. (I wouldn't know).

So you can imagine how shocked I was when I bought Nioh (against my better judgement) and discovered that I am absolutely in love with it for all the reasons I dislike the Souls series. I've been playing for about a week, and despite downloading the newest DLC for Assassin's Creed: Origins (which is really good, btw) I have no desire to tear myself away from Nioh long enough to check it out.

My initial impressions of Nioh are overwhelmingly positive. First and foremost, Nioh has a strong, intriguing narrative that revolves around its protagonist, William. This character is apparently loosely based on the real-life William Adams, who is largely considered the first Englishman to arrive in Japan. Here he befriended and aided the would-be shogun of Japan, and eventually earned the title of Samurai.

Unlike real-life William Adams, I suspect the

fictional Adams spends a great deal more

time fighting the Yokai. These are terrifying spirit demons that take the shape of almost anything, including, apparently, a giant flaming wheel with a face. There are a lot of "what the fuck is that" moments in this game, which keeps the gameplay fresh and continuously provides new, admittedly terrifying experiences.

Thankfully, the combat is much more robust than anything I've been able to play in a Souls game, which means you have a larger tool box to pull from when you're fighting the aforementioned giant flaming demon wheel. There are five basic weapon archetypes to choose from and master, including the katana, dual blades, spear, axe, and a badass chain-sickle weapon called a Kusarigama. As you progress you acquire different Guardian Spirits which can be thought of as your "super ability." These are massively beneficial in whittling down the last of a boss's health-- something that would have been heresy in a Souls game, but is SO much fun to use. The boss's are still super challenging, and you wont always have this super ability to fall back on, but when you have it, it makes your life much, much easier.

The loot grind so far has been an awesome progression incentive as well. Every enemy in Nioh has a chance to drop uncommon/rare/legendary weapons and armor, which offer stat increases in true RPG fashion. This has me constantly considering my gear loadout before tackling a challenging boss fight ("do I have paralysis resist charms equipped before I get my ass kicked by this giant thunder lion thing?")

Like I said, I've only been playing a week and I've only just gotten to the second area of the game. So far I've fought a pushover boss named "Derick the Executioner" that I killed so fast I wondered if I was playing the right game, a hot yokai necrophiliac that re-affirmed that I was indeed playing the right game, a big thunder pup, and a giant centipede, to name a few. I'll no doubt be playing a lot more Nioh this weekend and in the weeks to come, although the Burnout: Paradise remake came out today, and Farcry 5 is on the horizon as well.

Time to switch into high gear.

Thanks for reading!

Jake