Nioh 3 Review – Final Form

I went into Nioh 3 with doubts. When the first two games set the bar that high, “more of the same” can feel like the safest and laziest route. Instead, Nioh 3 feels refreshingly new without losing the rhythm longtime players love. I’ve been grinning nonstop, and its new spin on level design and combat that grabbed me immediately.

That’s not to say my playthrough has been flawless. There are compromises, yes, but they make sense in the context of a game that’s clearly aiming high, with smarter level design and a combat loop that’s hard to put down. More than once, I told myself I’d stop after “one last run,” only to lose another hour to a nasty group of yokai that sent me to the grave far more times than I’d like to admit. In short, Nioh 3 is downright addictive.

"Team Ninja clearly chose to focus its efforts on gameplay, which is arguably the more important part of the experience, and the narrative feels like a sacrifice made in service of what the game does best."

Let’s talk about the bad and mediocre parts, starting with the story. The story is just there, and there’s no sugarcoating that. I won’t go into spoilers, and I assume most players won’t be playing Nioh 3 for its narrative, but characters come and go, and the beats are so jumbled that it’s hard to care. At times, it feels like the game has the ingredients for a strong central hook, something that could tie its many battles together, but it never quite lands.

That’s been the case with past entries, too, but I still hoped things would be better this time and that the narrative would feel more elevated. Sadly, that isn’t really the case. To be fair, it wasn’t a dealbreaker for me. Team Ninja clearly chose to focus its efforts on gameplay, which is arguably the more important part of the experience, and the narrative feels like a sacrifice made in service of what the game does best.

One other potential annoyance is the heavy emphasis on loot. The sheer abundance of drops can be overwhelming, and you pick up gear at an alarming pace. With two loadouts (Samurai and Ninja) to manage now, things can get messy fast.

I also encountered a few glitches, such as enemies getting stuck in objects or the environment, bosses refusing to follow you out of their arenas and instead running off with their backs wide open, or enemies simply failing to notice you. Oddly enough, these moments were more amusing than frustrating, especially given how serious the game usually is. Still, the glitches are there and worth keeping in mind, even if they feel like the sort of issues that could be ironed out with updates.

"The sheer abundance of drops can be overwhelming, and you pick up gear at an alarming pace"

That’s about it for my complaints, and that’s a good thing. The rest of what Nioh 3 offers is so well done that I was itching to get back to playing it the moment I finished writing this.

Let’s start with the combat. If you’re a Nioh veteran, you’re going to feel right at home in the opening tutorial that lets you take your pick from four familiar weapons before you’re given a brief rundown of the Ki Pulse, Guard, and other mechanics, all of which are cleverly framed as an introduction to the Samurai fighting style.

One lengthy cutscene later, you’re being introduced to one of my favorite parts of what’s new this time around: the Ninja style. While you must get up close and personal with your foes as a Samurai, you get to keep your distance as a Ninja, using a range of nifty tricks to keep the damage coming in a myriad of ways.

There are shurikens you can throw out, bombs you can lob at large groups for some heavy damage to health and Ki bars, homing elemental spells, and a range of evasive abilities that allow you to position yourself behind enemies for a damage boost on your attacks. And all of that’s just the beginning. With a few skill points invested in the Ninja skill tree, you unlock even more ninja-specific ranged attacks, and it quickly becomes clear why this addition significantly extends the versatility of Nioh 2’s combat system.

"The parry from Wo Long is an easy unlock, and it immediately changed how I approached fights"

That’s not to say the Samurai tree is lacking in what it lets you do. The parry from Wo Long is an easy unlock, and it immediately changed how I approached fights. You can parry almost anything short of a Burst Attack. For anyone unfamiliar, Burst Attacks are massive unblockable moves that can only be countered with Burst Counters. They’re an absolute blast to pull off, but they do demand practice and careful attention to enemy patterns.

Good luck nailing the timing on your parries, however. It’s quite a tight window, and getting it right every time is going to take a lot of practice. It’s well worth the effort, though, and you’re going to devastate enemies unfortunate enough to raise a blade against you once you get the hang of it.

Of course, the Samurai style also comes with the usual stance-switching shenanigans from the previous games, allowing you to switch up your moveset based on the enemy you’re up against. But it’s when you start seamlessly switching between the Samurai and the Ninja that the combat begins to click.

The change is so seamless, and the choice to have separate loadouts for the two styles meant that I could rock a pair of uchigatanas on my Samurai for some dual-bladed devastation while using a very potent kusarigama on my Ninja for some crowd control and damage. It’s also very helpful in letting you know which style you’re currently using, with the distinct visual differences in your gear and the accompanying UI changes working well to convey that information in the heat of battle.

"Nioh 3 refuses to pull its punches, and you’re going to be dispatched to the nearest respawn point quite often"

Between the Samurai’s stances and the Ninja’s excellent ability to weave in and out of attacks, switching between the two is a symphony that becomes second nature quite fast, thanks to how Team Ninja has structured the rhythm of each fight around it. Enemies whip out burst attacks quite often, and countering them with a style switch makes you get used to both styles quite quickly as you try to gain the upper hand in battles that test your skills.

Believe me when I say that even the weakest of foes can have you grinding your teeth in frustration. Like the previous titles in the franchise, Nioh 3 refuses to pull its punches, and you’re going to be dispatched to the nearest respawn point quite often. However, trying out different weapons and loadouts is heavily encouraged, with no penalties for reallocating your hard-earned stat points. Player agency and experimentation are central to the experience, and they shine in Nioh 3.

