The fact that Nioh now has a trilogy of games feels quite remarkable.

These games have been building a reputation for themselves over the years, carving their own niche while also following a faithful formula players know and love.

But mainly, for the Nioh series, I have really appreciated how both Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo have taken their own path with a familiar formula. And perhaps indirectly with their work on the original Ninja Gaiden, may have in part inspired From on their own variant spin-off – Sekiro.

So when I say Nioh 3 is quite possibly the most interesting and enjoyable Souls-esque since Elden Ring, I truly mean it. Because in many respects, it doesn’t feel LIKE a Souls-Like. And in a lot of cases it barely is, though it has halmarks Souls-like players will immediately recognise.

Regular death. Dropped essence that can be recollected. Shrines at which to pray and save your game and progress. Huge intense boss fights. Gradual progress. But it also sort of blends that hardcore Ninja Gaiden Black experience Team Ninja are masters at, with a little dose of Onimusha in there for good measure.

Much like Elden Ring, there’s a more open-battlefield environment to explore, with missions and areas that can be completed in the order you choose, though there are level barriers that help you to structure your playthrough. You’ll want to pay attention to this, especially at the beginning because the difficulty curve is sharp.

Enemies will lay into you and dive on you in numbers, they’ll shoot at you from on high and attack you from around tight corners. And they’ll hit you with massive damage with flurries and combinations and intense weapons that are simply devastating if you aren’t paying attention.

Nioh 3 is also full of world-spawning bosses that you can just stumble upon and immediately regret. Bosses that jump on top of you, throw flying skulls at you and bludgeon you to death with massive clubs. Nioh 3 throws you in at the deep end but it does so in a way where you genuinely feel like you learn by doing and grow into the game.

This is, in part, through the game’s reinvigorated combat system. With Duality, you start out with a Samurai style which will feel familiar to Nioh vets. You can equip several different weapons to begin with and the style of fighting is more steadily-paced and natured, with you focusing more on parrying, of counter-striking and preparing adequate pacing.

But new for Nioh 3 is a Ninja combat style which is incredibly fast-paced, letting you dance around your enemies, dicing through them at speed, while rapidly getting out of dodge to recharge. See the game has a stamina and Ki system that you’ll also need to keep eyes on. You can’t just keep spamming attack buttons in order to take an enemy down and while levelling up your attributes will improve competency, you’ll still need to be mindful of how much you fight back.

The Ki system can help with this, though, as after every attack you can press a button which helps restore lost Ki, to keep your fighting more consistent and regular, maintaining your momentum. And ultimately that’s what Nioh 3’s combat is all about, where you keep moving, stay agile and look for the weak points. Then when an enemy is floored, you can go for a devastating attack that can take a large slice of health.

Combat is the key focus in Nioh 3, with a lot of options to expand and change your moves, use a variety of different weapons with varying properties, adapt your styles to focus on specific areas and with Duality, seamlessly switch between the two styles in a flash. There’s even a move where you can change stances when an enemy is about to hit you and deal another devastating strike through grappling.

Nioh 3’s combat is its strongest feature and combined with the free-flowing movement of double jumping, heading out onto rooftops, sprinting around the scene and finding opportune moments to strike enemies. But with such a harsh difficulty, you can call upon the help of allies when you connect online and bring in a spirit to fight alongside you, whether it’s a tough boss or a tricky mission. There’s even arena, wave-based style crucibles where you’ll fight even more overwhelming odds.

There’s even Guardian Spirits as well which add a further dimension to combat and can add a sort of final evolution to your combat so you can add even more damaging strikes to your combination and put finishing touches to a battle when the dust is close to settling. It certainly adds a stylish dynamic to the game’s stunning visuals which far and away showcases this as one of the most beautiful games this generation. It also has one of the most incredibly detailed character customisations I’ve ever seen.

But the element I loved most about Nioh 3 is the time travel. Without venturing too deeply into spoiler territory, Team Ninja have found a really creative way to both keep the game fresh but diversify it from its predecessors which have stayed largely within the same timeline. In Nioh 3, you can move to different time periods, with different weapons, enemy types and resistances you’ll need to adapt to. It’s such a brilliant way to keep the game’s energy up and maintain your interest.

That said, the game’s story, while it starts strong, sort of loses itself quite quickly and becomes a bit knotted and confusing without too much explanation of the events and why they’re happening. There’s some assumption needed from previous games, and the cutscenes only take things so far, but the game’s story is not its most strongest point, with visuals, combat and gameplay flow clearly the reason to dive in.

With the huge variety in combat and move potential, the expansive nature of the environment and ways you can progress the game as you see fit, make this such an enjoyable and epic experience full of stunning visuals and grand moments that really energise as you play.

Nioh 3 is easily the best in series so far, but it’s also one of the very best Souls-like takes out there. A very juicy demo is available so you can get a feel for yourself, and come to the same conclusion. This one has laid down the marker for Game of the Year 2026 early.

Verdict

Nioh 3 is an absolutely incredible technical achievement but is also a supremely compelling action adventure with superb, customisable combat, intriguing environments and exploration and easily one of the best looking games this generation. With such deep and detailed variety, creative approaches to the formula and well defined and engineered gameplay, you’ll be playing this one for hours and hours.

Pros

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Nioh 3 is out now on PC, Xbox, and PS

Played on PS5

Code Kindly Provided by Koei Tecmo for review purposes