Tag: nioh-3

Release date: 6 February 2026

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MY SPECS
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
RAM: 32GB
Storage: SSD
Performance: Runs great with minimal tweaking
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Series context: 93 hours in Nioh 1 | 254 hours in Nioh 2

Team Ninja has outdone themselves. After refining their formula through two games and Rise of the Ronin, Nioh 3 is the perfect evolution of everything that made the series great.
The game runs great on my machine, which is getting on in years and if you can run rise of the ronin or any other recent open world game you should have no issues, the options to make this work for your machine are there and are really welcome.

The Big Changes:

Dual-Mode Combat – Instead of just high/mid/low stances, you now swap between Samurai and Ninja modes on the fly. Samurai gets traditional stances, blocking, and pure melee. Ninja gets faster movement, ninjutsu, and onmyo magic. You’re encouraged to use both – red attacks can now be countered by timing your mode swap.
Flux is Completely Different – Ki pulse isn’t just about recovery anymore. Depending on your stance, ki pulsing lets you deflect attacks, counter with hyper-armor, or dodge-attack without consuming ki. Every pulse is now a tactical decision.

Build Variety – You can’t equip every skill anymore. Limited capacity per category forces actual choices. Soul cores work differently (you summon yokai instead of transforming), and they’re split between combat abilities and consumable slots. Running Water is no longer part of the skill tree, but a skill you learn and equip, allowing for flexibility. Gear is mode-specific, so you’re essentially building two characters.

Open World Structure – Sectioned by time period with dense, handcrafted zones. Major dungeons (Crucibles) for classic Nioh gauntlet design, minor ones scattered around for quick combat encounters. No bloat, everything is deliberately placed. The entire map feels like a classic Nioh mission, and there is a lot more verticality than before. Someone at Team Ninja spent a lot of time hiding loot and interesting things everywhere.

Story – The alure of nioh was never the story, but I will say the story in this one is interesting, especially if you care for what historically was happening in Japan at the time, and once again the main character is at the crux of major events. The historical characters are represented well with gravitas and really interesting choices in the way they are designed.

Quality of Life:

Stats show weapon scaling directly during leveling
Donate loot at shrines for amrita instead of just selling
Better sorting and inventory management
Split loot pools between modes
And many more.

What Works:
The combat feels incredible – faster than previous games with Ninja Gaiden influence, but still deep. Enemy timings are tweaked enough to keep you honest without feeling unfair. Visuals are stunning across the board. I find myself taking screenshots of the landscape, which while I love the first 2 games, I was never inclined to do before.

Stealth is more viable now. Blocking is even better, and options here are further expanded to let you chose exactly what type of block you want and what advantages it will give you. The whole game feels like Team Ninja sat down, identified every friction point from 1 and 2, and systematically fixed them while adding depth.

The mode system creates genuine tactical variety without feeling gimmicky. You can build pure samurai, pure ninja, or hybrid, and all are viable with completely different playstyles, like in 1 and 2 you’ll eventually find your groove and whichever you chose it will be amazing to play and a spectacle to watch.

The Reality:
If you loved Nioh 1 and 2, this is everything you wanted. If you hated the combat in those games, this won’t change your mind – it’s Nioh perfected, not reinvented.

Early game lets you get comfortable, but the depth is there when you’re ready for it. Build variety is staggering once systems open up. You will get hard blocked by the second boss or so until you learn your systems, get your timings and flow right and figure out a direction for your build.

Verdict:
This is Team Ninja at their peak. The mechanical refinement, QoL improvements, and respect for both veterans and newcomers is evident in every system. It’s rare to see a third entry in a series be this confident in its vision.

Mandatory for action game fans. Essential for Nioh veterans. I’ll be playing this for months.