Nioh 3 review

When internet denizens and online listicles debate the topic of the “best soulslikes,” I always come away disappointed at one glaring omission. There’s no denying that FromSoftware is the king of the genre, but as far as I’m concerned, Nioh 2 deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of soulslikes, nestled between Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s got its problems. Certain mechanics are a touch obtuse, and you’ll end up traipsing through the same maps at least three times to complete side quests, but that’s easy to handwave when its combat is a head above almost every other soulslike.

Still, given the improvements between Nioh and Nioh 2, I couldn’t help but feel optimistic about Nioh 3. This is Team Ninja’s third swing at perfecting its own specific formula of action-focused soulslike, and it was already so close with Nioh 2. So has it done it? Is Nioh 3 the consummate culmination of its vision?

Yes, but it’s also so much more than that. With this sequel, Team Ninja is giving FromSoftware a run for its money, with an open-world soulslike that I think I like even more than Elden Ring.

Before I get into what’s changed, let’s go over what’s stayed the same. Nioh 3 is still an action-forward take on a soulslike. There are 14 melee weapon types, and each comes with its own customisable skills and moves. Most of these weapon movesets are 1-for-1 recreations of the same ones in Nioh 2, with a few additions here and there. Don’t fix what ain’t broken.

This is the number one area where Nioh 3 has FromSoftware and other soulslike developers beat. Elden Ring's wide selection of unique weapons is great fun to experiment with, but Nioh 3’s limited pool of weapon types allows for a far more fine-tuned and in-depth approach to combat. Each has not one but three unique movesets, as well as customisable attacks to tweak it to your liking.

Beyond all the fun of mastery and build-crafting, here's such a lovely sense of spectacle and style to it all. Dark Souls may thrive in its moody atmosphere, but it's never let you backflip kick a demon's head off. Nioh 3 is joyfully over the top, and in its best moments makes you feel like a combat god, not just a desperate survivor.

It helps that you can also respec your build for free whenever you like. In my playthrough that let me give every weapon class a significant amount of attention, ensuring there was always something new to discover in combat. Though ultimately I keep coming back to the stupidly flashy cestuses—hyper-armouring through an enemy's attack by launching a capoeira-fueled combo with enough spins to put a Beyblade duel to shame just never gets old.

And the different weapon types are only the beginning of exploring Nioh 3's combat. Yokai shifting makes a return, for example—except this time, it’s called Living Artifact. Once your Amrita Gauge is full, you can undergo a Super Saiyan-esque transformation for a limited time and beat the bricks off your opponent without taking damage. But from here, we already need to discuss what’s changed, because Nioh 3 introduces a new form of shifting to the series: Style Shift.

This is probably where hardcore Nioh fans are going to have an issue, because Style Shift divides combat into two distinct halves: samurai style and ninja style. Samurai style is classic Nioh; you have three stances to switch between for its respective weapon classes, and you can 'ki pulse' to regain stamina. Ninja style has more of a focus on dodging, aerial combos, and, most importantly, jutsu. All the ninjutsu from the previous games, like shurikens and bombs, are locked to ninja style.

Style Shifting is immediate, and you swap between samurai and ninja forms at the press of a button. Admittedly, it was slightly difficult getting used to this change at first, but I quickly grew to love it. Boss fights are intentionally built around it, as Style Shifting parries certain unblockable attacks, and certain attack strings will be easier to dodge using ninja style, whereas others can be countered using the new deflect parry mechanic, exclusive to samurai style. With enough experience, flipping between the two becomes second nature—and makes beating those brutal boss fights all the more satisfying.

Nioh has always been far more fast-paced than your average Soulslike this side of Sekiro, but Style Shift amps that up to 11. One boss in the final map constantly fluctuates between slow, telegraphed moves that wipe my entire healthbar and lightning-quick taps that feel impossible to deflect, leading to a (literal) death by a thousand cuts.

