Nioh 2 Darkness in the Capital review: The grind continues

Go back into the Heian period and uncover more secrets of the Sohayamaru while diving deeper into demon hordes and greater threats in Nioh 2’s latest DLC.

Nioh 2’s second DLC, Darkness in the Capital, continues where the first left off, but in a time period before The Tengu’s Disciple. I can barely explain how this makes sense, given that you’re technically changing some events in history to find out the origins of this weapon and its abilities. Once again, however, you’re journeying through the past with your two trusty guardian spirits Hakutaku and Nekomata.

You’ll see some old and new faces journeying through the Heian period, going through much more action right from the get-go. It’s a longer experience than The Tengu’s Disciple, and it’s drawn out in a way where the downtime is minimal and everything happens at a steady pace. There are new enemies, more challenging bosses, new armor sets, gear, a new weapon class, and more to unpack from the Darkness in the Capital expansion.

What came in this is the new fist weapon class. It’s fast, snazzy, and a combo monster of a weapon. On top of that, the level cap has now been increased from 400 to 600, double of that from the last expansion. Player stat level caps have also now been lifted from 99 to 200, meaning stats like Skill or Heart can go even higher.

As is tradition, with every Nioh DLC comes an additional difficulty level. Dream of the Wise, which is the equivalent of a New Game +++ (4th level new game/ playthrough). The enemies are a lot beefier, there are different enemy layouts in levels, more rare drops— including the Ethereal rarity gear, and new set bonuses with them.

Additionally, there is a new Stone of Penance system that, from my understanding, allows you to sacrifice an item to give it better stats. However, to give it those better stats, you’ll be given a Stone of Penance in return, leveling that item up as you play through levels. With each level these items gain, they make subsequent missions harder. Once your stone reaches maximum rank is what the highest the gear can go in that system. This system also works well as a difficulty slider for those who have min-maxed builds or just want even more of a challenge.

Finally, there are a plethora of new stat rolls to get for your soul cores, armor pieces, scrolls, weapons, and accessories. You can also now get Ethereal grace set bonuses on your accessories like magatamas and omamori charms. The grace set mixing and matching goes even deeper now, so this is where the farm begins. Thankfully, the farm is engaging and tough enough so it isn’t necessarily monotonous.

The Nioh 2: Darkness in the Capital is out now and gives players even more of an incentive to go on their fantasy samurai power trip to take down hordes of demons and overcome tough duels against the human bosses. You’ll also notice something familiar about the armor I’m wearing in the screenshots above. A crossover of sorts? Find out as you play the new DLC.