Last year, Koei Tecmo announced it would be holding a “Character Creation Contest” during a then-upcoming Nioh 2 beta. The sequel to the company’s 2017 hit, Nioh 2 differs from its predecessor in that players will now be able to sculpt their own heroes for the adventure. The contest was held to determine what the eight pre-sets will be for when the final game launches.

Now, we know which templates will be available. Consisting of four male and four female characters, the options are pretty radically different from one another. It seems players opted to push developer Team Ninja’s character creator to its limits because these are definitely not what I’d have created.

A Tweet on the official Nioh 2 Twitter account describes the characters as “beautiful boys” and “girls in pastel colors.” One of the characters is even based on Naoki Yoshida from Final Fantasy XIV. It’s certainly a fascinating departure from the first Nioh and its pre-determined character.

Siliconera names the winners of each portrait in its post. In the top row (going from left to right) we have Fujiko Fujimino, Bo Diaz, Koma-p Tenzen, and Jesse Black. In the bottom row, the faces were created by Ruder, CHANO, Juny Ymmt, and Siutyler. Tenzen’s creation is the one based on Yoshida, who happens to go by the nickname of Yoshi-P.

The names for these characters are likely going to be generic staples like “Male 1,” etc, but each creator will have a spot in the end credits of Nioh 2. It’s a way to say thank you to the community for supporting Team Ninja throughout the years. Without the fans, games like Nioh would have come and gone without a second glance.

As for when you’ll be able to get your hands on Nioh 2, it will be coming out with a cavalcade of other titles on March 13, 2020, for the PS4. A season pass with three additional episodes will be purchasable on release with each episode coming out a month apart. A PC port is likely considering the first title also received one. We may not see that until December 2020 or possibly January 2021, if at all.

Source: Twitter, Siliconera

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