Early on in my career as a journalist (that’s 23 years ago, for anyone curious to know), I learned a valuable lesson that I’ve carried with me ever since: “a good editor improves an article by adding to it, while a great editor improves it by removing from it.”
That’s a lesson Team Ninja clearly hasn’t fully learned yet.
Overly complicated mechanics and bloated design have always been my biggest gripes with this series, and Nioh 3 is no exception. There’s too much loot, too many overlapping systems, uneven pacing, and an obsession with sheer volume that often gets in the way of what truly matters.
Which is frustrating, because the core of the game is genuinely excellent.
Combat is superb, bosses are intense, and the sheer amount of build variety is almost absurd. When everything clicks, Nioh 3 delivers one of the best combat systems in the entire Soulslike genre (though Sekiro still wears the crown).
This time around, Team Ninja has introduced some of the biggest changes the series has seen, both in combat and structure, with the move to an open world being the most significant. It’s a shift that creates some of the game’s best moments, while also exposing many of its old problems in entirely new ways.
Exploring the World of Nioh 3
Previous games relied on a mission-based structure, often taking players through familiar levels with only mild differences. Nioh 3 feels far more cohesive thanks to its new open-world structure. Well, I’d say it’s more open-worldish, as it features large interconnected areas rather than a massive seamless map.
Still, exploration feels far more natural now. The world has a stronger sense of place, and there’s a better feeling of adventure as hidden paths, optional bosses, corrupted zones, and dangerous yokai constantly pull you away from the main objective.
At its best, exploring unfamiliar territory while desperately trying to survive, recover lost Amrita, or simply reach the next shrine creates some genuinely tense and memorable moments. Big risks also tend to lead to worthwhile rewards.
The problem is that the open structure also amplifies many of the series’s old issues.
There’s still far too much loot, too many systems stacked on top of each other, and an obsession with constant “rewards” (most of them useless) and activities. Every few meters, there’s another enemy camp, another collectable, another tutorial, or another mechanic fighting for your attention.
It’s a very different philosophy from Elden Ring, despite the obvious inspiration. FromSoftware understood the value of silence, atmosphere, and restraint. Team Ninja, meanwhile, still seems convinced that more automatically means better. Instead, Nioh 3 often ends up getting in its own way.
And yet, when exploration, tension, and combat finally align, without unnecessary distractions constantly interrupting the flow, Nioh 3 delivers some of the best moments the series has ever produced.
Two Warriors in One
Team Ninja continues to deliver some of the best action combat in the genre, and Nioh 3 further expands on that notion. Ki management, stance switching, counters, aggression, timing… there’s a level of mechanical depth here that few Soulslikes can match.
The biggest addition this time is the ability to switch between Samurai and Ninja styles in real-time.
Samurai plays closer to classic Nioh, with a heavier focus on defence, Ki Pulse management, and traditional weapon combat. Ninja, meanwhile, is much faster and more aggressive, built around mobility, combos, evasive abilities, and ninjutsu techniques.
Mechanically, it works really well, with each style featuring its own gear, abilities, progression systems, and even visual appearance.
It takes a while to get used to the system, but switching styles mid-combat creates a great flow during encounters, encouraging players to adapt depending on the enemy and situation.
The problem is that, for all the good it does, it also breaks the feeling of immersion.
One second, you’re a heavily armoured samurai trading blows face-to-face, and the next, you’re suddenly flipping through the air, throwing kunai, and you’re dressed like an entirely different character. You can even give each style different cosmetic features, almost like you’re playing two characters in one, even if the story treats you as a single person.
While I appreciate what the system adds to combat flow, I would have preferred something more elegant than such a hard switch.
Drowning in Loot
If there’s one area where Nioh 3 fully embodies Team Ninja’s inability to restrain itself, it’s loot and progression.
The amount of gear constantly thrown at the player is absurd. Weapons, armour pieces, crafting materials, currencies, rarities, passive bonuses, skill trees, upgrade systems… It’s exhausting.
To Team Ninja’s credit, Nioh 3 does include better tools for managing all this clutter, but those systems often feel like half-baked solutions to a problem the game created itself.
The combat system and enemy variety are already deep enough to carry the game; there’s no need to bury them under layers of unnecessary complexity. This is not depth, this is indulgence.
As for the co-op features, Nioh 3 includes multiplayer options for players who enjoy tackling missions and bosses together, though I didn’t have the opportunity to properly test those systems.
A Good Edit Away from Greatness
There’s a genuinely great action game buried inside Nioh 3.
The combat system is excellent, exploration feels more engaging than before, and some of the bosses are among the best the series has produced. When everything aligns, Nioh 3 delivers the kind of intense, demanding, and deeply satisfying gameplay we’ve come to expect from Team Ninja.
The problem is that Team Ninja once again mistakes excess for depth, burying good gameplay and strong ideas under layers of unnecessary complexity. If the previous games already felt overwhelming and complicated to you, this one probably will, too.
For longtime fans, though, none of this will probably matter much. If you already love Nioh, there’s a very good chance you’ll love Nioh 3 as well. The core formula remains intact, only bigger, louder, and more ambitious than ever.
Nioh 3 is out now on PC (Win) and PlayStation 5, and Ricardo played on PC via access kindly provided by the publisher and their friends.
