The gameplay is worse than Nioh's, and lacks a lot of its depth. There are multiple stances you can use, but they're fundamentally the same despite different attack animations and special moves. You'll come across enemies who are resistant to a certain stance, weak to one, and neutral to another. All you have to do is switch to whichever stance is appropriate as that'll maximise your ki (stamina) damage which is how you break enemies and open them up for critical attacks. In that regard there's about as much strategy as using a water Pokemon to deal with an opponent's Charizard. It's a huge step back from Nioh.
You'll also have to parry a lot. It's mostly intuitive, but there are occasionally enemies who have awkward attack patterns that make me scratch my head. Again, I prefer Nioh in this regard. I dislike this game's reliance on parrying since I feel it encourages the player to be more defensive. Slowing down the gameplay, though, makes more of the fights feel like an epic back-and-forth samurai duel, so it definitely has a cool factor.
The open world is ass. There are collectables strewn across multiple regions that are separated by nothing of interest. Fortunately you don't have to try very hard to find everything because as you gain bond "favour" within each region the map markers for each point of interest will be gradually revealed to you. Another thing I dislike is how you gain bond in each region: there's a small selection of five or so random events that might pop up during your travels which —some of them, not all— increase your bond when completed. You'll notice the same few over and over again. I also feel they disappear too easily —often in plain sight. Raising a banner (the equivalent of Nioh's shrines) will cause a langolier to erase these random events from time and existence. Some of these events consist of ruffians who you have to defeat in combat —stray too far, however, and they'll vanish into thin air before your very eyes. Although I wasn't too surprised when I first witnessed that because I noticed other NPCs also had a tendency to vanish as well —particularly the rabbits who, in this game, seem to phase out of existence at will.
It's a very barebones world with just enough collectables dangled in front of your face to keep you running on the wheel. There aren't any caves scattered around with hidden treasure, nor secret areas, nor any other reason to keep your wits about, honestly. Just screw around the region until you've unlocked all the markers, visit the points of interest, then move on.
With that said I am enjoying the game so far. It's worse than Nioh, but I consider Nioh 2 a 10/10. This is more of a 7/10 for me. I enjoy running around as a samurai, exploring a big —albeit fairly empty— world, travelling through Japanese cities, meeting historical figures, and all of the wacky nonsense you come across. It's fun.

The gameplay is worse than Nioh's, and lacks a lot of its depth. There are multiple stances you can use, but they're fundamentally the same despite different attack animations and special moves. You'll come across enemies who are resistant to a certain stance, weak to one, and neutral to another. All you have to do is switch to whichever stance is appropriate as that'll maximise your ki (stamina) damage which is how you break enemies and open them up for critical attacks. In that regard there's about as much strategy as using a water Pokemon to deal with an opponent's Charizard. It's a huge step back from Nioh. You'll also have to parry a lot. It's mostly intuitive, but there are occasionally enemies who have awkward attack patterns that make me scratch my head. Again, I prefer Nioh in this regard. I dislike this game's reliance on parrying since I feel it encourages the player to be more defensive. Slowing down the gameplay, though, makes more of the fights feel like an epic back-and-forth samurai duel, so it definitely has a cool factor. The open world is ass. There are collectables strewn across multiple regions that are separated by nothing of interest. Fortunately you don't have to try very hard to find everything because as you gain bond "favour" within each region the map markers for each point of interest will be gradually revealed to you. Another thing I dislike is how you gain bond in each region: there's a small selection of five or so random events that might pop up during your travels which —some of them, not all— increase your bond when completed. You'll notice the same few over and over again. I also feel they disappear too easily —often in plain sight. Raising a banner (the equivalent of Nioh's shrines) will cause a langolier to erase these random events from time and existence. Some of these events consist of ruffians who you have to defeat in combat —stray too far, however, and they'll vanish into thin air before your very eyes. Although I wasn't too surprised when I first witnessed that because I noticed other NPCs also had a tendency to vanish as well —particularly the rabbits who, in this game, seem to phase out of existence at will. It's a very barebones world with just enough collectables dangled in front of your face to keep you running on the wheel. There aren't any caves scattered around with hidden treasure, nor secret areas, nor any other reason to keep your wits about, honestly. Just screw around the region until you've unlocked all the markers, visit the points of interest, then move on. With that said I am enjoying the game so far. It's worse than Nioh, but I consider Nioh 2 a 10/10. This is more of a 7/10 for me. I enjoy running around as a samurai, exploring a big —albeit fairly empty— world, travelling through Japanese cities, meeting historical figures, and all of the wacky nonsense you come across. It's fun.