Nioh 3 releases early subsequent 12 months, marking the long-awaited return of Team Ninja’s engagingly powerful soulslike motion collection. The developer briefly switched tracks in 2023 with the superb Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which utilized an analogous demonic mythological premise to the Three Kingdoms period of China. But for a lot of, Nioh 3 would be the return many followers have been ready for since 2020 and the discharge of Nioh 2.
I not too long ago went hands-on with Nioh 3 at a preview occasion, and my impressions to this point have been largely optimistic. At the identical time, I used to be capable of sit down with the sport’s producers, Kohei Shibata and Fumihiko Yasuda, to be taught extra about its growth, the staff’s strategy to issue, the steadiness of the brand new fight types, and extra.
It takes two (stances)
I opened the interview by asking about the most important changes and improvements the team wanted to make for Nioh 3. There were two key aspects that stood out here.
“There are really two elements that we looked to improve with this game,” said Shibata. “We really wanted to evolve the action elements compared to the first two games.
“In this game, we wanted to look at different action styles. We retain the Samurai style, which has been – and still is – the ‘feet on the ground’ fighting style. But now we also have Ninja style, where you have a lot more speed, and a focus on speediness and immediacy with your actions.”
“The second element,” he continued, “would be the open field level design. In the past, Nioh was based on individual missions. But with an open field, it gives you a lot more opportunities for exploration and greater strategic options to the player.
“For example, in the past, if there was a boss that you weren’t able to defeat, you didn’t have much choice outside of replaying that stage. Now with an open field format [in Nioh 3], you can decide, ‘maybe I’ll take a different route,’ or ‘maybe I’ll do a different mission first, then I’ll go back and defeat that boss.’ So players are given a lot more options as to how they want to approach the game, and I think we were able to really widen the freedom of opportunity for players, as well.”
In order to inform the gameplay and system changes of Nioh 3, I asked if, in the six years since Nioh 2’s release, the team had taken inspiration from other Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo projects.
“Yes, titles like Ninja Gaiden 4 and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty had been developed in parallel with Nioh 3,” responded Yasuda. “And that open world or open discipline aspect of Rise of the Ronin was additionally being developed in parallel with Nioh 3.
“So there’s inspiration taken from our personal video games. And among the staff members [engaged on Nioh 3] have been engaged on these different video games as properly, so there’s positively some inspiration we’ve taken from these different titles.”
A new challenge
The Nioh games are hard, even by soulslike standards. Even basic enemies can be unpredictable, hit like a truck, or even work in tandem with other foes to surround the player. Late game challenges such as Twilight missions and New Game Plus runs also often require absolute mastery of the series’ systems.
With Nioh 3, players have even more to work with. Whether that’s the style switching between Samurai and Ninja, or even just the ability to both jump and crouch, we’re a lot more agile and adaptable in this third game. On that note, I asked if Nioh 3 will still present a serious challenge to players even when their characters are more capable than ever before.
“In terms of difficulty and the strength of enemies,” Shibata said, “I think that has remained the same [as the first two games]. But since there’s a lot more freedom this time, it gives players a lot more opportunities to find the best way to defeat these enemies. For example, players can choose to only play as Samurai, or maybe they only want to play as Ninja, or they can switch between the two. But in terms of the base difficulty level, the way enemies are, that’s remained the same. It retains that high level of difficulty.”
Later, I wanted to know if the team had ever considered adding easier difficulty options, potentially for players who want to enjoy the story or try out different builds with reduced stress involved.
“It’s something we’ve never considered for the Nioh series,” Shibata replied confidently, “one of the core series elements is really giving you that sense of accomplishment. That’s something that we really value for this game.”
Shibata reiterated that the open field format and the new strategies it affords players should help them to better prepare themselves for Nioh 3’s toughest challenges in a more freeform manner.
He then talked about difficulty options being added depending on the context of any particular Team Ninja game: “In terms of Team Ninja in general, take Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. We’re attracting followers of that IP, so we need to guarantee that it’s a recreation these followers can get into.
“And with the Ninja Gaiden collection, we’ve all the time had the varied issue ranges there. So if it really works for the collection, it’s one thing that we do think about. But for the Nioh collection, we’ve caught with only a single issue stage.”
Pro performance
I also wanted to ask the team about PS5 Pro-particular options, provided that the construct of the sport on the preview occasion was operating on Sony’s premium machine.
“So since it is a PS5 Pro enhanced game, you can make use of PSSR,” Shibata defined. “And by way of framerate, that’s clearly the most important distinction between the PS5 Pro and base PS5.”
Shibata didn’t elaborate on the efficiency distinction between PS5 Pro and base PS5 right here. I’m completely happy to report that I didn’t encounter something in the best way of body drops throughout my preview session. Though throughout the Alpha demo on my base PS5 at house, I do bear in mind experiencing the occasional dip in total efficiency. Granted, that was an older construct of the sport, so issues might have improved between then and now, however actually one thing to bear in mind when the sport launches.
He defined that the staff has largely opted for a light-weight contact relating to the DualSense’s unique options.
“There are some things,” he mentioned. “When you’re using a bow and arrow, when you’re pulling back on the bow [with the trigger], you can feel that reaction. But we’re also making sure not to overdo it with haptic feedback. As an action game, it needs that sense of speed and responsiveness. If we rely too much on haptics, it can make the experience less responsive for players, so we’re making sure that we get the right balance there, as well.”
An adventure for the ages?
Lastly, I wanted to touch on the setting of Nioh 3. While still set in Japan, around a similar time frame to the first two games, things are a little different. Nioh 3 will, in part, involve a time-travel element for its plot, and we’ll be hopping back and forth between several different periods of Japanese history.
“In terms of each time period, there’ll be certain things you’re able to do. By going into the past, there are things that you do that can change the future. Then, you may be able to find that you can go back into the past and find things that you weren’t previously able to do in that period.”
Shibata explained that time travel will be used for gameplay as much as it is for Nioh 3’s story, saying: “Each era you visit will look different. One could be engulfed in flames, while another will be more of an ice world.
“As an example, the Heian period will be engulfed by snowstorms, which didn’t happen in actual history (laughs), but for the purpose of this game, we’ve chosen to show it like that. And for the changes in various areas, for those who are well-versed in Japanese history, they can probably tell the differences by the way that the buildings or structures look in the world.
“But I think for most people worldwide who aren’t familiar with Japanese history, the different environments and conditions help players to more easily identify that they are in different time periods.
“In that Heian period, for example, we will have traps or elements that are unique for that ice-covered world. And so, the way you need to progress through each era also changes, because you’ll need different strategies to confront the various different environments.”
It’s all sounding impressively visually diverse compared to the first two Nioh games. But we won’t see the full scope of things until Nioh 3 launches on February 6, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and PC.
Follow TechSwitch on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our skilled information, opinions, and opinion in your feeds. Make certain to click on the Follow button!
And in fact you too can follow TechSwitch on TikTok for information, opinions, unboxings in video type, and get common updates from us on WhatsApp too.