Nioh 2...

Is definitely harder than the first.

I played these bad boys on the PS4 originally but this year I got them on Steam and have been replaying them.

Although most people say you can just cheese 1 with living weapon, I purposely did not do that. Instead learning the fights all over again and probably being a scummy ninja didn't help. I don't play ninja for an easy life, I just love being able to play as one.

Even on the 3rd play through I find I don't struggle much, enemies are pretty predicable and you have to be wreckless to get punished.

I then went to Nioh 2. Ki management is so much harder and the longer delay to ki pulse gets me quite a lot. Enemies are much faster like One Eyed Oni and Tengus. So some of the habits of the first game are getting me punished in the second. Generally, its a learning curve, but heck, I've had to lean more on the "living weapon" here than I did in the first game. Minding your Ki, abilities and having a dedicated build and weapon in mind matter so much more in 2 vs 1.

Not saying either are bad though, both have quirks and both are in my favorite games of all time lists. Never noticed how much more awkward 2 can be over 1 until I played them back to back though.