After having unveiled Nioh 3 during the State of Play showcase earlier this week, as well as giving us a few details about some of its new features, Team Ninja has revealed that the studio doesn’t like to refer to Nioh 3 as an “open-world” game. In an interview with 4Gamer (translation via Automaton), general producer Fumihiko Yasuda and producer Kohei Shibata spoke about what makes Nioh 3 an “open field game” instead.
Yasuda also spoke about the decision behind going with a more open structure for Nioh 3, in contrast with its predecessors being more level-based. Team Ninja wanted to develop “a seamlessly connected Nioh” where players would have more freedom when it came to exploration. “If we were to dilute the map’s density to capture the vastness of an open world, it would no longer be Nioh 3. If we’re making Nioh 3, the density and craftmanship of the gameplay are non-negotiable,” Yasuda said.
Where open-world games are often described in terms of the scales of their world, Yasuda instead spoke about the density of the game’s map, which will consist of “interconnected fields” rather than a single massive open world. He also described how quite a bit of the map’s density in Nioh 3 came about thanks to areas throughout the map that will be filled with challenging Oni for players to take on. These areas are referred to as being “high-risk, high-reward zones.”
Shibata, on the other hand, shed some light on the general gameplay loop for Nioh 3. He said that players will often find themselves exploring large fields before inadvertently taking on the areas with the dangerous Oni. The studio has also revealed that exploration will take place on foot, with the lack of mounts or vehicles that players can use to explore the world.
Nioh 3 is currently in development for PC and PS5. Slated for an early 2026 launch, Nioh 3 currently has an alpha demo that PS5 players can check out for free. The studio has confirmed that the demo will only be available until June 18. However, it will also give players a look at how well the title will play on a PS5 Pro with its more advanced hardware and support for PSSR.
Along with its “open field” design, one of the other big features for Nioh 3 is the addition of the new Ninja Style. The style, which can be switched to on the fly from Samurai Style, focuses on quick movement and an evasion-centric play style. Ninja Style will also give players Ninjutsu-styled abilities, like Mist, which can create a clone. Samurai Style, on the other hand, focuses on deflecting attacks and more raw damage.
The Nioh franchise has proven to be quite successful for developer Team Ninja and publisher Koei Tecmo. Founder and CEO of Koei Tecmo, Yoichi Erikawa, revealed back in May that the Nioh franchise had sold “nearly” 8 million copies across the different platforms that it is available on. Both Nioh and Nioh 2 are available on PC, PS4, and PS5. The titles are available separately, as well as in a bundle through The Nioh Collection. For more details, check out our review.
