Labelling Nioh as "another Dark Souls clone", just doesn't do it justice. The Complete Edition is a package brimming with content, challenging gameplay, deep combat mechanics, Diablo-like looting and a fun crafting system to boot. It does not stick to its peers' blueprint, but it endeavours to evolve in a different beast, and for the most part, succeeds.

Clearly with the focus on combat and challenging enemies, there are similarities with Nioh and From Software’s Souls games, but unlike other games that have built themselves to be copies of the successful formula, the team behind Nioh have added their style into the mix to make it more than another game trying to lure the fans of hardcore action RPGs to it. Those additional ideas build on an already solid foundation, but enable Nioh to standout above the rest of the inspired clones with its hectic, faster paced and varied combat and addictive loot mechanics, to go toe-to-toe with the company that initiated this new wave of challenging combat, going as far as to better them in some areas.

Nioh successfully reinvents Souls with deeper combat and skill trees. [Issue#269, p.58]

Nioh: Complete Edition is a great game. That much should be expected as the original release was. However, much like all Koei Tecmo PC ports, this release suffers from some glaring omissions and limitations. Fortunately, Team Ninja have already announced some patches to start improving the release.

Captivating and challenging action RPG in the spirit of Dark Souls, but the PC conversion includes bizarre blunders.

A fantastic show of force from the long-standing Team Ninja, but one that feels like it didn’t truly understand the mass appeal of the genre. Spruced up with the group’s signature style, Nioh only falters with its less captivating world. We can appreciate the heritage, but it won’t grab everyone.

If you have ever praised the sun, or if you have any fear of the old blood, Nioh is an absolute must play. A fantastic and deep combat system, coupled with great boss design and a difficult yet fair effort/reward loop put Nioh right up there with its not so distant brothers in Dark Souls and Bloodborne. If I were to assign a score to the game, simply for its content it would absolutely be a solid “A”. Unfortunately, even though it is the Complete Edition, this is not necessarily the superior version of the game. If you only play games on PC, this game is still a no-brainer to pick up, but if you’re like me and have consoles as well as a computer, I think the PS4 may still be the place to play Nioh.