Nioh

Nioh is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Team Ninja and Kou Shibusawa and published by Koei Tecmo for the PlayStation 4. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the game outside Japan on PlayStation consoles. Nioh 2, a prequel to Nioh was released on PlayStation 4 in March 12, 2020. A port to Windows including all downloadable content was released the same year while a remastered version was released for PlayStation 5 on 5 February 2021.

Based on a fictionalized history of Japan and featuring both real-life albeit heavily-altered historical figures, and supernatural elements, the game takes during the year 1600 and follows William Adams, a rare samurai foreigner who pursues the sorcerer Edward Kelley while fighting a variety of yōkai creatures into the final battles of the Sengoku period, during Tokugawa Ieyasu's efforts to unify Japan. The gameplay revolves around navigating levels and defeating yōkai that have infested an area; combat revolves around stamina or "Ki" management and different sword stances that are strong or weak against different enemies.

Nioh began development in 2004 for PlayStation 3 as part of a multimedia project based on an unfinished Akira Kurosawa script. The project went through a turbulent and prolonged pre-production period, going through multiple revisions until its final version began development in 2014 for PlayStation 4. Development information was sporadic until 2015, when it was reintroduced to the public.[citation needed]

Alpha and beta demos were released during 2016, to both gauge public reaction to the title and make adjustments based on feedback. Initially scheduled for a 2016 release, the adjustments pushed the release into the following year. Upon release, Nioh received positive reviews, with praise going to the gameplay and graphics while the story was criticized as lacking or confusing. It reached high positions in sales charts, going on to ship over 3 million copies worldwide. Nioh received two sequels, Nioh 2 (2020), and Nioh 3 (2026).