Nioh 3 Announced | State of Play 2025

Punished Miku said:
They're building off of what they did with Rise of the Ronin. Probably using most of the same bones from that game, putting in the Nioh 2 content, then adding on top with new systems. Similar development style to From Software. They get stuff out quickly, but it's usually building off what they've already done. I'm willing to give a more open layout a shot. Even the biggest Nioh fans never said it had great level design, so might as well try something new there but keep the phenomenal combat.
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That's fine that they're using assets/lessons learned from RotR, but can you name any benefits of the game being open world? I guess there's the fact that you can go at an enemy camp from any angle, but it's still going to play out the same way. Stealth kill 1-2 enemies, get found out, kill the rest, collect loot, move on. In the old games, you would probably get one less stealth kill and otherwise the same outcome. Maybe it's easier and cheaper for them to design open world stuff, but nothing I saw in that video showed me any sort of benefit for it.

Not to bring up FROM, but Elden Ring actually had some benefits to being open world. You could run to any number of places and try out new areas since the story was non-linear. Areas tied in to the lore and had distinct landmarks that enriched the immersion, and they even put noob traps in the game like the warping chest that sent you to that mine and fucked over a lot of players. There was an overall urge to explore in that game and plenty of options available if you hit a roadblock and didn't want to beat your head against a particularly hard part.

Nioh 3 seems to still follow a single story plot at a time and probably has artificial gates so that you can't explore too far, too early. Also, the shrines every 50 meters in any direction seems kinda overkill. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason to warp back to any of these places after you 'clear' them, so I don't know why they needed so many.

I will grant you though, this is like an alpha or beta or something, so maybe the content simply doesn't exist yet to make the open world feel worthwhile. I don't hate it on principle, but after watching that video, I just don't get the point.
 
Pejo said:
That's fine that they're using assets/lessons learned from RotR, but can you name any benefits of the game being open world? I guess there's the fact that you can go at an enemy camp from any angle, but it's still going to play out the same way. Stealth kill 1-2 enemies, get found out, kill the rest, collect loot, move on. In the old games, you would probably get one less stealth kill and otherwise the same outcome. Maybe it's easier and cheaper for them to design open world stuff, but nothing I saw in that video showed me any sort of benefit for it.

Not to bring up FROM, but Elden Ring actually had some benefits to being open world. You could run to any number of places and try out new areas since the story was non-linear. Areas tied in to the lore and had distinct landmarks that enriched the immersion, and they even put noob traps in the game like the warping chest that sent you to that mine and fucked over a lot of players. There was an overall urge to explore in that game and plenty of options available if you hit a roadblock and didn't want to beat your head against a particularly hard part.

Nioh 3 seems to still follow a single story plot at a time and probably has artificial gates so that you can't explore too far, too early. Also, the shrines every 50 meters in any direction seems kinda overkill. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason to warp back to any of these places after you 'clear' them, so I don't know why they needed so many.

I will grant you though, this is like an alpha or beta or something, so maybe the content simply doesn't exist yet to make the open world feel worthwhile. I don't hate it on principle, but after watching that video, I just don't get the point.
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I have to try it first. Planning on downloading it tonight. I was pretty critical of RotR's open world, so if its like that then there is literally no benefit at all. I literally put the horse on auto run to objectives and then fought when he ran into things. My hope is that they made the open world level design a lot more interesting to explore, but I haven't seen it yet.
 
Punished Miku said:
I have to try it first. Planning on downloading it tonight. I was pretty critical of RotR's open world, so if its like that then there is literally no benefit at all. I literally put the horse on auto run to objectives and then fought when he ran into things. My hope is that they made the open world level design a lot more interesting to explore, but I haven't seen it yet.
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Post your thoughts after trying it yourself, if you don't mind. Wish I could try it too, but my PS5 still bricks my TV after playing on it for over 10~ minutes at a time.

I haven't played RotR yet either, so maybe I could try to find a deal on that on Steam and see how they utilize it there. It's been on my "to try" list, but I was waiting for a sale (and some free time to play it).
 
Nice. This reminded me that I still have to finish the second game, it's been on my backlog for a long time. I liked the first Nioh a lot, even though the main protagonist was weak.
 
