Review | Nioh 3

A open-world review

From the now-veterans of Souls-like games on steroids, the new Nioh 3 is upon us. Is it as good as the previous titles, or was it let down by the usually bloated and often uninspired open-world genre of games? Sit tight—this one is a winner, and a damn good one at that. I find Nioh 3 to be the best of the franchise, featuring one of the best open-world game designs, followed by possibly the best combat and variety in both recent and distant memory. First things first, and then we’re off to this review.

Nioh 3 is an action role-playing video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. The third installment in the Nioh series, the game was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on February 6, 2026. Nioh 2 (2020) acted as a prequel to the original game; the third installment takes place after all the events of the previous games, so you will find certain connections with Nioh.

From a technical standpoint, I can proudly say that this game works like a charm, with stable FPS in performance mode and no issues whatsoever—although some players reported lock-on and camera issues, I’ve had none on my PS5 Pro. It’s one of the smoothest open-world games I’ve played, packed with even faster combat and so many options that can suit anyone and everyone.

I had no idea what this game held and how well everything was crafted. I guess the full power of development went into Nioh 3, and it shows.

Story and the characters

Might as well get this over with—Nioh 3’s story sucks. I don’t want to be rude; there are cool characters, and even the protagonist speaks on occasion (which is rare), but overall, the story is one big mess and the usual spirit-crystal villain scenario where you kill everyone through different eras (timelines) while accompanied by that era’s rulers or important NPCs who try to make sense of it.

You get to create your own character. There are many options, and I don’t really care for that. I’m always a fan of unique characters such as in the first game, so this, to me, feels like Nioh 2, only a tad better. The timeline-based plot is always an issue for me, and this is no different. The pacing also feels a bit off, but I guess that is normal for such games, where you explore most of the time and just lose yourself in the world. Probably the best aspects of the journey that serve as a story backdrop are the locations (I love almost every one) and the music. I’ve enjoyed both, so trying to follow the story felt more natural. Try playing with Japanese voice-overs—it just fits better.

I don’t think there are enough screenshots to showcase everything this game has to offer. Every category is packed with content, and fun at that.

Game design, exploration

If you love Elden Ring, this is probably on par, or even better at times. And I mean that, even if it sounds cocky. Nioh 3 has shown us that this team can create a fun and unique open world that is a showcase of the franchise at its finest. Imagine mission-based Nioh separated into a couple of big maps that have smaller regions to explore. You get to collect Kodamas, passive skill books, weapon skill books—you name it!

It’s nothing new, although unique in its own way. I love the overall design, the density of events and collectibles—it’s so fun collecting everything. The way the game handles exploration is awesome; it’s not hand-holding. The game rewards you for finding most of the content in a region, then reveals points of interest. It’s still not the exact position of an event or collectible, so it feels rewarding all the time. Fast travel helps, and the loading times are short, so nothing here makes you rage-quit or simply quit from feeling overwhelmed.

You also get to backtrack to certain parts of maps, as you need different map skills that you unlock by progressing through the main story. It’s never dull; it always leads to new areas and some of the hardest side-boss fights (and fun ones!). Everything feels well-balanced, well-connected, and most of the time, beautiful. The only downside I have is maybe the last map, which is too huge, and the recycling of enemies (and some bosses) from previous games. Don’t expect many new enemies—90% have already been seen. Still, the combat is so much fun that you’ll never be frustrated by this fact.

At the end, I would like to have more Elden Ring and Souls game loot systems instead of diablo-like loot.

Ah, the loot. 10k pieces of loot per hour is not something I love, but you get to collect cool sets and wield so many weapons that it’s hard to be mad about it.

Combat

This segment rules. How often do you get to play a game that features two different styles (Samurai from Nioh 1 and 2, and Ninja, which is new) that combine with seven types each? Now add skills for each type, and even stances in Samurai style—plus passive skills and magic—and you’ve got yourself a serious combat contender. I cannot emphasize how interesting the combat is and how good it feels to experiment with weapons and find what fits best.

My go-to setup was the regular Samurai sword using the middle stance, and Ninja with dual swords. This felt so good that I immediately fell in love and finished most of the game using these. At first, the Ninja style felt fresh and fast, so for most of the first half, I used it to backstab everything that moved. It feels like Ninja Gaiden combined with Nioh, like a culmination of the talent this development team has. Awesome in every way. The rest of the game was a bit of a fallback to combos using the Samurai style; the white boost attacks are… so saucy! Counter moves, guardian spirit skills, transformations—they all add to the overall strategy and give you options so you never feel underwhelmed. I mean, look at this!

For the most part, Nioh 3 offers a fair challenge, especially during boss fights (which are all awesome, some more than others). It’s not an extremely hard game, but it can be challenging during certain boss encounters early on and a bit later in the game. Still, I feel like the game is properly balanced for the weapons I used, and having a challenge that is always fun (especially the human boss fights)—that is just a dream come true. The deflect mechanic feels almost like in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which was my way of saying, “You’re going down this time, and that’s how I’ll do it.” I just love deflecting attacks and then hitting back with everything I have.

When you enter a fight, slow down a boss, kick them from behind, then transform and almost finish them off—you feel good, satisfied, and that feeling is present in almost all game segments. Good job, Team Ninja!

At the end of every chapter, you need to beat Crucible challenges, where your skills are truly put to the test. They often look similar, and probably the best thing about them is the boss fights, where you showcase what you’ve learned up to that moment.

Side Content

You remember collectibles from the previous games? You still get to find Kodamas, and since this is an open-world game, you get to find NPCs and complete their quests. The design is good, the world is full of secrets, and it’s so much fun exploring all of it, but the quests are a bit dull—maybe boring, to say the least. The best part of the side content is collecting everything, which always felt rewarding. All the challenges have a purpose (like Master contests), so there isn’t much to say apart from the fact that this is one of the best-designed games in the Souls and open-world genres.

If you want more, you can retry main missions through Shrines (checkpoints) or even beat different challenges that get unlocked by completing quests—they unlock more weapon skills or grant good rewards. The downside is having 2000 slots for each equipment type—that’s just too much. Even the passive skills you learn by finding books are numerous, and the points you can allocate are far too few to experience their full potential.

I don’t really love the loot system in Nioh, and this game is no different. Rewards are numerous, often overwhelming. The best choice is to wait 10–20 levels and then switch to a good set or some combination that gives you the most benefits while retaining manageable weight. Even near the end of the game, I was bored by finding sets and reading what buffs each category had. I would wish for something different—imagine having 2000 items and trying to make sense of using or finding something useful among such numbers.

Overall, in a game with so many mechanics, I think the balance is great, and almost everything makes enough of a difference for you to feel it—and I think that matters most. Use what you want, and you will not be disappointed.

The forest and snow regions are my favorites. The last big map is somewhat below that level of beauty, but still full of secrets to unveil.

Conclusion

If you love Elden Ring and want another game that successfully transferred its content into an open-world format, Nioh 3 is all of that. It’s one of the best games in the genre and one of the most versatile when it comes to builds and combat. I have nothing else to say—the jump and verticality add more dimension, something I cherished in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and I love it here as well. For me, this is exactly how the franchise and the genre should evolve.

The most important thing for me was that nothing here feels like a reused level from previous games—that was something I was a bit disappointed with in Nioh 2. This feels fresh, and you can sense the effort in every segment you can think of—minus the enemy recycling, maybe. Still, at the end of the day, I highly recommend Nioh 3 in all of its glory. Damn good job.

For a hater of the open-world genre, this feels exactly like the opposite of it.