Nioh 3 by developer Team Ninja and publisher Koei Tecmo America—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with copy provided by the publisher.
#Nioh3 Nioh 3
Estimated Reading Time: 17 minutes.
Related reading:
● Nioh - PS4 Review
● Nioh 2 - PC Review
● Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - PS5 Review
● Nioh 3 - Alpha and Pre-release demo Preview
The year is off to a great start.
Releasing a demo containing the first hours of Nioh 3 in late January, Nioh 3 itself released on February 6. Available until February 15, this demo allowed players to experience the beginning of what this title has to offer.
From an amazing character customization to a new dual playstyle in a more open world format environment, everything accomplished can carry over to the main game. The best parts? Anyone who completed the demo in the available time frame will revive an item in the full game and the trophies are retroactive. So there's no reason to restart!
Now for the reason you're here. After a solid almost 70 hours between the demo and the rest of the adventure, Nioh 3 is easily already on my short list for game of the year. It also, for the record didn't feel like that much time… where have my past two weeks gone?!
Introduction
For those that may not have heard of Nioh before, it is Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s Soulslike series. Taking a different direction from the often darker gothic inspired designs that the genre gravitates towards, Nioh instead chose to visit Japan in the 15~1600s. Using historical events as a backdrop allowed for an interesting fantasy adventure of what could have happened if otherworldly power was involved.
This series has also never been afraid to try new things while still keeping its formula intact. Starting with Nioh in 2017, our British protagonist William sets sail for Japan in the very late 1500s. Instead of the more Metroidvania approach that most Soulslikes have adopted with plenty of locked doors, ladders to kick down and other shortcuts to unlock in a single large environment, Nioh instead went in a stage like format. Stages could vary in length but they all finished with an epic boss fight.
Released in 2020, Nioh 2 enhanced the gameplay design of its predecessor. While being named, Hidechiyo, you this time around had the chance to design your own character that would become “half” of Hideyoshi, one of Oda Nobunaga’s retainers. Where you were different from William is that you yourself were half demon. You could harness the powers of the spirit guardians in a different way and instead of seriously imbuing your weapons with power, you yourself changed shape and surged in power. You could also now acquire demon cores for an even greater advantage in battle.
Just released, Nioh 3 takes all of the above, including lessons learned from Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty in 2023, and has dropped the best entry yet. Combining stage-like designs with open world hubs, our latest protagonist and future Shogun Tokugawa Takechiyo is fighting for Japan across the ages starting in the early 1600s, visiting the late 1500s, the late 200s, and mid 1800s for some interesting blends of challenges.
Exploration
Where the Nioh series has stood apart from the rest of the Soulslikes is in its stage design. While using some of the Metroidvania formula with locked doors, hidden passages and plenty of shortcuts, these were all “bite” sized pieces of the world. This has allowed for a very catered experience that presented a very specific gauntlet to be conquered.
Nioh 3 is the first in this series to move away from the strict stage-like design. Combining the stage-like formula that it's known for with “open world” hubs, the scope is now much grander in what can be done. While the specific stages segments will continue to throw a very catered gauntlet your way, the open nature of the hubs will often allow you to poke and prod at various parts of Japan throughout the years.
There are still plenty of elements to block your path such as locked gates that need a specific key, doors that “don’t open from this side”, and shortcuts to uncover but it works well together. If you can’t move forward right away, that’s often because you don’t yet have the right tools to do so. You can also explore another area if the current area is too hard.
While I personally in general am not a fan of open worlds as I often find them empty and just an excuse to pad the core gameplay design, the open nature of the hubs work for the most part. Rarely did I feel like I was going through yet another empty space as there is enough to do while you’re in each of these areas. Lastly, I appreciated that some of these areas will see multiple uses from the main and secondary quests.
Map items
Love them or hate them, Nioh 3 has A LOT of collectibles or actions to be taken on a map for "completion. Back once again are our adorable Kodama that reside in the shrines that act as our safety points. Scattered throughout the world, they need to be guided back and can provide us with bonuses for doing so.
Also returning are treasure chests big and small. Who doesn’t like a good loot box? Available to locate are Chijiko which are flying ferrets that love to be used for target practice. Once shot down they can be pet and will drop you much needed items for character development. Finally, and also returning are the Scampusses which are super adorably round but unlike before, need to be chased down to obtain a reward.
While these may sound like “ugh”, why do I have to do this for a simple item or three, they combine into a grander feature. Each hub is designed in regions that all have a various amounts of items or actions that must be taken. As these lists are completed, you’ll obtain permanent bonuses such as attack, defense or luck increases which can go a very long way as the adventure progresses.
The best part? Once you get to the higher thresholds of completion, you’ll be able to see all the currently missing ones on the map. This makes searching much easier with no need for guides in order to get 100%.
