Team Ninja’s upcoming PS4 Action RPGNiohis a game that has been in development in one form or another for the better part of a decade. In fact, 2016 marks 12 years since it was first announced by Koei, before their merger with Tecmo to form Koei Tecmo. What started as a very different game has evolved into the Onimusha meets Soulsborne game we’ve had the opportunity to play over 2 demo periods with impressive results. Any project with that long of a development cycle is bound to have an intriguing story, and Nioh is no exception. Let’s take a look at the past, present and future of this game as it continues its meteoric rise into gaming consciousness.
The Past: Background and Development
Originally, the game was conceived as a project to bring to life an unfinished script written by Akira Kurosawa, which was titled “Oni”. This would tie into a film which would be directed by Kurosawa’s son, Hisao Kurosawa, who was also completing the script written by his father. Aiding Hisao Kurosawa with finishing the script was Kou Shibusawa, game producer from Koei, who strongly believed in the project. At this point in time, the story centered around the main character called “Oni”, who was the son of a Western woman and a Japanese lord, with the game and movie both taking place in the 16th century.
Renamed Ni-Oh, the game was set to be announced in Summer 2006, with a pre-rendered release trailer shown to advertise the title. Sadly, however, the title missed the release date, with no comment from relevant parties about the fate of the project. You can watch this trailer below:
Fast forward to 2009, when Koei confirmed that Ni-Oh was indeed still in development, and apologized for the lack of updates in regards to the progress of the title. In 2010, Koei Tecmo (now merged at this point) announced that development had been suspended by Koei Tecmo internally, and therefore had been given to Team Ninja to complete. A short 2 years later, Kou Shibusawa (now Koei Tecmo’s President and CEO) announced that Alpha development had been completed, and that work was “continuing steadily”.
In 2014, the trademark was renewed, and Yosuke Hayashi, the head of Team Ninja, confirmed that development was continuing, and the game was “starting to come together and feel good.” Then, on July 21, 2025, Ni-Oh was re-revealed at the Tokyo Game Show, now re-titled as “Nioh”. The game’s protagonist was revealed to beWilliam Adams, the first western samurai, who arrived in Japan during the Warring States Era, encountering bandits and ronin as well as beings from Japanese spiritual folklore such asyokai, oni andkodama. We saw the redefined and redesigned title in action and brought apreviewthat looked at how the game now seemed to combine elements of Onimusha, Ninja Gaiden andDark Soulsinto one package.
In 2016, a playable Alpha build of Nioh was released on April 26th, and was available until May 5th. We played it extensively for the first time andtook notes on everythingwe saw. We had a further opportunity to see the game in action during E3 where we also procured anextensive interviewwith director Fumihiko Yasuda that shed further light on the game’s mechanics, lore and future content plans. The feedback gained from the Alpha was then used to influence design changes for the publicBetabuild of Nioh, which was released August 23rd, and was available until September 6th.
The Present: State of the Beta
The Beta build of Nioh, released in September as mentioned above, gave players the strongest indication of how the title will play and feel upon its release next year.
Weapon durability, which was largely criticized as unfairly harsh on the player in the Alpha, was removed entirely for the Beta. Instead, a mechanic known asFamiliaritywas made a larger part of the game. In the Alpha, Familiarity was a statistic that had no bearing on the game itself, whereas in the Beta, Familiarity increased as you used aweaponmore often. This meant thatif you used your favorite weapon enough, it would gradually increase in powerand capability until the Familiarity meter was completely filled. This mechanic encourages experimentation, as certain weapons that initially looked unremarkable could end up being rather powerful once Familiarity was full.
Adding on to this, is theBlacksmith, who offers a variety of services. While the Blacksmith sells items, they also offer two special services:Re-Forge, andSoul Match.Re-Forgeallows you to select the special effects of your weapons, and “Re-Forge” them for a chance at either a better effect, or stronger versions of the existing ones. The effects granted by Re-Forge aren’t guaranteed, however, and if you begin using Re-Forge without having enough Gold to afford multiple uses, you may end up being left without the intended effect you began with.
