Team Ninja has really been on a roll lately. With the releases of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, and while not directly developing Ninja Gaiden 4, they still were involved and advisors during development. Team Ninja games have always stood out with their great style, designs, combat and the Nioh series has been a favorite of the team here at Way Too Many Games since the first game. Nioh 2 was a nice step up in gameplay, but I did feel it wasn’t as engaging with its story compared to the first. Now, with Nioh 3 upon us, we are seeing perhaps the largest change to the overall design. Let’s see if it worked out.

Nioh 3 puts you in the roll of Yokugawa Takechiyo, who is about to be appointed the next shogun in the year 1622. Consumed by hatred of your success, your younger brother succumbs to the darkness inside him. Empowered by this sinister force he unleashes an army of yokai against you. The era of peace is over, Edo Castle overran with yokai, and the land looking like something from hell. With the help of his guardian spirit, Kusanagi, Takechiyo will have to transcend time to overcome this threat.

Already the story of Nioh 3 is far more intriguing than Nioh 2. One of my biggest gripes with Nioh 2 is that I didn’t feel a connection with the character and the story. You were on this quest to control your Shiftling abilities, but on the path were being used and thrusted into other peoples issues and battles. Here, you’re part of the main story and conflict. While Takechiyo is still, mostly, a silent protagonist, there is still a connection and motive for what is going on and it makes it much more engaging from the start.

Besides the fact that you’re already invested in the main character much more than before, there are also plenty of historical figures you will be teaming up with to rid the land from power hungry commanders who have joined forces with yokai to take the place as shogun. Much like the other Nioh titles, there will be historical settings and figures included here. What really sets Nioh 3 apart from its predecessors, however, is how it tells its story and presents its world.

As I mentioned above, the main character is helped by his guardian spirit to transcend time. This means the game takes place during different time periods in the same land. While main locations will remain there as they have been, they are drastically different depending on when you visit them. It is an interesting way to change up the gameplay map to keep things fresh and not feel repetitive. They were able to make familiar locations feel completely new. Depending on the era, there will be new yokai as well. Each era has its own theme and dangers, and it keeps the game feeling fresh.

That being said, what I did find with the changes in this style is a bit of a double-edged sword. Since there is one big map per era you visit, that means there isn’t a ton of variety in overall locations right way. Not that there aren’t some different locales, but in the first map you won’t be visiting any snow or poison swamps, etc. Unlike the old games where you had to go back out to a menu every time you finished a mission, everything is seamless. Which is really great for the flow of the game, but that means you won’t be jumping between so many locations like the old games had you do.

When I first started I didn’t realize that there would be additional era’s or maps so I was clearing the entire first map doing everything and I was getting a bit burnt out with the lack of variety. Little did I know I should have just kept playing the main missions to unlock the next portion. You can always revisit the older era’s to collect the things you missed, so don’t worry about locking yourself out of anything. This also lead to me feeling like the game is a bit easier than the older games because I was overpowered for the recommended level of that region. However, reflecting on it, I feel like Nioh 3 is just overall a bit easier. I think this is due to the overwhelming amount of combat options and permanent buffs you can get on your character.

Since we are now getting into the combat, I think it’s safe to say I can skip the general talk about the combat flow and stances. That has largely remained unchanged and we are now on the third game. If you would like some deeper dives into the core combat experience of Nioh, I have the first and second game linked in the first paragraph. I will be mostly focusing on what is new or the changes that make an impact. 

Let’s start with the biggest one, Style Shift. Trained as a samurai by the swordsmanship instructor Yagyu Munenori and as a ninja by the legendary Hattori Hanzo, you are able to freely shift between these styles. This allows quick combat decisions depending on the enemies you’re fighting and the loadouts you have for each style. Burst Break Counter makes a return, but it is now tied to the Style Shift. When the enemy is about to hit you with their power attack, Style Shift to stagger them and lay into them.

Each style has its own move sets, armor, weapons, abilities, and skills. There aren’t any new weapons, but they are split between the two styles. Samurai has the katana, dual katana, spears, axes, odachi, switchglaives, and cestuses. While the Ninja style has, ninja swords, dual ninja swords, kusarigama, tonfa, hatchets, splitstaves, and talons. The samurai style is more of your traditional Nioh style where you can swap between high, medium, and low stances. You can build your Arts Proficiency, deflect, Ki Pulse, and all the standard stuff across the typical weapons. There isn’t much change here so this will be the familiar style that you know.

Ninja style is where the bigger changes come in, and it is my main style and personal favorite. Ninja style foregoes the Ki Pulse for the Mist Step which is timed like a Ki Pulse. However, instead of dispelling the yokai realm pool and restoring a portion of your Ki, you do a dodge move and momentarily divert the enemies attention away from you. This is also upgraded to be even more effective. Ninjutsu abilities return, but as an intrinsic part of this style. Instead of limited items to use like the old games, you reload uses through combat.

Ninja style also includes evade which is a full i-frame dodge and will not only recover Ki, but also replenish your Ninjutsu Gauge and Arts Gauge for the Samurai style. You also get a period of invulnerability. Needless to say, ninja style is a must for faster bosses. Also, for the first time in Nioh, jumping is introduced. while you can jump in the samurai style, ninja style you can Footstool Jump off enemies to stagger as well as more aerial combos. Stealth is also a much larger focus for ninja style offering more backstab bonus damage which is why I’m pretty much always in this form.