Player graves
Making a return are the various player's graves that can be interacted with. This is one feature that I’ve enjoyed going back to the original alpha for Nioh. While Demons and Dark Souls introduced a feature to see the last moments of a player’s life before “something” ended it, Nioh instead allows you to fight these revenants.
While controlled by the game’s AI (which goes back decades now with IF / Then statements), revenants can easily differ from one to another as they are a reflection of the player that died. Do they go in for super fast attacks? Use items? Dodge a lot? Try to stay in long range combat? All of these can be easily calculated by the system to give other players a challenge.
Why do this though? Like in the original, you can do it for Glory (more below), or you can do it for cold hard steel. Taking out a revenant gives you the chance to acquire a copy of one or more pieces of gear that they are holding. Sometimes this can be better than what you have, other times it’s useful for materials to help you upgrade.
Introduced in Nioh 2 and making a return is the ability for players to place benevolent grave sites. Like the malevolent graves, they will summon a copy of a player but instead of facing off against them, they’ll stay with you for a period of time giving you a bit of breathing room especially against foes of immense powers like the new Bloodedge Demons.
Bloodedge Demons
These will haunt me for a long time.
As tough as I considered some of the boss fights, I would rather do them with increasing difficulty than facing off against one of these four horsemen of the apocalypse. Horseman War here is the accumulation of the hatred of all of the players that died.
If I’m not mistaken on this aspect, the more players that die, the stronger this demon is? They do however level with you, so regardless of if they level up another way, they will always be an insane fight as they are already stronger than they have the right to be. In my almost 70 hours, I’ve honestly only defeated three in total and that is not from a lack of trying. Two in the Beta Demo and one in the main game.
So why go out of your way for this? The loot they dropped changed the entire course of my game. The armor was nice, by the Tonfa they dropped with a VERY high paralyze infusion? I literally used them until the very end of the game through the returning soul level matching available at the blacksmith.
So worth it, but you’re going to have to really work for those victories.
Combat styles
While each Soulslike has its own quirk, the Nioh series continues to push the boundaries of its own from one entry to the next.
Shifting styles
Originally combining the martial Samurai arts with both Ninjitsu and Onmyo as support abilities, you could shape William and Hidechiyo into the type of warrior that you wanted.
Unlike our former protagonists, Takechiyo can literally on a moment's notice switch from being a Samurai to a Ninja. Weapon change, armor change, and even appearance change if you want, all of these changes allow for two completely different playstyles without the need to restart your entire character development.
I loved this as it allowed for a much more flexible approach to the various challenges. Being nimble won’t always help you win the day, some days you need to tank the hits. Other times, you need to be fast otherwise you’ll never catch up or be able to avoid certain enemies. The shifting mechanic has removed the compromise in your character setup. Now you can really play as you want to play regardless of the situation.
Samurai Mode
Playing as a Samurai is everything that we’ve come to know over the course of the series. With multiple different weapons available, we can hold them in a low, medium or high stance which will affect the speed and power. As new weapon abilities are learned, we can modify some of these moves to be stronger and slower, or, add in some elemental damage for good measure.
It still feels just as solid as it has been. Where some players may feel “slighted”, is that not all of the weapons are available for a Samurai loadout, nor a Ninja loadout. Heavier and harder hitting weapons have been reserved keeping this mode feeling powerful. That’s not to say that there aren’t faster hitting weapons like your standard sword, but for Tonfa lovers, me, those are in the Ninja category.
Ninja Mode
Playing as a Ninja is where things get interesting. Unlike playing as a Samurai that can adjust how they hold their weapon, a Ninja only has one style. To compensate for this, playing as a Ninja allows you to equip several “usable” items that can be recharged for unlimited use. Elemental range attacks, surikens, caltrops, bombs, you name it. The stronger the item, the less uses it will have, but the more efficient it will be.
I abso-freaking-lutely loved this new style of gameplay. You can say that it’s technically already been there, but for people like me who have always preferred a character that can take more than one hit? I’ve avoided it as I just know that I’ll be dodging into an attack instead of out at the worst possible timing. Now being able to have a tank mode and a dodging mode for any occasion? I made very good use of the Ninja’s unlimited items.
Equipment
To prepare for all of these situations, you’ll be spending a decent amount of time in the equipment menu. Both Samurai and Ninja modes have their own melee weapons, range weapon, armor sets and accessories. Looking through both active and passive abilities will take some time, however it’s worth the investment.
Spirit guardians
Only adding to what you can do are your spirit guardians. These wonderful beings are back again and even better than before. Each spirit comes with an attack and defense value to increase your character’s baseline. From there, each spirit also has two special attacks that can be used for some pretty epic gameplay.
More than that, however, is that Burst moves from Nioh 2’s demon core abilities have moved into both the switching of the styles mentioned above and the spirit guardian abilities. Those giant red flashing attacks are no longer as scary as they have been as there are multiple ways to now counter them without fear of being taken out in one hit.
