Nioh 2

Similar to its predecessor, Nioh 2 is an action role-playing game. Players can create their own playable character, who is a hybrid born of a yōkai mother and a human father, granting the protagonist many abilities related to yōkai adapted from traditional Japanese folklore. Players are equipped with a variety of weapons such as odachi and kusarigama, and earn new skills and special abilities as they progress in the game. When players defeat a hostile yōkai, some of them may drop a "Soul Core". Soul Cores allow players to use yōkai abilities once the cores are purified by visiting a shrine.

At locations named "Benevolent Graves", players can summon other players, controlled by artificial intelligence, to assist them in combat. The game also features a three-player cooperative multiplayer mode.

Set in Japan during the late 1500s, most of Nioh 2 storyline chapters are a prequel to Nioh, while the end chapters of the story take place after the first game's last storyline following the Siege of Osaka. Players take the role of a character named Hidechiyo (秀千代, Hidechiyo), a half-yōkai referred to as a "Shiftling" whose appearance and gender is decided by the player. Hidechiyo's journey through the Sengoku Era begins when they befriend Tōkichirō, an ambitious merchant seeking out Amrita, and Mumyo (無明, Mumyō), a demon hunter of the Sohaya group, eventually playing a critical role in the rise and fall of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kashin Koji serves as the main antagonist, a mysterious entity linked to a powerful yōkai known as Otakemaru, who obstructs Hidechiyo's progress at every turn and is responsible for manipulating many of the events that take place through the game. One key item featured in the game is the Seven-Branched Sword, here known as the Sohayamaru, the sword used to slay Otakemaru in the past and the namesake of the Sohaya.

During their journey, Hidechiyo encounters and serves with several historical characters such as Saitō Dōsan, Takenaka Hanbei, Hachisuka Koroku, Oda Nobunaga and his wife Nōhime, Oda's sister Oichi, Akechi Mitsuhide, Shibata Katsuie, Saitō Toshimitsu (father of Fuku from the first game), Maeda Toshiie and his nephew Keiji. Hide also encounters and fights against Imagawa Yoshimoto, Saitō Yoshitatsu, Magara Naotaka and Nagamasa Azai. Returning historical characters from the first game includes Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tadakatsu Honda, Saika Magoichi and Oda's African retainer Yasuke. Other historical figures such as the Heian period onmyōji Abe no Seimei, tea master Sen no Rikyū, Katō Danzō and Okuni also appear to aid Hide in their adventures. Nioh's protagonist William returns near the end portion of the game which takes place after the events of the first, still in pursuit of Maria, with Hattori Hanzō making a cameo appearance: The Hanzō encountered by players here is his father Masanari.

Nioh 2 was developed by Koei Tecmo divisions Team Ninja and Kou Shibusawa. Fumihiko Yasuda of Team Ninja returned as director after directing its predecessor.

Nioh 2 was announced by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 at E3 2018 during their press conference. An open beta of the game began on November 1, 2019. It released on March 13, 2020. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Windows titled Nioh 2 Remastered - Complete Edition and Nioh 2: Complete Edition, respectively, featuring all the previous downloadable content were released on February 5, 2021.

Nioh 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 97% of critics.

IGN stated, "Nioh 2 is an impressive evolution of its predecessor, strengthening everything that was already great, while mostly leaving its already existing issues alone. Its stellar combat is elevated by the addition of Soul Cores, Burst Counters, and the ways in which those two main new mechanics affect enemy AI and how you approach battles. It's [sic] depth is impressive, even though that can also make it feel a little overwhelming due to how much time must be spent managing Nioh 2's many systems. If you're up to the challenge, Nioh 2 is no doubt one of the most difficult and rewarding games of this generation."