Soul Matchis what you choose if you wish tolevel up your existing weapons and armor. It works simply enough, you take a low-level weapon or piece or armor, and you match it with a high-level weapon or piece or armor. The high-level object is destroyed, however the low-level object is increased to the level of the destroyed object similar to the process of infusion inDestiny. To explain, if you took a level 5 sword, and matched it with a level 15 sword, the level 15 sword would be destroyed, however the level 5 sword becomes level 15 in the process. Through this method, players can matriculate gear they are attached to even as they level up and encounter better gear. This works with the Familiarity mechanic to reinforce the concept of affinity and attachment to your favorite equipment.
Some notable changes from the Alpha are the less strict punishments from having yourKidrained (Ki is Nioh’s version of a Stamina meter), the stances featuring more variety and use, and the larger amount of quick-use slots. In the Alpha, if William had his Ki depleted from dodging, blocking, or being in the yokai mist, attempting to do an action while out of Ki resulted in William standing still and panting for an extended period of time while his Ki replenished. In the Beta, this was changed to allow actions to be carried out as long as there was a bit of Ki left in the meter, which allowed you to escape situations with more ease, resulting in much less punishment for running out of Ki at an inopportune time.
Regardingstances, in the Alpha they weren’t terribly useful, with themid-stancebeing the jack-of-all-trades, and it featured enough power and speed to really be the only useful stance. In the Beta, however, the stances have been given different priorities. Thehigh-stanceis now your go to choice for slower but much more powerful hits, whereas thelow-stanceis now a very effective rapid attack choice, and it’s also the stance which has the best choices for parrying in its moveset.
The quick-use slots foritemswere something criticized in the Alpha, as players only had access to 4 slots. For the Beta, Team Ninja increased the amount to 8 slots, two lots of 4 slots that could be switched with a button press, allowing you access to all of them almost instantly when needed. This allowed players to use more items in combat, and experiment with differentonmyo magicandninjitsuitems, without having to be concerned about having enough space for their usable items.
Enemyandweaponvariety has increased substantiallysince the Alpha as well. In the Alpha, for example, there was only one ranged weapon, which was abow. In comparison to that, the Beta featured two bows, tworifles, and twohandcannonsthat were known at the time of writing.
These examples shows the kind of substantial increase in variety that the Beta had over the Alpha as well as theextensive refinement processthe game undergoes. Overall, it gives players a stronger indication of how many different kinds of weapons and options they will have to use throughout the game, as well as a glimpse into the strengths and weaknesses of every choice.
The Future: Beta Feedback & February Release
During the Beta, Team Ninja opened up feedback surveys online where players could give their opinions and feedback on the Beta, with an eye towards what could be improved. From this, Team Ninja went back and discussed what would be changed in the final release, and on September 16 at the Tokyo Game Show, Team Ninja released a list of improvements that would be made to the game for the final version. All of the changes mentioned at the Tokyo Game Show can befound here.
The improvements all show that Nioh is being constantly fine-tuned by Team Ninja, and they are carefully listening to the feedback of the fans. Beyond the extensive changes we saw from the Alpha to the Beta, we can expect the final release to feature revisions tocontrols,skills,equipmentdrops,enemiesand more all based on player feedback. This feedback varied from region to region, making any decisions on what to change adelicate balancing actfor the developer.
During the show, they also took the opportunity to show off a new trailer as well as some “making-of” vignettes which can all be seenhere. The trailer that was released at TGS contained a heap of information, although much of it is historically-based and thus will be covered in another article about the history of the characters and creatures included in Nioh.
During the week of the Tokyo Game Show, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo alsoannouncedthe triumphant release date of February 9th, 2017 for players on PS4. After over a decade of development and revisions, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel and the game is coming at a time when notoriously difficult games likeDark Souls 3andBloodborneare redefining what broad appeal means. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished product. Often times long development can result in uneven results but with the recent Alpha and Beta cycles there is ample reason to feel optimistic about the final outcome. In many ways, the game’s development has mirrored its “Go Beyond Death” tagline, and has moved from a resurrection to an opportunity at achieving something special.
