Nioh has been out for well over a year now and has gotten rave reviews all around. The samurai RPG adventure game features, great combat, beautiful Japanese scenery, and history, as well as extremely dangerous Enemies.

The dangers of Nioh lead to the discussion about if Nioh is harder than Dark Souls (we’re excluding Bloodborne for now). The answer, at least in my opinion, is yes.

Although Nioh received its inspiration from the legendary Souls series, it still may be the more difficult of the two games. Nioh is essentially the offspring of Dark Souls.

Nioh is harder for numerous reasons. Here’s why listed below.

Enemies are faster and cause more damage

As you can imagine in a samurai type of game, the speed of combat is very quick, as ninjas and samurais are known for their immense speed. The same goes for the enemies who have almost no chill.

It’s not necessarily their speed that makes things difficult, but the impact of their hits. I don’t know how many times I had to down elixirs (Nioh’s version of the Estus Flask) because an enemy drained my health in just two shots.

Not to mention, you may have to use an elixir, even if you’re at around 75 or 80% health. I say this because, there are a lot of times where an enemy can quickly drop your high health two zero on one or two quick hits, so if you want to play it safe, it’s best to use some elixir.

Also, make sure to take advantage of the blocking feature, as it can save your life on many different occasions. Just don’t stay in block mode as the more an enemy hits while you’re in block mode, your Ki (stamina) will drain to zero, and this leads to my next point.

Getting your guard broken can lead to really quick deaths

Blocking is one of the features that seem like a blessing in Nioh, considering that there are no shields. The only problem is, if you continue to block, the enemy will continue to hit you until your Ki gets down to zero, which will cause your guard to break, similarly to Dark Souls.

The difference here is that, instead of just quickly getting stunned like in Dark Souls, you will instead lockup, where you can’t move for at least two to three seconds. This will likely lead to a big attack by the enemy or a visceral attack which can kill you in one hit if your health isn’t that good.

This was one of the things that destroyed me when I first stepped into the world of Nioh. I eventually figured out how to balance blocking and going in for strikes at the right time. I still suck, but I have improved over time and you can too. However, it’s still no walk in the park so don’t let the beautiful historic Japanese atmosphere distract from the fact that it’s a pain in the booty sometimes.

Figuring out a strategy that doesn’t allow you to use a ton of stamina too quickly will help you in the long run. Trust me.

The “bigger enemies” are more dangerous than in Dark Souls

There are several big enemies that are a pain to deal with. There are some that medium-sized and then you have some that tower right over you.

One thing they all have in common? They hit hard as crap. One enemy I particularly hate is this giant, creepy dude with a super long tongue. He will attack you with that tongue from long range (“from downtown, yes!” – Marv Albert). He also has a couple of punching abilities that can be devastating. Be prepared to use them elixirs with this guy.

Another one I’ll mention, and he’s probably the worst of the bunch, is the large raven that looks like some kind warlord or mage. He flies at you at a quick pace, swings at you with his staff, and then do a spinning kick attack which will easily kill you.

He also has a long-range attack where he uses magic to shoot this green type laser beam at you which also deals a lot of damage. Although his moves are predictable, you never really know when he’ll strike and he also dodges a lot which is rather annoying.

Those are just two of many tough enemies in the game. Keep in mind that there are some easy enemies as well, just like in DS so it isn’t all doom and gloom.

However, keep an eye out for some of these terrifying beasts.

There are fewer weapon options than in Dark Souls

In Nioh, you get a nice handful of weapons to use and choose from. However, the list is still smaller than in any of the three Dark Souls games.

In DS, you can use swords, hammers, daggers, spears, shields, miracles, sorcery, pyromancy, and bow & arrows among other things. Not to mention, some of the weapons have special abilities. In Nioh, you get swords, hammers, dual swords, spears and bow & arrows.

So, the list is a little smaller. And you get no shields. The only shield is your weapon which you can use to block like I mentioned earlier.

One thing I will say is, in Nioh, you can use a Guardian Spirit which will turn your weapon into a Super Saiyan like killing machine. When the Guardian Spirit meter is filled up, you can use square and triangle to activate your ability. This can help you defeat strong enemies with ease.

