A solid port for a good game, and a great starting point for newcomers.
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Team Ninja, mostly known for the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series, impressed gamers this year with Nioh for the PS4, and now PC gamers have their chance to play via the Complete Edition. Before we get into the review, we should mention that this will be mostly a review of the quality of the PC port, and that we played both with a keyboard and mouse as well as a Steam Controller.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Nioh takes place in 17th century Japan, where the player controls Englishman William Adams who, under the guidance of ninja masters, starts his journey to beating up all of the spirits and demons that cross his path. This combination of Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden themes and mechanics focuses on traditional hand-to-hand combat and growing stronger throughout the journey.
Once we’d sorted out the resolution (you can go up to 4K depending on your rig) and picked a frame-rate (you can have it running at 60 frames-per-second, again, if your rig can handle it), we were good to go. Unfortunately, the user interface reminds us of the one on console, as all menu and in-game prompts use the Steam Controller inputs, even if no controller is plugged in. What’s worse is that when we tried to change the key bindings on the keyboard, the key configuration menu froze, and we had to restart the game again.
The graphics settings offered by the game are very similar to the game modes offered by the PS4 Pro version: Action and Cinematic presets are pretty much direct copies. In addition, there are also presets for lowest and highest quality. The graphics are also configurable, allowing changes to up to 4K (3840×2160) resolution, 30 or 60 frames per second, selection menus for rendering resolution and shadow quality, as well as checkboxes for dynamic reflections, camera motion blur and ambient occlusion. And, of course, you can choose to play in full screen, windowed or borderless windowed mode.
Even if the UI gives the impression that no keyboards exist in this world, the game is still playable with one. Without a controller, the only option is one preset configuration, where the character is moved with WASD, the camera is moved with the oddball H, U, N, and semicolon, while every other action is bound to letters, arrow keys, and every possible function key – the mouse is totally absent.
Steam Controller, however, is supported natively, and after all the keyboard madness, using the controller felt great, and our death count didn’t grow nearly as fast as before. Controlling the camera with the touchpad felt a little odd, but that was mostly a preference problem. The touchpad itself didn’t feel over or undershooting, and it’s clear that it’s been fine-tuned to perfection.
In the end, the port is solid, but not without its issues. The game didn’t crash once during testing, and with the exception of launching the game, the loading times were rather short too. Koei Tecmo’s previous ports were top notch, so the end result isn’t a surprise, nor is the price point of £39.99 (which, we’ll remind you, includes all previous DLC – Dragon of the North, Defiant Honour and Bloodshed’s End DLCs and all those other free updates). Just remember to bring a controller.
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Keyword: Nioh Complete Edition (PC)