But there came a moment in my thousandth attempt where I could suddenly read the Matrix code within its moveset, and Style Shifting started to lend a rhythm-action flow to the fight. I love Dark Souls, but these moments couldn't feel more removed from fat-rolling out of the way of another feature-length attack string.

A familiar ring

Alright, speaking of changes, Team Ninja has clearly been peeking at FromSoftware’s homework, because much like Elden Ring, the big change for Nioh 3 is that it's an open world game. Mostly, at least, because there are actually four independent maps for you to explore. Imagine it like bigger versions of Limgrave and Liurnia of the Lakes, but not interconnected.

Now, my biggest gripe with Nioh 2 was the side content. Exploring a location for a main mission was always great—the first time. Once maps started getting recycled several times for side quests, exploring them again became tiresome.

Nioh 3’s open-world approach is a huge improvement. In fact, the conversion here seems natural because it makes Nioh 2’s exploration and liberal reuse of locations feel like a limitation that Team Ninja had to overcome. It also helps that the devs were able to craft four big, visually distinct, and interesting locations, rather than 15-ish small and interchangeable ones in the previous game.

Where that can be a detriment is in the sometimes overwhelming amount of stuff on the map—particularly the game's glut of collectibles. Most of these come in the form of cute little creatures that you need to find in order to unlock specific buffs or skills.

There are kodamas to puzzle out a way to, scampusses to chase, sudamas to trade with, jizo statues to pray at, hot springs to bathe at, chijikos to shoot out of the sky… not to mention enemy bases to clear out and crucibles to battle through.

It can be a bit much. For the majority of the first map, I was having fun tracking everything down. After that, it did start to feel too densely packed, and the need to cram every inch of each map with something does start to feel reminiscent of some of Ubisoft's past excesses.

The quality of world-building is certainly not on Elden Ring's level either. I did enjoy Nioh 3’s story for what it was—an intentionally ridiculous retelling of Japanese history mixed with horror folklore—but I found myself missing FromSoftware’s subtle approach to lore. On the other hand, I think the art design for bosses and weapons in Nioh 3 at least matches FromSoftware’s specific brand of freak, and when it comes to graphical fidelity, it improves on its inspiration.

And there's certainly no shortage of it—Nioh 3 took me around 100 hours to 100% complete, including all the extra special secret stuff that Koei Tecmo doesn’t want me to spoil. So even accounting for some padding, it's a significant package.

Soulsmates

But if the maps can feel repetitive in parts, the same is definitely not true of enemies. There's a huge variety of monsters to test your blade against, both in the form of roaming fodder and a wealth of unique boss fights. The same models do crop up repeatedly, but are always ready to surprise you with new movesets and elemental attacks to contend with.

Some variants even have different personalities altogether, keeping you on the backfoot. In the first map, the kappas (gross little turtle monsters) are cowards, desperately trying to flee when they see you. So I was dumbfounded when, on the second map, I ran into a different type that boldly breakdance-style spin-kicked me off a ledge to my death.

The real spice, however, is in Nioh 3's bosses, who offer some, no exaggeration, all-time hall-of-fame-worthy soulslike battles. It’s a testament to both their designs and the fluidity of Nioh 3’s combat that I was never frustrated to get my ass kicked—no matter how many times a boss embarrassed me, I was always excited to go for another round.

My favourite—a secret boss, who I can’t name for spoiler reasons—has the type of stylishly bizarre combos that would put your average Tekken character to shame. Its ridiculously flashy attack strings seem never-ending. Overcoming it requires Sekiro-levels of parry timing and took more tries than I’d care to publicly admit, but the satisfaction of finally besting it was some of the purest I've ever felt in a soulslike.

Nioh 3 is the exact evolution of Nioh 2 I wanted—perhaps even better. Team Ninja has stuck to its principles, refusing to tamper with what worked in the previous games, but also improving on so many parts I didn't even realise needed reinventing.

Nioh 3 is my new favourite soulslike, and I say that with my whole chest. It’s FromSoftware’s turn to copy Team Ninja’s homework next.