#6: Ni-Oh
Here’s a surprise reveal from last year’s E3. Ni-Oh was announced by Koei all the way back in 2004, and legend has it that its script was written by Hisao Kurosawa, son of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, based on an unfinished script by that director. After seemingly languishing in development hell for a century, Koei Tecmo finally revealed the samurai game last year.
Ni-Oh follows a blonde-haired Samurai named William, the son of a Japanese lord and a Western woman. The game will be set in the Warring States era of Japan in the 16th Century, and features very Dark Souls-esque combat, full of dodging and slicing up enemies. Also, William’s hair appears to have gone white as of the reveal trailer, making him look quite a bit like Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher series. Geralt slicing it up in medieval Japan with Dark Souls combat? Talk about a great pitch!
Ni-Oh is scheduled to be released in 2016, marking the end of its rather protracted development cycle.