Nioh 2 has character customization, protagonist possesses the power of yokai

Nioh 2 director Fumihiko Yasuda and Team Ninja creative director Tom Lee shared first tidbits of information on the newly announced Nioh 2 during the PlayStation E3 2018 live stream yesterday.

During the interview, Yasuda confirmed that Nioh 2 will have a character creation system and that the protagonist will possess the power of yokai, allowing for yokai-versus-samurai and yokai-versus-yokai battles to unfold. Yasuda also confirms Team Ninja will release a demo ahead of the game’s release to gather fan feedback.

Get the tidbits from Yasuda below.

On his goal for Nioh 2…

Yasuda: “My goal for Nioh 2 would be a natural evolution, not a dramatic change or deterioration. In the first title, although we were very happy with how it was received, there were things that we could not have accomplished at the same time. So I’d like to strengthen what we did well, while at the same time fix some of the issues that we couldn’t do in time. That’s what I’d like to see happen in Nioh 2.”

On lessons learned in the original Nioh…

Yasuda: “Team Ninja is known for creating action games, but Nioh on the other hand was our first action RPG. So I’d say that in some of the game balancing and RPG departments, as well as some of the updates, there were certain issues that players might not have necessarily been happy with, so that’s something I’d like to improve upon and do better this time.”

On Nioh 2‘s story connections with the original Nioh…

Yasuda: “Yes, it ties in with the story of the first game—like the time and setting, those we will reveal in the days to come. But while I feel that those who have never played the original Nioh can enjoy the story, people who did can even more so enjoy it.

“And this is just sales talk, but Nioh is on sale right now, so we’d like to invite people who have never tried the game before to give it a try.”

On how feedback from the first game influenced development on Nioh 2…

Yasuda: “We did two demos before the first Nioh was launched, and we’re truly grateful for all the feedback from our fans. But having said that, after the game launched, one of the biggest requests that we had was character creation. And that’s something we’re going to implement in Nioh 2. Players will definitely be able to customize all the details, including gender and race.”

On what sets Nioh apart from other third-party action games…

Yasuda: “In general, I think it’s the close quarters combat system. We have certain elements that are very uniquely Japanese, such as the ki pulse and the weapon stances. In addition to that, maybe the fact that both the player and the enemy have a stamina bar. That’s probably something unique to Nioh.”

On the teaser trailer…

Yasuda: “Players can probably tell that the next protagonist actually possesses the power of yokai. We’ve seen samurai-versus-yokai and samurai-versus-samurai before, but this time around we’re going to have yokai-versus-samurai and yokai-versus-yokai as well, so you’ll be able to feel some of the yokai skills and moves, which should bring the action system to the next level.”

On the most important thing the team needs to get right with Nioh 2…

Yasuda: “First of all, as a masocore game, we’ll make it satisfying again, but in that we want to have more satisfying deaths for players. And while Team Ninja will do its best to bring everybody the best product, we don’t want it to be just our subjective opinion. So as we did with Nioh, we’ll release a free demo to for everyone again to get feedback and make this game right.”

And a message to fans…

Lee: “First of all, we want to thank everyone for making Nioh a success. And having said that, I think just to kind of draw a comparison of where we were and where we’re at, I think with Nioh it was our first time getting into that genre. And to be quite honest, as part of our team, we were a little bit cautious and it was sort of trepidatious in that sense. I think this time around, with the experience that we gained, and obviously all the encourage and support that we have, we’ve gained a lot of confidence as well. And thinking back, there were a lot of things that we didn’t get to do. But this time around, I guess the simple way for me to put this is, the glove are off, we’re going to go in hard. And so I hope the fans are ready for it, because I think this experience is going to be close to what we really had in mind. So I can’t wait for you guys to play it.”

Nioh 2 is in development for PlayStation 4.

Watch the interview below.