Following the success of the Nioh alpha demo released for PlayStation 4 a few months back, a second (this time it’s a beta) trial will go live on PSN from August 23 and will be available to download for two weeks, publisher Koei Tecmo has announced.
Speaking on Sony’s PlayStation blog, community manager Chin Soon Sun revealed that the first demo was downloaded more than 850,000 times in just 10 days, which resulted in the developer being able to “collect valuable feedback” for future improvements.
The post continues:
Today, we’re happy to reveal that the second downloadable demo will be available to download and play via PlayStation Store starting August 23 until September 6! After this period, download and play of the demo will be disabled.
With the Beta demo more of the rewarding (yet dangerous) gameplay from the Alpha will be present. A new dojo stage will feature an intense training session which teaches the basics of Nioh’s samurai combat system. Players will also be able to explore a yet-to-be-announced stage.
A selection of new katana, spears, axes, and hammers will be available to collect to uniquely suit a player’s gameplay style. Players will also be able to add a few new weapons to their arsenal as well.
Affectionately referred to as ‘Samurai Souls’ by the its fans, Nioh contains many similar elements to that of FromSoftware’s hugely-successful Dark Souls series, including a risk/reward levelling, an extremely high level of difficulty and a comparable approach to level design.
No firm release date has been posted by Team Ninja or Koei Tecmo just yet, but it appears the game is still on track for a 2016 release.