‘Nioh 2’ release date: Beta test received overwhelming positivity by participants, creative director revealed

“Nioh 2” still doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s expected to arrive soon as hinted by creative director Tom Lee. Lee said last week they’re eyeing the Tokyo Game Show 2019 as the event to showcased another big demo for the sequel.

However, he didn’t disclose how much information will be revealed about “Nioh 2.” He only said that they’re planning to provide more details about the title.

In a recent post by Lee over at the PlayStation Blog, he said that one of the aspects that that will be revealed during the event is the Yokai transformation in “Nioh 2.” It’s already been revealed that the transformation is divided into three.

Nioh 2 and the Yokai transformations

A club-wielding ogre, an agile demon, and a mid-range Yokai that can deliver heavy punishment from afar. The same post also revealed some screenshots for the game ranging from some of these transformations to different bosses that can be found in “Nioh 2.” What’s more, Lee also took the opportunity to thank the beta testers who participated a few months ago and provided valuable feedback to team Ninja.

“Over 50,000 players took part in this closed [Nioh 2] demo worldwide, and nearly 18,000 participants responded to our survey afterward! The overwhelming majority of opinions were very positive and supportive of the demo as we received tons of comments and constructive feedback for us to analyze,” Lee said.

He went on to add that the feedback that they’ve received has been processed and the developers have fine-tuned “Nioh 2” based on the criticisms that warranted attention. This sequel has a lot going on for it, incorporating new mechanics – like the aforementioned Yokai transformation – while also keeping the aspects that made the first game quite the hit.

Nioh 2’s strength stems from its gameplay mechanics

Graphics-wise, “Nioh 2” doesn’t differ all that much from its predecessor save for a few improvements here and there. And that’s alright. It appears that most of the developers’ effort has been geared towards perfecting the gameplay mechanics of the title. The skill tree, for instance, has been streamlined for easier use, adopting a web-like grid that makes ability progression easy to follow, PCMag reported.

While “Nioh 2” hasn’t been built to compete against massive titles like “Sekiro,” it does deliver Souls-like experience that’s perfect for anyone who is a fan of these sort of role-playing games. As for when it will be released, nothing has been confirmed so far. But there’s a high chance that Team Ninja will announce the release date in Tokyo Game Show, which is slated to take place between Sept. 12 to 15. If we’re lucky, we’ll probably get our hands on it at the tail end of 2019. If not, then an early 2020 release is still on the table.