I have still been on many occasions taken out in one hit. But it’s a Soulslike, you learn, you adapt, and you run back to your spirit guardian to hopefully not lose all of the amrita that has been accumulated to level up!
Soul cores
Soul cores have also made a return but function “differently” than before. In Nioh 2, these cores were used for Burst attacks to counter the dreaded red attacks from enemies. Having been replaced by the spirit guardians, soul cores now have a Yin and Yang function.
If a core is set into the Yang position, that demon can be summoned however many times is listed to perform an attack against your enemies. The stronger the demon, the less times it can be summoned, but, the stronger the attack. Cores set into the Yang position will also provide an attack and defense boost similar to the Spirit Guardians.
If a core is set into the Yin position, Onmyo talismans can be created for use that are restored every time that you rest at a Kodama Shrine. These abilities range from added elements to your weapons, boosting your attack, your defense, regenerating your health or surrounding yourself in floating elemental orbs for extra damage. Why should the enemies get all of the fun?
I really enjoyed this adjustment to the soul cores from Nioh 2 as it allowed for so much flexibility while keeping the same pieces in play.
Rewards systems
So what does everything above have in common? The more you do, the more that you’ll be rewarded for it. Fighting enemies, tackling strong bosses, fighting mid-bosses, chasing down scampusses and guiding Kodama home all reward you in one of two ways.
Kodama and Jizo Six Statue boons
Guiding our little adorable yokai home has also been beneficial to us. In a stage-like format, these rewards used to be localized to either a stage or set of stages, but now? These bonuses carry through across the ages!
For every Kodama that you guide home, you’ll receive points that can be used to increase healing Elixir drop rates, its efficiency, and if it could boost your attack and defense at the same time. Comparatively, stopping to pray at Jizo statues will net you Jizo Merit that can be used to increase melee damage done in Crucibles, as well as Crucible Elixir drop rate, Life Corrosion and Guardian Spirit Skill recovery in Crucibles.
In both of these cases, these small increases can go a long way to help you out.
Titles
For everything else you do, you’ll earn a reputation in a variety of categories that will all allow you to increase the percentage of certain aspects. Increasing the amount of Amrita acquired will allow you to level up faster. You can increase your stealth to sneak around more easily. You can also increase the damage to another Ki which will allow you to perform grapple attacks even faster.
The great thing about all of these decisions are that none of them are permanent, allowing you to easily mix, match and try a variety of different upgrades to see what works best for you.
Clan battles
Clan battles continue to be interesting. This is where all of your glory can be used for a faction of your choice to try to come out on top of others. Glory can be accumulated by defeating revenants summoned through malevolent graves or by having your character summoned through benevolent graves.
What’s it all used for? Primarily, it’s used in a store that allows you to spend glory to buy items, character looks or gestures. What it is also used for is to raise your rank in the clan to increase the passive bonuses that it bestows for your loyalty. If you don’t end up liking these bonuses, you can always move, but this can only be done once every eight hours.
Either that, or move before you’re tired of being on the losing team. There’s no judgement here. I myself while having constantly been on the losing team haven’t moved because the bonuses provided to me made breaking an opponents Ki that much easier.
Summary
I think that we can all admit that the above was a lot to go through. Unlike a lot of others in the genre, Nioh continues to have layers to its gameplay that all come together for a very refined experience. Does it always work? “Yes”, but like a lot of others in the genre there are areas that can be a bit rougher than others.
Soulslikes have a high entry point and Nioh 3 is no different. In a way, Nioh 3 may have an even higher entry point as the first boss is damn right savage with most of the game’s features becoming available after that point. That said, I did keep expecting a super high difficulty spike that soulslikes and JRPGs are both known for, and it didn’t happen. Were some areas tougher? Sure, but not so much so that I would die in one hit. I mean… I did, but that’s because I realized that I shouldn’t have been there but conquered the day anyways. I was there and not leaving until I won.
What I think may have offset that difficulty spike are the adjustments to the series core features and the inclusion of being able to shift between a Samurai and Ninja loadout to be the one dictating the fight and not being dictated to.
Where I have a “tiny” bit of disappointment with Nioh 3 compared to its predecessors is with the normal enemies. The variety of yokai seems to be reduced and certain enemies were simply adjusted to meet a new environment. There was also a heavy recycling of previous bosses from Nioh and Nioh 2 for mid-bosses. I would have liked to see more new bosses across each area with the reduction of the stage-like format.
But otherwise, I really enjoyed the move to the new hub like format as I wasn’t sure how the “open world” would work. I’m happy that it wasn’t an actual open world but more of larger catered areas that use most of what’s been placed there.
Conclusion
Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s Nioh 3 continues to push the envelope of what this series offers. Moving away from a pure stage-like format and introducing area hubs works really well to divide the adventure’s chapters. Combined with multiple enhancements to the already fast-paced gameplay, and the new ability to instantly switch between Samurai and Ninja like combat, I was hooked solid from start to finish.
Score: 9/10
