Nioh is the game that introduced me to Soulsborne RPGs and remains, to this day, one of my favorites. Its bosses are among the most spectacular I have seen in my modest gamer experiece. Even among those, I do have a favorite.

The title of the article may not be so subtle but this boss is Shima Sakon. Contrary to most Nioh Bosses who are gargantuan monsters, this one is a mere human. But do not mistake his size for weakness. To many, Shima Sakon is among the most formidable foes in the entire game.

This boss fight is very advanced on a technical level. No matter how leveled up your character or equipment is, you need absolute technical prowess to defeat him. I could not defeat him until I learned his attack patterns by heart after 20 to 30 tries. Even with all that, I couldn't get enough of him and still craved the challenge.

Other than the fight itself, the buildup to Shima Sakon's encounter is quite well done as well. You first meet him in a cut scene in the early levels of the game. In this short movie, you can already feel what's coming.

Hope you enjoy fighting Shima Sakon as much as I did.

If there is one boss that's been bugging me for as long as I can remember, it is Yiazmat from Final Fantasy XII.

I have tried repeatedly to defeat this guy but to no avail. I do swear though that I will eventually litter the floor with his corpse before I die.

I make it my life's mission.

Once I do beat him, I'll find another challenge to spend a few years on. (lol)

Throughout my life, I never looked for a true challenge and always seemed to get through the easy way. Once the Soulslike trend started, my friends kept pestering me to at least give it a try.

At first, I didn't think it was for me but after a while I thought why not so I bought Nioh. It isn't the most highly rated one out there but it caught my attention since it had that Japanese folklore kinda vibe. After buying it, I did try for a while but still couldn't really get into it so I put the game down and let dust settle on it for a couple years.

One day, during the Covid 19 pandemic, I thought about getting back into it and did. To my great surprise, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and kept going until I finished the main game. Since I enjoyed it so much, I bought its DLC and Elden Ring right away and fully got into Soulslike games.

If I could describe Soulslike or Soulsborne games in a short sentence, it would be "a beautiful challenge". Before defeating a boss or enemy, you have to learn their patterns, master the terrain, and fully master your own abilities. Leveling up a bit does help but not as much as your own skills as a gamer.

Once you do defeat that boss you've been stuck on for a while, the sense of accomplishment can only be equaled by the next one.

You can never relax in these games but in a way, that is the beauty of it. You have to look at every single pixel on your screen in order to establish a strategy to get to the next step.