However, if the enemy gets too many hits on you, your meter will drain much faster until it ends your special power. Your hope is that you were able to drain much of the enemy’s health bar in the process. So, that’s the one powerful weapon you can use in Nioh.

There are some nice weapons in the game, but it still doesn’t match the rich arsenal that Dark Souls has, which alone makes Nioh a little harder. It makes it a little harder to strategize when you’re limited on weaponry.

The bosses are more difficult

This was a tough one, but I’d say Nioh’s bosses are a little tougher. These bosses are a lot faster and seem to hit a lot harder.

DS is famous for its tough bosses, but I feel that there are easier bosses in Dark Souls (which aren’t many) than in Nioh. On top of that, there are some bosses in Nioh where you can’t summon anyone for help.

In order to summon a visitor, you need to be at a “Shrine”, which essentially plays the same role as Dark Souls’ iconic bonfire. The Shrine is a beautiful miniature Japanese castle where you can do numerous things and where the adorable “Kodama” hang out and play (Kodamas are very important in the world of Nioh. These cute green creatures can offer you “Blessings” among other things which are beneficial on your journey).

You need to be at a Shrine in order to summon a visitor. In Dark Souls, you can basically summon someone from anywhere, you just have to wait until summon signs show up. Usually, summon signs appear at the beginning and towards the end of an area in DS.

In Nioh, you have to be at a Shrine, and depending on how far the nearest Shrine is from the boss room, you may have to trek a little bit. But again, some areas do not have a Shrine, thus you cannot get help against the boss.

Thankfully, this is usually the case only on sub-missions, not the main missions. The sub-missions can give you some cool rewards if you’re willing to give it a go. A lot of sub-missions do have a Shrine but some don’t.

Also, bosses are relatively fast in Nioh, much like the regular enemies. Even the large bosses are fairly quick and in some boss rooms, you don’t have a luxurious amount of space to work with either.

They’re tough, but much like Dark Souls, the boss battles are a lot of fun.

Harder to summon players

This is a really small one, but it can be much more difficult to summon help early on. In order to summon help, you need to get Ochoko Cups which you can offer at the Shrine. Once you do this, you will need to wait until another player receives your offering and comes to help.

However, it can be tough getting Ochoko Cups. in order to do so, you will need to defeat Revenants, which are essentially ghosts of other players who died on their adventures. Think of it like the Bloodstains in Dark Souls, only, you can actually summon a CPU version of the player who died, and fight them, which is pretty cool.

However, the fights can prove difficult when you’re just starting out. Once you get comfortable with the combat, then you shouldn’t have too many issues. Revenants drop Ochoko Cups nine times out of 10 but again, early on in the game, as you slowly try to grow your wings, it can be a tough battle.

Wrapping things up

Nioh is a fantastic game that helps bring the historic samurai culture to life. It also is a very difficult game if you aren’t careful.

I absolutely love the Dark Souls series, and is most definitely one of the greatest video games of all-time. With that being said, I don’t think the game is harder than Nioh. However, Nioh might not have been as difficult as it is if it weren’t for the inspiration it received from Dark Souls, just to be fair.

I also want to point out, and this may be slightly shocking but, I feel Bloodborne is a harder game than Nioh. In short, it’s Bloodborne > Nioh > all three Dark Souls games in terms of difficulty level. This is why I did not include Bloodborne in this discussion.

Sure, Bloodborne was created by From Software like DS and have the same template (health and stamina meters, sounds, character movement, etc) but they are still two very different games, with different gameplay styles and weaponry.

Bloodborne is the most difficult because your weapons are limited….very limited, at least compare to the other games. The weapons are super sweet, but again, you don’t have a whole lot to work with. You also can’t really block anything either so your best bet is to dodge.

And like Nioh, the enemies are very quick in Bloodborne. The health bar of the bosses also seems to be larger as well. On top of that, there are more enemies and bosses in the game who can “one-shot” you if you aren’t careful.

So there’s the curveball that I wanted to throw at you! Hope you were able to hit it for a home run.

But, Nioh is a great game that I’d highly reccommend if you’re a Souls fan. The game gets on sale a lot now since it’s a year old or so.

It’s a tough game, but it’s a lot of fun, especially if you appreciate cool Japanese history, architecture and amazing samurai combat. Get your swords ready.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @GhostPandaColin!

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