| Nioh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Team Ninja |
| Publisher(s) | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5Windows
|
| Director(s) |
|
| Producer(s) | Hisashi Koinuma |
| Programmer(s) | Yuta Yamazaki |
| Artist(s) | Hirohisa Kaneko |
| Writer(s) |
|
| Composer(s) | Yugo Kanno |
| Series | Nioh |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | PlayStation 4Windows
|
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing, hack and slash |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Nioh (Japanese: 仁王, Hepburn: Niō, "Two Kings") is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Team Ninja. It was released for PlayStation 4 in February 2017, and was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment internationally, and by Koei Tecmo in Japan. An edition for PlayStation 4 and Windows, containing the game's downloadable content, was released on November 7, 2017 by Koei Tecmo. A remastered version was released for PlayStation 5 on February 5, 2021.
Set during a fictionalized version of the year 1600, the plot follows the journeys of William Adams, an Irish sailor named after and inspired by the historic William Adams, an Englishman who became a samurai. Adams pursues the sorcerer Edward Kelley into the final battles of the Sengoku period during Tokugawa Ieyasu's efforts to unify Japan, an effort complicated by the emergence of yōkai that are flourishing in the chaos of war. Gameplay revolves around navigating levels and defeating monsters that have infested an area; combat revolves around stamina or "Ki" management and different sword stances that are strong or weak against different enemies.
Nioh began development in 2004 for PlayStation 3 as part of a multimedia project based on an unfinished Akira Kurosawa script. The project went through a turbulent and prolonged pre-production period, going through multiple revisions until its final version began development in 2014 for PlayStation 4. The story was based on the life of Western samurai William Adams, though it was embellished with supernatural elements. Development information was sporadic until 2015, when it was reintroduced to the public.
Alpha and beta demos were released during 2016, to both gauge public reaction to the title and make adjustments based on feedback. Initially scheduled for a 2016 release, the adjustments pushed the release into the following year. Upon release, Nioh received positive reviews, with praise going to the gameplay and graphics while the story was criticized as lacking or confusing. It reached high positions in sales charts, going on to ship over 3 million copies worldwide. A follow-up, Nioh 2, was released in 2020.