Nioh Adding Harder Missions, PvP, First DLC Pack Soon

By Derek Nichols 21 February 2017

• ps4
• team ninja
• namco bandai
• nioh

In a recent livestream, Koei Tecmo reveals its plans for supporting the hardcore action title Nioh with upcoming free and paid downloadable content packs.

The intense action game Nioh has gained a lot of momentum since launch, empowered by positive critical reviews and strong word of mouth around the gaming community. Taking inspiration from titles like Dark Souls, Nioh has proven to be a tough, yet satisfying experience that promises to keep players busy for quite some time. Still, players who want more content from the challenging title beyond the main story line won’t have to wait too much longer as Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo have finally revealed its post-launch support plans.

During a Japanese livestream yesterday, Koei Tecmo shared the first details on the mix of free and paid downloadable content players can expect to see in the coming months for Nioh. The publisher revealed that players will be seeing two free content updates across the next two months, followed by three premium downloadable content packs.

While prices and dates have not been revealed as of yet, the full schedule of post-launch content is as follows:

• In late March, ten new high difficulty missions are being added for free and include boss-rush style encounters.
• Player versus Player arrives in April with the second free update.
• The first premium DLC pack, Dragon of The North, also arrives in April and includes new levels, gear, scenarios, characters, guardian spirits, and yokai.
• Unfortunately, the next two premium expansions, Japan’s Best Warrior and Peaceful and Tranquil, were not detailed or given any sort of release window.

There’s no doubt that Nioh has been a pleasant surprise for many this year. Even with all of the positivity surrounding the game, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing since launch. Players looking forward to using a co-op system to battle demonic forces with friends quickly found that Team Ninja had made a small tweak to the system, ultimately changing how co-op works. Instead of letting players experience the game together at the same time like in the beta, one person was now required to have already cleared that level first.

This change sent the community into a flurry of activity, posting on sites like Reddit and flooding the social media accounts of Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja, and Sony with change requests. Ultimately, Nioh creative director Tom Lee revealed the change was ultimately made prior to launch to prevent the game from being too easy. The developers wanted players to experience the game as it was meant to be and co-op would make many of the challenging segments and boss fights such as Onryoki, much easier than intended.

Are you happy with this schedule and mix of free and paid content? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments.

Nioh is available now exclusively on PlayStation 4.