Nioh 2 Has Gone Gold

If you enjoy dying repeatedly while hauling around a big sack of ninja gear, your wait is almost over: Upcoming slash 'em up Nioh 2 has gone gold. Released in 2017, the original Nioh brought developer Koei Tecmo's signature flair and deep mechanical complexity to the Souls-like mold, garnering substantial praise in the process. The game was also noted for its extreme difficulty, which rivals even that of the Souls series itself. Still, given that Koei Tecmo also produced the likes of Ninja Gaiden Black, perhaps it's not that surprising.

In our latest preview, Alessandro Fillari wrote that Nioh 2 is shaping up to be similar to its predecessor, with many small improvements and tweaks, including AI-controlled summons to help you surmont particularly tough bosses and a new switch-glaive that transforms like Bloodborne's trick weapons. "The game is still Souls-like to its core," he wrote. "It's the type of experience that can be an acquired taste, leaving some put off with its stoic adherence to the mechanics at work."

Between 2019's From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Nioh 2, and Ghost of Tsushima coming later in 2020, we're living in a golden age for samurai action games. Let's hope that Nioh 2 can live up to the high expectations that Souls fans are bringing to this hotly-anticipated sequel, which releases March 13.