Nioh Is Not Open World Because Of Considerations About Loading Times, Says Developer

Nioh looks to be one of the most promising looking upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusives at the moment. The action game, from Team Ninja and Keoi Tecmo, looks to be inspired by From Software’s Souls games in the best of ways. And with the developers incorporating player feedback on every step along the way, it looks like Nioh will get even better between now and its release.

However, one feature that the gae is curiously missing, that other modern games, and even other action games, have these days is a seamless open world. Speaking to DualShockers, Director Fumihiko Yasuda discussed that while the prospect of an open world had been considered, it had been ultimately decided to not include it in the game.

“Something that we decided not to implement was the adoption of a seamless open world,” he said. “We avoided that because we did not want to make the load time too long in a game where the character can die so many times, and it would affect the accuracy of matchmaking. If Nioh becomes a franchise, we would like to consider that as an option so long as we can keep the intensity of the game intact.”

It sounds like as good a reaosn as any to avoid having an open world- and it certainly seems like the developers have their prioritites set right with the game. Nioh is due to release on PS4 in February next year. Let’s hope the final game lives up to the promise.