PSA: Nioh Beta Demo starts tomorrow, earn your Mark of the Strong DLC

Are you a fan of hard, Souls-like, or character action games? Then you should probably be excited for the Nioh Beta Demo that goes live on August 23 (tomorrow), and comes to a close September 6. It's a great opportunity to see what changes Koei Tecmo have made to the game after taking the alpha's fan feedback into consideration. Not to mention it's just fun as hell.

Just like the Nioh Alpha Demo before it, the beta will reward players that complete the new challenges with a special key item DLC that will unlock exclusive bonuses in the final release. The Mark of the Conqueror was the reward for completing the alpha's boss fights, while beta demo bosses will offer the Mark of the Strong.

If you missed the alpha, then worry not: On top of the new areas, the beta also brings back the alpha's content in full, allowing players that missed out on the alpha to earn the Mark of the Conqueror. Players that already have the Mark of the Conqueror may skip the alpha areas, and proceed to the new zone immediately. Additionally, there are also “Twilight” versions of the old stages, which have altered enemy types, new bosses, and better equipment drops.

While it's not for everyone, the Nioh Alpha Demo was good enough to make yours truly temporarily forget about Dark Souls 3, my current front-runner for GOTY, so the beta can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned. Who knew a cross between Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden would feel so good? With a little extra polish, Nioh could be the surprise of the generation.

Check out the advanced combat video below to see what I mean: