Nioh 2 was quietly released in March with a story that acts as both a prequel and sequel to its previous entry. It's a part of a ranking of Japanese action RPG games with high difficulty like Sekiro and Dark Souls, but it is the least-known series of the bunch. Like its contemporaries, Nioh also takes a dark look at fantasﷺy, specifically ancient Japan and its cl𒅌assic folklore around Yokai. However, its story and voice acting are sporadic and messy, with many points missing out on necessary logic for it to flow correctly.
The problem with Nioh 2's story isn't that it's a fun PS2-styled action game with an imperfect story based on Japanese legend. Thing is, the creators seemed to lack the foresight to anticipate the plot holes that their story's stranger elements left in their wake. So without further delay, here are 10 things that make no sense in Nioh 2.
10 The Self-Victimizing V๊illagers
In the opening prologue, we see a man with horns go from the transformation of being a beloved part of his village into a demon hell-bent on killing them all. This starts when the villager💞s want him to stay because they think that he is a god and will gift them and bring them good luck.
However, 𒅌this suddꦑenly changes when they fear him out of nowhere and then start to bully and harass this horned man. They do this to the point he transforms into a violent demon, so in response, they invent a sword to kill him - a death that they, for some reason, quickly celebrate. It's hard to deny that they basically brought this upon themselves.
9 Bullying Turns Men into Demons 𒉰
The rules of this world are quite ambiguous: it's told that the harassment turned a partial yokai man into a demon. Whi🤡le it makes a sort of mythological sense, this sounds more like some metaphor or underlying message rather than a pꦺlot point in the story.
But the true issue here is that it's not delved into the relationship of men and yokai versus relying on prior knowledge of Yokai lore to understand them. This is because the story has its own rules that tend to contradict pre-established myth✤s and at times, thems🐠elves.
8 ꦐThe Japanese People All Have British Accent✨s
This ga🌼me is very Fuedal Japan-themed, right down to the way people talk. It does have an option for Japanese dialogue, but woe to you if you pick the English dialogue because it is not good, to say the least.
For some reason, it was creatively chosen that all the characters should have British voice actors (or voice actors replicating a British accent) which, in terms of taking liberties in voice acting for English lang🅠uage dubs, doesn't make much sense. It's not high quality either where it should feel buttery smooth; it's very janky where it does not match the lip-syncing and the voice actors don't feel natural speaking the lines.
7 𓃲 Suddenly, A♌ Monkey
This really goes with the connection not being properly explained. While the idea of having a spirit animal that is sentient and follows you around is cool, no explanation of how it ends up there is provided. Additionally, there's no explanation♏ as to why you start acting like it and how it affects the characters when something happens to it in their world.
One of the main side characters in the game is introduced to you almost immediately, and he describes that the monkey suddenly appeared. And for some reason, he also acts more like monkey t🅺han a person during what should be natural conversational situati🐷ons.
6 The♚ Vow of Silence
The Vow of Silence is a pretty traditional thing for video game protagonists to take. Some games take this a step further and cut the player's in-game agency along with their voice, rendering the hero a silent pawn who just goes with the flow. Nioh 2 does give you some agency to play even though the story can be linear, but it sti🏅ll cuts the tongue of the main character. This makes no sense given your character's pivotal role in the setting's politics.
You'd think with so much wartime politics going, on a voice and characterization would be important. But instead, you have the equivalent to Link nodding and grunting at people to get their point around. It's way too apparent that Nioh 2 i✤s the wrong place to have the silent protagonist.
5 Why Save Hide?൩
Hide is the main character of this game who can either be a guy or a girl. The first time Hide (i.e. you) meets the Yokai hunter, she tries to kill you but fails. The hunter goes off, swearing to kill Hide the next time she♓ sees them. The next time she does see Hide, though, she saves them ꦇfrom evil Yokai then later joins their group.
There is no natural progression with that. There is no reason given why she changed her mind and decided to be close friends instead. Your character doesn't talk, so they didn't say anything meaningful t𒀰o change the assassin's mind and think "Oh, they aren't bad like I thought." Heck her backstory even contradicts the decision even further, with her♑ being raised by a clan of Yokai Killers - people who would demonize all Yokai, including Hide! It all happens out of nowhere, lacking any character logic for it to be compelling or emotional.
4 The Yokai Connection 💙 🌱
This is the big one; everyone has their own Yokai. All the bosses, which are also Yokai, are shiny s🎀pirits that show up out of nowhere with no build-up, and the characters have their own persona that follows them around that ma💦y or may not be attached to their soul.
It is n𝐆ot defined if they are different Yokai, good or bad. Obviously, the bad ones are the ones that fight you, but no definition is🎃 given to all the others and their purpose, goals, or sentience. Where they even come from is a mystery.
3 Tōkichirō Isꦍ Always Conveniently Late
During some crucial moments, you'll find that your Merchant monkey-man friend, Tōkichirō, always comes in late like Goku does to an important fight in Dragon Ball Z. He will not be seen anywhere during the fight, as if he disappeared but then greets you wh♈en you are done.
This is a much too obvious formula in the game where you take on the b🎃ad guy alone while Tōkichirō is off doing something else, then he meets up with you the moment you walk out of the boss area. It's too convenient that he finishes his duty the moment you are done so he can lead you to the next cutscene.
2 Technica🅺l꧟ly, It's Enslavement
Tōkichirō also has the power to turn Yokai nice and friendly with the magic stones he's good at literally sniffing out. It's never clear if the Yokai that he uses this skill on are evil turning to good, or if it's just outright𝔍 mind control.
In one scene you see him use it on a Griffin-like boss and immediately calm it, this thing could have had every animal reaction and was protecting its ꩲ🍰territory. But after he uses the stone, it becomes loving and submissive as if it were a pet. In other words, it could have had a perfectly good reason for attacking then all of a sudden, it loses all agency and just gives Tōkichirō whatever he wants.
1 The Strange Re൩💜quest To Share A Name
Tōkichirō and Hide, all of a sudden, request their captain that that they should share a name. This is an odd reques🐼t considering Hide doesn't really have any say in the matter, especially factoring the aforementioned creative decision to render them mute. It i𒊎s a request that's not really given a reason for being but appears as an inspirational scene.
Hide does most of the work with all fights and shows little interest in Tōkichirō at all times, and it does lit✨tle to effect the plot. Marrying their names out of the blue might give credit to the idea that Tōkichirō actually controls Yokais' minds with his stones rather than de-evilizes them. But other than that, it makes no sense.