Pejo said:
Nioh 3 seems to still follow a single story plot at a time and probably has artificial gates so that you can't explore too far, too early. Also, the shrines every 50 meters in any direction seems kinda overkill. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason to warp back to any of these places after you 'clear' them, so I don't know why they needed so many.
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I'd say... the same reason FROM added so many sites of grace in elden ring... because it is boring to backtrack in a open world after a big boss fight... and because it is boring to walk again into a battle (thank god ER had so many sites of grace near almost every boss - Rennala and Maliketh are strange exceptions)
 
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hahahahah holy shit Team Ninja and FromSoft battling it out for who can make the ugliest game of the year. :messenger_poop: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Japan needs to get their fucking shit together. This is the studio that gave us Ninja Gaiden Black. come on
 
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Recent 8 million series sales…this should push them over 10 million. Also others might pick up the previous entries after discovering the new one.

They've also added Rise of the Ronin/Ghost Tsushima areas where you clear out locations under control by enemies. Looks like they're taking things from Wo Long like stealth kills also as well as any other things from the other Nioh games. Purchase confirmed for me.

I think a yokai that can be your steed would be the last thing they should add for traveling around quickly, or maybe it's just missing from demo?
 
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BennyBlanco said:
It's crazy how Team Ninja turned it around. I really thought they were cooked after oatmeal cookie man left.

-Nioh 1 is a banger
- Nioh 2 is a classic
- Stranger of Paradise is a banger and takes a steaming shit on FFXVI
- Rise of Ronin is a banger
- Wo Long is a banger

Now you have this and Ninja Gaiden 4 in the works. Just make a good DOA game and they are officially a top tier studio again like back in the Xbox days.
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Fixed.

NG2B is based on the wrong version of the game, so they don't get a pass from me. They need to release the original NG2 on modern platforms as is and stop shitting on their own legacy.
 
Steam page is up.


Already wishlisted. Should probably go and play Nioh 2 one of those days lol.
 
just played the demo on the PS5 Pro

What the fuck was that absolute dogshit performance on "performance mode"?

game looks exactly like Nioh on PS4 and runs like SotC PS2
 
BennyBlanco said:
It's crazy how Team Ninja turned it around. I really thought they were cooked after oatmeal cookie man left.

-Nioh 1 is a banger
- Nioh 2 is a classic
- Stranger of Paradise is a banger and takes a steaming shit on FFXVI
- Rise of Ronin is a banger
- NGB2 is a banger

Now you have this and Ninja Gaiden 4 in the works. Just make a good DOA game and they are officially a top tier studio again like back in the Xbox days.
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While I love Strangers of Paradise and hold Nioh 2 in high regards I think those other releases were mid. I even think that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is actually the best of the lot once you get past the presentation, beat the main game once, and understand the convoluted mechanics enough to apply them in the challenge missions, DLC, and 1,000 Mile Journey. While Ninja Gaiden 2 directed by Itagaki is still one of the best things to come out of their studio, the Unreal Engine 5 skin on the Sigma (Ninja Dog) version (with cut content) masquerading as the definitive version is fucked up.
 
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Gonzito said:
Man why isnt the demo on steam? fucking hell
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jim-ryan-laughing.gif


just glad it's launching on Steam day 1. Keep the demo I knew I was gonna buy it anyway.
 
NeverYouMind said:
While I love Strangers of Paradise and hold Nioh 2 in high regards I think those other releases were mid. I even think that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is actually the best of the lot once you get past the presentation, beat the main game once, and understand the convoluted mechanics enough to apply them in the challenge missions, DLC, and 1,000 Mile Journey. While Ninja Gaiden 2 directed by Itagaki is still one of the best things to come out of their studio, the Unreal Engine 5 skin on the Sigma (Ninja Dog) version (with cut content) masquerading as the definitive version is fucked up.
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With Wo Long it took them quite awhile to get the balancing right, probably because they hadn't done such a parry-heavy system before. So I suspect people's reactions to it would depend a lot on at what point post-release they tried it.
With Nioh 3 I suspect they'll factor in all their learnings from both that and ROTR, which hopefully will result in some real top-notch gameplay. That they are bringing back alpha (and likely beta) trial versions is a good sign too, because again that gives them more player data and feed-back to get thing just right.

Honest truth is I think the TN games have helped me get past the hump where graphics are a significant concern to me; they may not be state-of-the art visually... but to play I honestly can't say I've found any studio's output to hold my interest better and longer.
 
Why they don't invest resources to improve graphics on the Game ? they have good gameplay, art dirección but never improve the graphics ....this is their 3rd Game they should show something better on that aspect.
 
tomato shrub said:
ok, after the demo I'm not too pessimistic. Wheras Rise of the Ronin copied Ubi slop with icon-running and copy-paste enemy camps, this seems more like their copy of Elden Ring.
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yup, buy maybe smaller, don't know if there will be torrent or any mount you can ride, I think it will be something in between Dark Souls and Elden Ring in terms of map size.
 
