Nioh 3 Reviews
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Review in Italian | Read full review
Nioh 3 takes all the best bits from Team Ninja's previous efforts to form its greatest action experience in a very long time. Its new open zone maps provide more ways than ever to engage with its sublime, intense combat system - even if the activities themselves are entirely unoriginal. This is a familiar feeling title for a fanbase that knows what it wants, for few franchises do hardcore action better. Nioh 3 is its latest triumph.
Nioh has always perched between being niche and mainstream. Nioh 3 should help this excellent series broaden its audience while appealing to long-time fans as well. Lovers of Soulslikes, Team NINJA’s games, and well-made action titles in general won’t be disappointed.
Nioh 3 is the culmination of Team NINJA’s evolution. By masterfully blending the engaging exploration of an open-field structure with a deep, dual-style combat system that bridges the gap between 'Masocore' and character-action, it has evolved into a genre of its own. While technical issues hold the game back, it is the definitive samurai fantasy and a modern masterpiece of action design.
Despite the lack of innovation, Nioh’s blend of character action and soulslike still manages to entertain, with its combat being undeniably polished to near perfection. The dual styles allow for a lot of experimentation when it comes to combat, and the game does a genuinely great job balancing its more traditional level design to fit an open world. Team Ninja’s treks through history remain exciting regardless of the shape they take, but here’s hoping the DLCs will bring in fresher ideas.
Nioh 3 is a triumphant adventure that stands up to the mightiest contemporaries in the Soulslike genre. While the story has you traveling back in time, it feels modern and slick because of the distinguished setting and polished mechanics. The loot situation is still annoying, but this is minor in the grand scope of things. The shift to an open-world is effortlessly handled, feeling like a proper evolution of the series rather than something simply tacked on. It’s impressive how consistently strong the series is, and Nioh 3 does not disappoint.
With so many Souls-like action RPGs being released at a steady clip, there seems to be an imperative, fair or not, for each one to justify its own existence. It’s not like we’re at a shortage of From Software-produced options as it is, and these remain the standard by which their would-be peers are measured. So with every new release the same question arises: “What makes this one worth my time?” But with its exceptionally detailed craftsmanship and an irresistible conceptual twist, Nioh 3 doesn’t let the question linger for very long.
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Review in French | Read full review
Despite the careful refinements to the combat system, the updates to the graphics engine, the slightly more interesting story, and the insertion of the gameplay into an open-field context, Nioh 3 hasn't become an entirely different experience from its predecessors. By choosing to embark on the journey through time alongside protagonist Tokugawa Takechiyo, you'll face terrifying monsters of all sizes, who will fight you with all their might and will at times even seem unfair, impossible to defeat... unless you put your mind to it and use all the tools the game offers. The rating you see below was extremely difficult to assign, as we wanted it to reflect both the numerous improvements and the consistently high level of commitment required to enjoy everything else: the vistas, the design of the bosses and common enemies, the powerful Japanese voice acting, and the countless graphic details that outline myths and legends, history and fantasy. Nioh 3 is still Nioh, in short: extremely tough, but also satisfying.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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Review in German | Read full review
The third entry in the Nioh series delivers exciting battles with vastly customizable actions, at the expense of character storytelling and worldbuilding.
Nioh 3 has thrilling combat, character specialisation and spectacle that are the tried and true staples for both a Team Ninja game and a Nioh game in and of itself. Boss fights are grandiose, and you’ve got plenty of neat kit to feel like a ninja/samurai hybrid badass. You’re not going to be utterly disappointed with the series’ return, but thanks to its open world-ish trappings and overabundance of systems and loot that stops you from getting attached to any one thing, you’re likely not going to be over the moon about it either. It’s Soulslike junk food. It goes down well while you’re in it, but it’s not going to sit or stay well with you for long.
Once players round the hurdle of its initial difficulty spikes, Nioh 3 becomes a festival of player choice in its deluge of loot-based combat. A focus on open zones and a second combat style give the formula renewed energy to carry players into the rich endgame.
The leap that the NiOh series has made from game to game bodes well for the future. NiOh 3 can already compete with the best representatives of the soulslike genre. The exploration itself may not yet have that sense of wonder that was present in Elden Ring, and the recycling of enemies is a bit of a nuisance, but I consider NiOh 3 to be the best installment in the series, and its heart, the combat system, really shines here.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Nioh 3 hits hard where it counts and stumbles in the spaces between.
Nioh 3 expands on the formula even further than what came before it, taking lessons learned from games like Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and Rise of the Ronin.
Nioh 3 doesn't settle for iterative improvements. Instead, it pulls together Team Ninja's best mechanics from past entries, folds in welcome touches from its other games, and backs it all up with genuinely strong new additions that feel mechanically sound and consistently engaging.
Nioh 3 doesn't reinvent the series, and it does not need to. Instead, Team Ninja refines nearly every system the franchise has built over the years and layers meaningful additions on top. The dual combat styles, interconnected world, improved co-op structure, and player-friendly respec system all feel like natural evolutions rather than gimmicks. But let's be honest, the reason you're here is the combat, and it does not disappoint.
Nioh 3 is a game that took me a while to get into. I wasn't feeling the first hour or two, and I initially couldn't get to grips with the Burst Break mechanic. At some point, though, it clicked, and I got into the groove; the world opened up, and the game was transformed. From that point, I couldn't put it down.