Being able to switch between these two styles, quick swapping between two different main weapons for each style, as well as ranged weapons. There is so much to throw at the enemies. Combos, Ninjutsu, combat arts, the skill tree is insane as well. If you know Team Ninja games you’re already familiar with this, but Nioh 3 feels on another level. The added tweaks to the magic and yokai summoning system add to this as well. Soul Cores return, and each one has the ability to either summon that yokai to fight for you (or distract), or to use their ability as Onmyo magic. You can do this my equipping the Soul Cores in either the Yin or Yang slot in your Onmyo Box. Unlike the Ninjutsu abilities these are limited use and only refilled by resting at a shrine.

Each Soul Core has its own set of attack and defense buffs as well, and if you don’t care for that Soul Core scrap to enhance you other Soul Cores or your Guardian Spirits. Speaking of Guardian Spirits, these have essentially replaced the Yokai Shift and Yokai Skills from Nioh 2. Functionally they feel similar, instead of transforming into a Yokai, you wield your Guardian Spirit and transform into a weapon called a Living Artifact. During combat you can build up your Guardian Spirit meter to unleash combat skills as well.

Crucible challenges make an introduction in Nioh 3 and these range from smaller combat challenges to larger, almost raid like, missions. If you played the demo or have seem the promotional images of that large red orb floating in the sky, that is the main Crucible domain. Each era you visit will have a main Crucible domain to cleans, where as the smaller Crucibles can be found scattered around the map in the various regions.

The Crucible domain is attached to one of the main cities, making it look like a twisted hellish version of the city. Filled with yokai, this is their realm which means they are more powerful here. However, not only are they more powerful, but so are your yokai summons and any of your Crucible weapons you find. Damage taken inside of the crucible will take a chunk of chunk of your total health of of your health bar and you will need to do damage back to enemies. That being said, finding Jizo Shrines out in the world grant you Merit to grant blessings in the Crucibles.

I really like the addition of these Crucibles, but here is my issue with them, and as I mentioned earlier with the general game, it just feels overall easy. Not saying I don’t die, but nothing like Nioh 2. While the Crucible’s ideas of knocking off chunks of health bar sound good, when you get the Jizo Shrine blessings that cures that Life Corrosion when you use an Elixir and Spirit Skill, it almost feels pointless. Then the other bonuses with Elixir drop rates and increased damage, you pair that with the extremely fast combat from the ninja stance, it’s basically a non-factor. I don’t think I have even bothered using a Crucible weapon because I just haven’t even needed to.

Besides the Jizo Shrine blessings for the Crucible there are also the Kodama Blessings. Permanent increases to Elixir drop rate, Elixir efficacy, Elixir Spirt Force Bonus, Elixir Damage Bonus, and Elixir Decrease Damage Bonus. All of these are increased at all time. Previous games you could only buy a couple blessings at a time for that specific level. Then as you explore and clear more of the map, you will increase your level in the region getting stronger in it. Exploration levels will increase your attack and defense stats, unlock portions of the map, show collectables, and exploration spots.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love exploring this world and since there is no need to go in and out of menus like the old games, it is so easy to just keep playing. However, I feel like in an effort to make Nioh 3 more accessible, it may have lost its edge. Or maybe I’m just grinding the hell out of and it clearing everything. Regardless, it feels notably easier than the previous entry.

Visuals are something I’m unfortunately let down on here. Not because Nioh 3 doesn’t have great designs with its signature style, but because if you showed me two still images to compare Nioh 2 and 3, I don’t think I could tell them apart. I’m not saying this game is ugly, but I was expecting more after six years and this far into the PS5 generation. That being said, there are times where you come across a mountain side vista and you see that large Crucible demon eye in the sky and it does look striking. Boss designs also remain an absolute blast and are always a treat to look at with crazy flourishes.

Nioh has always had great design and the that carried through to the sequel and carries through here. There are a lot of reused assets for the enemies, locations, armors, weapons etc. Of course sequels reuse assets, I’m not dumb, but we are on the third title now with no significant changes to said assets or visuals. Fortunately, the gameplay is what I play these games for and on performance mode the game is rock solid and that is what I care about most. I just hope we can maybe get a full asset upgrade coming soon. At times it made it feel like I was playing levels from Nioh 2 just stitched together in an open world format they felt so familiar.

Sound design remains a series strong point with fantastic music that ranges from the light flutes to the intense boss battles. In the Crucible you are constantly under duress with combat music adding to the stress of the situation as well which is a nice touch. I absolutely love the authentic Japanese music that is featured here and how it fits perfectly with the settings. The general combat sound effects and are punchy with a wide range effects for various attacks from the different weapons and magic, as well as the different enemies light and heavy attacks. Voice acting is serviceable, but it’s the only thing that is hit or miss.

 Nioh 3 is Team Ninja’s best game to date and definitely their best combat system so far. The addition of the Style Shift adds so much more depth to the moment-to-moment combat decisions and player agency. As well as the other additions to the combat like the dedicated jump button and tweaks to the Onmyo Box. While I do enjoy the change to the wide-linear style, over the separate mission select, there is some balancing that needs to be had there. Despite some issues with some lack luster visuals, Nioh 3 is an absolute must play and a blast.

 

Graphics: 7.5 Lack luster visuals for this late in the generation. The open areas, while having moments of nice vistas, don’t impress. Overall designs remain a series strength.	Gameplay: 10 The added Style Shifting, jumping, and other tweaks to the combat make this the best combat Team Ninja has made.
Sound: 9.5 Soundtrack continues to be strong point for the series with fantastic battle music for the bosses and Crucible. Voice acting is the only thing that is hit or miss.	Fun Factor: 8.5 With the addition of wide-linear level design and the updated combat, this is the most addicting Nioh there has been. While some designs may feel stale after three games, it was hard to put the controller down.
Final Verdict: 8.5

Nioh 3 is available now on PlayStation 5 and PC.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of Nioh 3 was provided by the publisher.