Ok. This is actually genuinely great. I preordered within a couple of hours.
It took me ages to get past the big crimson bastard, because I found the class switch mechanic was quite tough to get my head around plus there’s a lot of visual cues to keep track of.
I’ve got it now though and am out in the open world. Actually I’ve made it to what I assume is the end of the demo, the crucible. Currently fighting my way through it to what I assume will be a soul crushing boss fight
Honestly I think there’s some of the smartest level design I’ve seen in a souls like in that specific area. Really well considered use of shortcuts and the like. In Elden Ring the shortcuts almost always felt pointless due to the open world nature, but doing it this way, with these crucible areas, keeps them meaningful.
The usual Nioh caveats apply. If you don’t like complication then avoid. They layer on so many mechanics during the demo it’s really really tough to keep track of them all. In the end, as long as you can dodge and block I’m not convinced it matters all that much but it can get very busy in there. That goes for the interface too and my god the inventory management is as time consuming as always.
But somehow, it comes together into something really unique and really cool. I’m already hooked.
