Nioh 2 has officially gone gold, meaning production, as far as the on-disc content is concerned, is complete. Developer Team Ninja celebrated the news in a Twitter post earlier today, noting that the prequel received “master approval.” As such, fans of the nascent franchise should expect Nioh 2 to meet its mid-March release date.
News of Nioh 2’s going gold comes on the heels of hands-on previews going live just last week from media and pundits. Notably, our preview called attention to the title’s difficulty. The game is, apparently, still rather punishing, despite Team Ninja’s reported adjustments on that particular front. This will likely please fans of the original entry.
Following an open beta late last year, Team Ninja released stats from a survey conducted with participants. The beta’s unrelenting difficulty was chief among the criticisms, as were frustrations about gameplay imbalance. According to the studio, many of the critiques were addressed in the last few months of development. In addition to difficulty, such changes include adjusted Dark Realm penalties, an updated User Interface, expanded tutorial features, and a variety of Ki-related refinements.
Following the game’s upcoming launch, Team Ninja plans to roll out three DLC packs, all included in a Season Pass. Each DLC release will package in prequel story content, new characters, extra weapons, and a few combat abilities. At the time of writing, release dates for this content have not been specified.
Nioh 2 hits store shelves for PlayStation 4 on March 13th. Standard and special edition preorders are currently live online and at retail. At $80, fans can grab the Special Edition, which features the game, a steelbook case, The Art of Nioh 2, and Season Pass. The Digital Deluxe Edition on PSN also costs $80, giving costumers access to in-game content, a PSN Avatar and Theme, and the Season Pass.
[Source: Nioh on Twitter]
