I’m not too familiar with the Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s Nioh series, but I’ve always had an interest in them because of their reputation as incredible “soulslike” titles. So, when I was watching the Playstation Showcase with a couple friends, I was intrigued at the announcement of a third Nioh game even if I had no prior knowledge of the franchise. The fact that they released an alpha demo the day of the showcase excited me even more. Now, having played a significant amount of the available demo, I’m left wishing I had enjoyed Nioh 3 more than I did.
Now, I should clarify: Nioh 3, even in its unfinished Alpha state, is a good game. I’d even go so far as to say it’s one of the best soulslikes I’ve covered, and I’m sure that some of the problems I had with the demo will be ironed out in the full release. Nioh 3 is a title that is taking from more mainstream successes in the gaming landscape with its open world structure and its loot system, and in doing so, I feel as though the title is primed to copy from some of mainstream gaming’s worst impulses.
Still, the title’s combat, the centerpiece of any soulslike, is as fantastic as fans of the series have come to expect. The new twist here is that players can choose between two distinct combat styles: a stalwart samurai and an agile ninja. In the demo, each style had its own unique armor and weapon archetypes that players could swap between at a moment’s notice, and the game tries to encourage you to swap between them often during gameplay. The samurai style is the more defensive style, giving players the options to parry enemy attacks, dispel zones enemies can create to debuff you, and immediately regain some stamina after making an attack. The ninja style is much more agile and aggressive in comparison. You can perform a short range dash after making attacks, you deal more damage to enemies when striking from behind, and can use ninjutsu techniques to deal quick ranged damage or close the distance between yourself and enemies. Style-switching is encouraged through a switch parry mechanic where, by switching at the right time, the player can parry certain enemy attacks for a massive opening. Even with this, I found that the game didn’t offer enough incentive to use both styles evenly. Early in my time with the demo, I unlocked the ability to use the switch parry without actually switching styles, and I also unlocked the ability to dispel enemy debuff zones with my ninja style. That, compared with the damage boost granted by the ninja style, made Nioh 3’s combat feel lopsided in favor of the ninja style, and I questioned the presence of the Samurai style.
I also found the game’s progression and loot systems to be needlessly overwhelming, at least to a newcomer like myself. Nioh 3 is attempting to be an open world soulslike, possibly because of the success of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring. To encourage exploration, Nioh 3 littered the small section of its open world with secrets and collectibles to find. There are side quests, phantoms of slain players to fight, smaller “crucible arenas” to complete, multiple different types of yokai to collect, enemies souls to bring to shrines and purify, enemy bases to clear, and different shrines to interact with. Most of these are related to an aspect of player progression, and I found it all difficult to keep track of. Had I some kind of online resource to guide me, I’m sure that I could have had a better grip on all of Nioh 3’s collectibles and activities, but I found the experience overwhelming to keep track of as a newcomer.
Additionally, I found Nioh 3’s loot system rather disappointing. With two combat styles that each have unique armor and three different weapon archetypes, this game will drown players in gear for players to collect. In an ideal world, each weapon or armor piece will offer something unique and contribute to interesting build crafting. Unfortunately, I found that Nioh 3’s gear fell into the all too common trap of most video game gear. You will gain multiple duplicates of the same weapon, each functionally identical save for small bonuses like a “2.3% increase to x damage type.” If you’ve played enough triple-A open world games, you’ll know the kind of loot systems I’m talking about, and you will know that you won’t see such bonuses have a substantial difference in combat. Instead, it’ll plunge your inventory with identical loot that you’ll ignore in favor of one weapon with the biggest number.
Despite this, I found that the foundations of Nioh 3 are still solid. The combat, even if I found it to have some missed potential, is still as difficult as the genre requires but with a much more frenetic pace. The music and art direction are still fantastic, and the open world, though overwhelming, is filled to the brim with interesting secrets to uncover. I am sure that, with enough polish, Nioh 3 will be another excellent entry in the beloved series. For now, though, I give the Nioh 3 demo an 8/10.
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Related: Reviews by Josh Freeman
I love games and love talking about games. Some of my favorites include action games (both 2D and 3D), metroidvanias, roguelikes, shooters, and Indies.
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