Itβs quite hard to believe that Nioh 1 released almost a whole decade ago in 2017. The sequel Nioh 2 was released in 2020, and itβs been long enough that Koei Tecmo have decided to release a third entry into the franchise. Nioh 3 enters the fray with a revamped battle system and touts enough changes to keep things fresh.
Does it do enough, though, and is the game worth checking out? Get out your Amrita folks and letβs dive into it!
Nioh 3
Nioh 3, much like its predecessors, revolves around feudal Japan, Yokai and the mysterious powers contained within Amrita, or βSpirit Stonesβ. The game kicks off with players taking on the role of a Tokugawa clan descendant. Playing as the protagonist Tokugawa Takechiyo, youβll go through some training in Edo Castle before it is suddenly attacked by Yokai.
Fast forward a little bit, and without spoiling too much, both of your mentors are defeated, and youβre thrust into a battle for survival along with your Guardian Spirit, Kusanagi.

Character Creation & Customisation
Thankfully, though, the character creator is still a thing here, and you can customise how Takechiyo looks. Players will also be able to save their character designs and share them just like how they could in Nioh 3βs predecessor. If youβre like me, youβll easily spend an hour or two just creating your character here.
Story & Open-Field Exploration
Nioh 3βs story is drip-fed to you via the gameβs world itself and by means of cinematics that play out throughout the game. The game places a large emphasis on its stylistic storytelling, and thereβs a lot of flashy effects and visual wizardry at play here, which is downright gorgeous. As you progress throughout the game, youβll discover that youβre waging a war against forces of evil that span different timelines.
What this does is tie together the story through larger βOpen-Fieldβ areas, which give off the illusion of a much larger open-world to explore.
In comparison with Nioh 2, Nioh 3βs environments are a lot larger and feature a lot more exploration. There are NPCs to converse with, and you can level up your exploration level, too. Koei Tecmo have clearly implemented some mechanics and lessons from some of their other titles here too, such as Rise of Ronin and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and Nioh 3 is all the better for it.

Samurai vs Ninja Combat System
The core gameplay changes in Nioh 3 involve the ability to swap between a Samurai fighting style and a Ninja fighting style. This introduces a complex battle mechanic that will have you swapping between the two styles on the fly in the heat of battle. Theyβve also very smartly implemented a counter system which lets you swap between the two styles and unleash a powerful counterattack against enemies once they flash red before they attack you.
Powerful counters existed in Nioh 2, too, and thus, this mechanic’s return is quite welcome. Another returning feature is the ability to summon Yokai in battles, but this has been tweaked, too.
Progression & Skill Customisation
As you defeat enemies and amass Amrita, youβll be able to level up your core stats just like in any βSoulslikeβ game; however, where Nioh 3 differs lies in the fact that you can also obtain Samurai or Ninja βLocksβ which will be used to unlock a variety of abilities and skills. You unlock different stances, and since there are two different fighting styles on offer here, thereβs a lot of customisation to consider on top of the standard Nioh stance system.

Difficulty & Combat Depth
Combat in Nioh 3 is past-paced, frantic and often extremely brutal and challenging. In fact, the first boss enemy in the game will most likely completely destroy you. If you arenβt familiar with βSoulslikeβ games or you donβt like challenging games, Nioh 3 is not for you. You will fight some enemies that can easily defeat you with 2 or 3 attacks if you donβt block or counter, and youβll end up dying repeatedly if you donβt play smart. Combat involves strategic use of counters, blocking, hit-and-run tactics, and various other gameplay elements, which you need to use to your advantage.
The sheer amount of strategy on offer here in Nioh 3 is quite immense, to be quite honest. Doubly so since we now have the Ninja style of fighting available to use, which heavily relies on using Ninjutsu techniques.
Graphics & PC Performance
Graphically, Nioh 3 looks fantastic with all graphics settings maxed out, there are some PC performance issues to be noted. I have noticed some frame rate drops in the heat of battle, and to be honest, I feel as if Nioh 2βs art direction and style looked better than 3βs. Both games still look fantastic when maxed out, but it might be a personal preference thing since I feel as if Nioh 2βs character creator resulted in better-looking characters than Nioh 3βs.
Maybe Iβm wrong here, though, and my memory might be playing tricks on me, but your mileage may vary, and you, as the player, can see for yourself and make that judgment call. Nevertheless, the game features gorgeous visuals, and the flashy effects and user interface work is top-notch as expected from Koei Tecmo at this point in time.

Soundtrack & Voice Acting
The soundtrack for Nioh 3 is also fantastic with music that perfectly suits the gameβs visuals and theme. The music that plays while youβre facing off against Yokai and other enemies is great and really sets the tone for the battles in-game. The voice acting in the game is a bit of a hit and miss affair though with the English voice acting sounding a tad out of place or lacklustre compared to the original Japanese. Play this game with the Japanese voice acting enabled instead for a much better experience.
Final Verdict
Overall Nioh 3 is a fantastic, action-packed, βSoulslikeβ that has changed up the formula enough to keep things extremely enjoyable. Yes you will die a lot and yes thereβs a big learning curve here once again but I did find that the game onboards you a lot smoother this time around and players will be able to actually progress a lot easier than before thanks to the ability to play the game co-operatively with 2 others and being able to summon help from other players.
Give Nioh 3βs demo a try if youβre on the fence. Chances are you might love the game. I certainly did and thereβs plenty of longevity here too since you can replay missions and co-op the story mode too.
Nioh 3 Launch Trailer
Read more awesome reviews >>here<<.
The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
The review was written by me and edited by my partner.



You must be logged in to post a comment.