Highlight of the show for me, as a huge Nioh fan it was just surreal to see the announcement. Never thought it'd hapen, but it happened and we're going to be collecting Kodamas and defeating kick ass bosses. Day one!
 
Alebrije said:
Why they don't invest resources to improve graphics on the Game ? they have good gameplay, art dirección but never improve the graphics ....this is their 3rd Game they should show something better on that aspect.
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Because it's Koei Tecmo and they always play safe...

From Nobunaga's Ambition, to the Atelier series, Nioh, Dynasty Warriors and every other games they make: They re-use assets, make sequels without big changes, don't give a shit about optimization and aren't ambitious.

They know that their consumer base will buy their stuff and they know how much they can spend on each game to still be profitable.

Anyway, I really love Nioh, but after trying the demo... I am not sure that I will buy at launch. Maybe I am just tired, but the mini open world stages kinda annoyed me.

The story seems quite meh for me too.

I also felt that Nioh 2 combat is just better and locking weapons to each style seems dumb.

They will probably release another demo with improvements before the launch, so I hope it can change my first impression.
 
Thought the demo was brilliant. Cast-iron certain day#1 for me.

Once again I find myself thinking that sure, the graphics aren't the best, but they are more than good enough to get the job done. And most of all making it prettier wouldn't make it play better.
 
Pejo said:
That's fine that they're using assets/lessons learned from RotR, but can you name any benefits of the game being open world?
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Yokai Hunter. It'll be like Witcher 4 but the combat will actually be good. Maybe Open World just means there are less Corridors to be cornered in if you make a mistake. Course maybe this means less wall trap opportunities on enemies.

BennyBlanco BennyBlanco Stranger of Paradise is the best FF Action game.
 
Hideous Snake said:
Meh. I knew its a Team Ninja game because it has that "dirty" look
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This is sad, funny, expected, and true all at the same time.

It's like some alternate future where they double downed on that grimy Xbox 360-look two generations later. I don't hate it, but I'm wondering what the limits will be as we keep going higher in generations.

Aside from that the game looks genuinely fun.
 
Beat a few bosses and my quick impression from limited playtime is that there's plenty of fun to be had. It's more Nioh. I'll pick it up down the line someday. However, I feel it somehow is a step down graphically from 2. Maybe its just the passage of time but it honestly looks bad. The ninja stance looks cheap and gimmicky but again, its something new and can be fun. I didnt really get a ton of utility from the shadow ki pulse but its an interesting idea.

Quick verdict is that in the very early stages it seems like the worst of the 3 (2, 1, 3). But still worth playing for fans. They should probably retire the series after this one and try something new. I'm not even sure this is better than Rise of the Ronin at this point. I'll try more before the 19th.
 
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Demo's fucking great. Don't sleep on it, especially when there's more in this than some actual games I've played. Hours of stuff.
 
Played the tutorial for a bit. I have Nioh 1 and 2 but it's been a little while since I played. Interesting how there are the Samurai/Ninja styles here. Can't get much of the Ki-Shadow step as the Ninja, but Ki Pulse works as normal from the previous games. I love the extra mobility and double jump the Ninja style can do; a departure from what's been offered before. I need more time with the demo but I am truly enjoying it. Most likely I'll get it on Steam.
 
If this game just had average graphics and ran smooth, it would probably be my favorite game of this generation. I just don't understand why games with the best combat mechanics are relegated to everything else being mediocre. You can't tell me that if Nioh 3 had AC Shadows graphics, it wouldn't sell just as well. What is stopping investment in a studio like Team Ninja?
 
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Schmendrick said:
You answered your own question. Better graphics wouldn`t necessarily mean better sales for this type of game.
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It a 1000% would. Why the hell do you think people buy games like AC, that has shit combat, terrible writing, and checklist objectives?

Look at Black Myth Wukong. Game sold gangbusters because of its use of UE5. The combat isn't anywhere close to Nioh
 
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Schmendrick said:
You answered your own question. Better graphics wouldn`t necessarily mean better sales for this type of game.
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Truth is Nioh is way more hardcore than average.
And I don't mean just in terms of difficulty, I'm talking number of systems and mechanics which would probably turn off casuals.
Hell, just the gear/itemization grind bugs a lot of posters here, despite the fact that TN work really hard to make it manageable.
 
Spent a good amount of time with the demo, some thoughts:

- love the samurai/ninja switching mechanic

- game builds upon Nioh 2, WoLong and Ronin, ultimately feels like a culmination of all 3

- combat in Ronin feels better but perhaps there is a touch more diversity here with the magic, guardians etc

- in some ways it feels like Team Ninja's take on the Elden Ring formula

- it literally looks the exact same as Nioh 2, maybe even worse lol. No excuse for it, they need to update their engine already, it's ugly

- if you love Nioh I can't see you not loving this despite the change in structure

- God bless Japanese devs for continuing to put out generous demos

Anyway, it's a day 1, I'm sure I'll go for the plat trophy just as I did with Nioh 2 (maybe one day I'll return to Nioh for the remaining couple of trophies I need for that plat there).
 
