Team Ninja's Nioh 3 offers a denser evolution of its action-RPG formula, allowing players to swap between samurai and ninja builds mid-combat. After five hours of hands-on play, the preview confirms the game surpasses the divisive alpha version earlier this year. Modular levels and enhanced enemy variety aim to refine the series' challenging gameplay.
Preview Overview
During a preview session in Paris, France, hosted by Koei Tecmo, journalists spent five hours with an advanced build of Nioh 3. The game builds on Nioh 2's foundation from 2020, introducing dual character archetypes—samurai for heavy poise-breaking attacks and ninja for agile combos. Swapping between them creates dynamic combat synergies, reminiscent of chaining moves in Devil May Cry 3. A PR representative noted, "If you spent 30 hours in the menus in the previous games, you're going to spend 60 hours in them in this one," highlighting the deepened customization systems.
Level Design and Progression
Nioh 3 features 'open field' levels that are modular rather than fully open-world, drawing inspiration from Elden Ring but maintaining curated structure. Players can tackle optional objectives, clear bases, and level up before challenging bosses in Crucible areas. This design balances exploration with the series' labyrinthine levels, split into smaller sections with their own skill checks. Runbacks to bosses involve passing a few enemies, aligning with Nioh's fair checkpointing.
Combat and Builds
The preview showcased mid-to-late-game elements, including water-based odachi for samurai and paralysis-inflicting kusarigama for ninja. Builds encourage status effects like poison and paralysis to stun-lock foes after stamina recovery. Enemy variety has expanded, mixing human and yokai opponents for unique encounters, addressing past criticisms. While graphics appear shiny yet homogenized, the focus remains on satisfying, punishing gameplay.
Context and Expectations
Following experiments in Wo Long and Rise of the Ronin, Team Ninja refines Nioh's Souls-like roots with fighting game influences and historical Japanese settings. The alpha's off difficulty tuning misrepresented the full experience, but this build suggests Nioh 3 could surpass its predecessors as a genre standout.