However, if you’re like me, you might prefer to pick a weapon and stay with it, and that’s totally fine too. Whatever you choose to do, Nioh 3’s Soulslike trappings are an absolute blast, and it’s so addictive that you may want to free up your schedule before jumping in. And that brings me to the personal highlight of my time with the game.

I’m talking, of course, about the open field design that Nioh 3 introduces to the series for the first time. Gone are the linear main levels and the blocked off pathways seen in the series’ predecessors. This isn’t a true open world, but rather a set of massive, interconnected zones with new areas becoming accessible as you progress. Exploration plays a key role in the game’s mechanics, with your character gaining tangible benefits from carefully uncovering the map and clearing a wide range of objectives, each rewarding you in its own way.

"Nioh 3’s map is smaller and far denser as a result, which means it’s never long before you’re pulled into a fight with an unfamiliar enemy or stumble onto a new activity that demands your attention"

It follows some familiar open-world tropes, with enemy camps that have you wiping out groups of foes to gain access to chests filled with valuable loot. There are also minor Crucibles that call back to Nioh 2’s side content, pitting you against varied and increasingly difficult enemy groups in cramped spaces where the environment often works against you. The collectible Kodama return as well, and they’re much easier to track down this time, thanks to the map clearly showing their locations once you begin exploring an area.

The Scampusses don’t just sit around and wait for you to pet them; instead leading you on a chase to win their affections. Another benevolent yokai type potters around in the sky until you manage to shoot it down, dropping valuable loot when you do so. Field bosses can put up a brutal fight, and they’ll often push you to step away, do a bit more exploring, gain a few levels, and return for another round. That’s the beauty of the open field design in Nioh 3. There’s always something meaningful to do, and it’s usually close enough that you never lose sight of why you started wandering in the first place.

It worked in Elden Ring, and it works here too. However, Nioh 3’s map is smaller and far denser as a result, which means it’s never long before you’re pulled into a fight with an unfamiliar enemy or stumble onto a new activity that demands your attention. There’s very little downtime, just a near continuous chain of action, and I loved it for that.

With respawn points doubling as fast travel locations and the new Gale Sprint ability removing any real need for a mount, you’ll be zipping around the map with reckless abandon fairly early into the experience.

"The map clearly displays recommended levels, which is a great addition and encourages you to dip into lower-level zones instead of avoiding them outright."

Talking about mission structure, most objectives follow a familiar flow of pushing through a specific zone, reaching the other end, and unlocking further portions of the map. It’s fairly typical and expected, but the open-ended nature of the levels adds welcome flexibility in how you approach them, whether that’s leaning into stealth or going in headfirst. The stealth mechanics are simple and effective, and I found them especially useful for cheesing my way through a few boss encounters.

There are also several side missions, and while they mostly boil down to familiar objectives like fetching items or taking down specific bosses, they work well as brief diversions before jumping back into the main story content. The progression systems are exactly what you’d expect from a Nioh game. You level up across multiple categories and explore areas based on your existing character level.

The map clearly displays recommended levels, which is a great addition and encourages you to dip into lower-level zones instead of avoiding them outright. Beyond that, you can unlock a wide range of buffs and parameters, such as reducing enemy detection while sneaking or boosting melee damage. All of this feeds directly into the strong level design, encouraging exploration and pulling you into a consistent loop of rewards and progression.

"The bosses I’ve seen in my 30 hours with the game are all phenomenally designed, forcing you to use all of the tools you have available"

Yokai Cores are now the sole source of Onmyo magic in a change that simplifies spells. You slot your Soul Cores into your Onmyo Box, choosing either Yin or Yang to equip a spell or a summon. That’s a nice way to give players more control over what they want to do in the field, or against a deadly boss.

The bosses I’ve seen in my 30 hours with the game are all phenomenally designed, forcing you to use all of the tools you have available to try and keep the momentum of each fight in your favor. The animations are tight and very readable, although it’s all so fast you’re going to have your reflexes tested time and time again until muscle memory gives you a modicum of confidence in your own ability to survive.

The enemy designs are a sublime balance between familiar ones from past titles and new creatures that require a bit of learning before you begin to tear through their ranks in the field. It’s all presented so well and integrated so seamlessly that Nioh 3 feels like a title that the franchise had been building towards over the years.

The audio design deserves a special mention, with excellent cues communicating a variety of events. For instance, I equipped a Charm that granted a bit of life every time I used my bow on an enemy, and a distinct heartbeat would sound whenever the effect triggered. These cues make exploration far more engaging. I often found myself hitting the brakes during a long sprint simply because I heard a Kodama nearby. In a world as large as this one, they’re an invaluable quality of life feature.

The visuals and performance are equally good, with a layer of polish slapped on to Nioh 2’s already immersive art style, and the game runs buttery smooth in Performance mode on a base PS5. I did notice a bit of stutter in intense cutscenes and crowded environments, but it’s nothing to worry about, as it doesn’t affect gameplay in the slightest. I wouldn’t recommend running the game in Quality after experiencing Performance. My eyes simply couldn’t adapt, and I also noticed stutter on the PS5 Pro while playing in Quality mode.

"The audio design deserves a special mention, with excellent cues communicating a variety of events."

Would I recommend Nioh 3 to you? Absolutely. If you love an action RPG that doesn’t hold your hand, you’re in the right place. Just know this is the kind of game that can take a while, because it will challenge you again and again. I wouldn’t be surprised if many players tackle it in smaller chunks, knocking out a couple of missions or objectives a day before powering down and slowly chipping away at a map that can feel overwhelming at first, until you find your rhythm and develop your own way of tackling it.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.