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Hope DF check out the demo soon before it's gone. I know they must be busy with switch 2. Demo looks like it support the Pro or it looks like it got PSSR support. Cleanest looking katana engine game on console
 
excited for nioh3 but the graphics look exactly like nioh2. swear i even saw some of the same assets.

definitely playing this on pc
looked and ran like crap on ps4
 
Demo looks and runs mostly fine on Pro. Few patches of loading stutter in rare cases, but mostly solid.

Its what you'd expect from an alpha, rough around the edges. Very generous on content mind, being essentially 3 good sized levels with the middle one being a quasi-open to explore.
 
I love the new combat system. It feels distinct from the other two games, while also still being Nioh. Ignore the noise complaining about the open world. The demo is fun as fuck and doesn't pull any punches, as a Nioh game should. The art direction is as good as ever too.
 
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After trying the alpha test, yep its nioh alright, still looks like a ps3 game and runs like shit, same old fun gameplay though
 
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Played through demo yesterday, did I think everything and explored all the map, plus the challenge mission after beating it. Mixed feelings on some of the gameplay changes but overall liked it.

Living Artifact continues series tradition of being busted.
 
Sharius said:
i am done with alpha test, when i said ninja mode is OP AF on discord, people there seem disagree with me

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I wouldn't say Ninja mode is OP, but they might need to tweak Samurai up a bit because the way things are in the demo, Ninja has way more tools in its arsenal, so its kinda appealing to just focus on that.
 
i think i collect everything in alpha, not sure if it's a whole chapter yet, but from what i get from this demo, they might turn each chapter into 1 big map with side quest and collectible all inside that map rather than you have to go back to hud world to get side quest from there, also this alpha take my like 3 - 4 hour to complete, base on nioh 1 and 2 they might make about 5 or 6 chapter, so 15-24 hour for 1st playthrough and do everything is not bad, consider the RNG of loot drop and we need to farm alot in this game
 
Sharius said:
i think i collect everything in alpha, not sure if it's a whole chapter yet, but from what i get from this demo, they might turn each chapter into 1 big map with side quest and collectible all inside that map rather than you have to go back to hud world to get side quest from there, also this alpha take my like 3 - 4 hour to complete, base on nioh 1 and 2 they might make about 5 or 6 chapter, so 15-24 hour for 1st playthrough and do everything is not bad, consider the RNG of loot drop and we need to farm alot in this game
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You're very fast, its taken me significantly longer than that and I still have 1 missing treasure to find in the cauldron. Mind you, it took me a few hours to find/get the ability to zoom into the map in order to show the hidden item icons.
 
Yoshichan said:
just played the demo on the PS5 Pro

What the fuck was that absolute dogshit performance on "performance mode"?

game looks exactly like Nioh on PS4 and runs like SotC PS2
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Performance optimizations are made at the end of game development. I wouldn't worry much at all.
 
Deleted it after 30 min. These games are too bloated with systems for me and the loot system is just as annoying as ever
 
Demo is awesome and very meaty. When I heard it was going open world, I had concerns it was going to be a re-run of Rise of the Ronin. If not for the signature Team Ninja combat system, Rise would've been one of the most forgettable games of the generation.

What Nioh 3 shows us is exactly why Rise did not really work. Its over-reliance on human enemies paled in comparison to what Team Ninja can do with the yokai. We kind of suspected this at the time, coming from Nioh 2, but now that Nioh 3 cherry-picks the best mechanics of Rise and pits them against a more comprehensive enemy roster, we can confirm it.

The other issue with Rise was that its more grounded historical setting didn't give Team Ninja much artistic freedom. My main memory of Rise is riding across rolling hills with a ton of grass pop-in. The nightmarish world of Nioh 3 is dramatically more appealing because Team Ninja are now free to bathe its hellscape with tons of atmospheric effects, twisted structures and whatever color palette they feel like.

This aids in the 'level' design too. Seeing that monstrosity in the sky as the title card drops is the best Breath of the Wild-style emergence from the cave moment in a long time. As mean as it is to say, since I know Rise of the Ronin was stuck in development hell for 9 years, it almost feels like it was the training run for this...

Also really glad Yugo Kanno is returning as composer. Hearing the the amazing Nioh theme again got me so hyped.
 
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