"Nioh," the much-hyped action RPG by Koei Tecmo finally has a playable beta demo. The game, which will be exclusive to the Playstation 4, has been in development for 12 years (it was originally announced all the way back in 2004).
According to VG24/7, the "Nioh" beta is now available on the PlayStation Store. It's available only for Europe now, but the American version should have it sooner or later. The beta, which is a 6 GB download, contains new areas, improvements from the alpha version, and opportunities to get new DLC as long as you beat it.
Here's some video of the new changes to "Nioh"'s gameplay, which include the revamping of the weapon durability system, the inclusion of a hard target locking system much like in that of the "Dark Souls" games, a blacksmith, weapon upgrades, and a bunch of other improvements as well.
"Nioh" is based on an unfinished script by noted Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa ("The Seven Samurai," "Rashomon"). It was originally announced in 2004, and originally slated for a 2006 release for the Playstation 3—however, it was heavily delayed without any reason given. Koei Tecmo only announced that it was still working on the game back in 2009. They would update the gaming world over the years until finally revealing the game again at last year's Tokyo Game Show.
"Nioh"'s story follows a fictional English samurai in Japan named William Adams who is in the country during its Warring States period in the late 15th century. How we got there, we don't know, and we'll probably find out as soon as we play the game. "Nioh" features fictional versions of notable historical Japanese personalities, such as legendary ninja Hattori Hanzo.
The "Nioh" beta demo is available for download until September 6. Meanwhile, there's still no news of a final release date for the game. We'll be giving you updates as soon as we get them.