Nioh

• If you want to get every single Kodama, either use a guide or find a talisman/other gear with Kodama Sense. Some of them can be pretty annoying to find and it's generally not fun to have to search every nook and cranny because you missed one when you're in front of the boss door. You can see how many Kodamas are in a mission on the mission select on the map. Generally only "main" missions will have Kodamas though.

• The further you get, the more important the stances get. The second boss (the one in the caves) was where I had to start appreciating low stance. Most of the trash enemies can be dealt with in mid stance though.

• You can headshot with ranged weapons, and it's a great strategy for softening up/reducing numbers in tough encounters.

• If you have played the Souls games, realize that dodge in Nioh is MUCH more powerful and can get you out of far stickier situations than the dodge roll could in Dark Souls.

• If you're swimming in whetstones, just use enough to get max familiarity with new weapons right away. The effect applies to all equipped weapons too, so if you're using a new main weapon, a new off weapon and like one ranged weapon you'll get more bang for your buck than if you equip just one melee weapon.

• There are two types of familiarity. One is for the weapon you have equipped, which increases that weapon's damage, one is for that weapon type. The second type will give you samurai skill points at regular intervals and will also be a limiting factor for some later specialized missions. It's not a bad idea to switch up your weapon for your secondary at times to get more samurai points, but don't spread yourself too thin. Focusing on more than two damage stats when leveling could gimp you in the long run. I focused on two damage stats and had some points in whatever stat governs ninjutsu and some in HP/Ki and I almost maxed out two of the samurai trees towards the end though, so it's not that strict.

• If you don't go deep into the ninjutsu tree, at least get the paralysis/poison cure stuff. If you do go a bit deeper, get the poison weapon buff, some big enemies go down way faster if you stick poison on them.

• Gestures aren't just for co-op. Some enemies can be interacted with using gestures.

• Blocking protects you 360 degrees around you. Even if you are getting attacked from behind, blocking will protect you.

• Some skills, such as Flux and Grapple, are universal to all weapon types.

• Sloth Talismans will make any non-DLC boss fight a cakewalk in case you delve a bit into Onmyo Magic.

• Level up all your stats a bit, bonuses are frontloaded. Then focus on the stats that your weapons favor.

• Your Guardian Spirit have bonuses that unlock as you level up your spirit. Always try to meet them.