Nioh's identity is misled imho by the community, it's not a "souls like" game, it's a Hack and Slash with "souls-like" elements. Every area has shrines as checkpoints and a boss to defeat as "souls-like" games have, but the gamestyle is totally Hack and slash element. Also Co-oP works same as "souls-like".
The Nioh's beggining is the most frustrating thing in the game, you start with zero combos and skills, your only option to defeat enemies is to pick up a weapon and use 'quick/heavy' attack on the enemy. If you manage to defeat the first area (which by the way is way more easier than Nioh 1) then you'll actually start playing the game. Weapon Proficiency is key to enjoy the game, because you start unlocking skills which then you can combine them to achieve high damage combos.
I'm tonfa main, in Nioh 2 i also loved fists and Switchglaive weapons for their variety of combos, they're amazing. You've got variety of weapons and playstyle to choose and every weapon has it's own skills and abilities. Nioh is a gear-level based game so you gotta change your gear a lot especially at the start. If you find any level gear higher than yours it's propably worth equipping it. You can speedrun your areas to the boss or you can farm enemies in order to farm higher lever gear.

I loved the game but it has 3 big thumbs down things for me:
1. NG+2 (Deam of the Demon)
Every mode in Nioh 2 is totally balanced expect NG+2. The boss life difference between NG+1 and NG+2 is the worst unbalanced thing i ever experienced in a game as far as i remember. I was fighting Mezuki with Lvl160+7 Gear and it was the worst unbalanced nightmare. I forced to leave the mission and use the gear i got from NG+2 in order to have a chance.
My point is: NG+1 DOES NOT prepare you for NG+2 at all! The difference is huge, i have played all the way to the "Dream of the Nioh" (NG+4) and i haven't meet anything more unbalanced other than NG+1,NG+2 difference. Anyway i believe NG+2 needs a minor nerf on its two starting areas.
2. Character without voice.
Seriously bring back a protagonist with a voice and a desire, i didn't like the story a lot because the protagonist doesn't talk at all. Seriously? You can make a character who can be customized by the player WHO CAN TALK.
A non-talking character was a dissapointment for me.
3. Guardian Spirits.
I'm a tonfa main player and i love playing with my weapons, in Nioh 1 i could use Guardian Spirits to enchance my weapons so i could extra damage with my combos, in Nioh 2 the guardian spirit ability changes your character's form into Yokai. In General it is not a bad thing because you can deal tons of damage with that form, but it's not my playstyle. I literally entered in Yokai form less than 20 times because i simply hated it. Bring back the old guardian spirits or at least give us a choice on how we wanna use our guarding ability skill, Weapon enchance or Yokai form.

Despite the few negatives, Nioh is a good game, i recommend.

Nioh's identity is misled [i]imho[/i] by the community, it's not a "souls like" game, it's a [b]Hack and Slash[/b] with "souls-like" elements. Every area has shrines as checkpoints and a boss to defeat as "souls-like" games have, but the gamestyle is totally Hack and slash element. Also Co-oP works same as "souls-like". The Nioh's beggining is the most frustrating thing in the game, you start with zero combos and skills, your only option to defeat enemies is to pick up a weapon and use 'quick/heavy' attack on the enemy. If you manage to defeat the first area [i](which by the way is way more easier than Nioh 1)[/i] then you'll actually start playing the game. [b]Weapon Proficiency is key to enjoy the game,[/b] because you start unlocking skills which then you can combine them to achieve high damage combos. I'm tonfa main, in Nioh 2 i also loved fists and Switchglaive weapons for their variety of combos, they're amazing. You've got variety of weapons and playstyle to choose and every weapon has it's own skills and abilities. Nioh is a gear-level based game so you gotta change your gear a lot especially at the start. If you find any level gear higher than yours it's propably worth equipping it. You can speedrun your areas to the boss or you can farm enemies in order to farm higher lever gear. I loved the game but it has 3 big thumbs down things for me: 1. NG+2 (Deam of the Demon) Every mode in Nioh 2 is totally balanced expect NG+2. The boss life difference between NG+1 and NG+2 is the worst unbalanced thing i ever experienced in a game as far as i remember. I was fighting Mezuki with Lvl160+7 Gear and it was the worst unbalanced nightmare. I forced to leave the mission and use the gear i got from NG+2 in order to have a chance. My point is: [b]NG+1 DOES NOT prepare you for NG+2 at all![/b] The difference is huge, i have played all the way to the "Dream of the Nioh" (NG+4) and i haven't meet anything more unbalanced other than NG+1,NG+2 difference. Anyway i believe NG+2 needs a minor nerf on its two starting areas. 2. Character without voice. Seriously bring back a protagonist with a voice and a desire, i didn't like the story a lot because the protagonist doesn't talk at all. Seriously? You can make a character who can be customized by the player WHO CAN TALK. A non-talking character was a dissapointment for me. 3. Guardian Spirits. I'm a tonfa main player and i love playing with my weapons, in Nioh 1 i could use Guardian Spirits to enchance my weapons so i could extra damage with my combos, in Nioh 2 the guardian spirit ability changes your character's form into Yokai. In General it is not a bad thing because you can deal tons of damage with that form, but it's not my playstyle. I literally entered in Yokai form less than 20 times because i simply hated it. Bring back the old guardian spirits or at least give us a choice on how we wanna use our guarding ability skill, Weapon enchance or Yokai form. Despite the few negatives, Nioh is a good game, i recommend.