Three boss fights were enough. NiOh 3 confirms Team Ninja’s craftmanship

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The soulslike series NiOh, created by Team Ninja, launched in 2017 with a clear goal: to stand out from other games inspired by the genre’s originator, FromSoftware. It achieved this by offering a huge variety of armor and weapons, similar to what you’d find in Diablo, and a fast-paced, flexible combat system with more options than games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. Each NiOh game has built upon this foundation – the improvements between NiOh 1 and 2 were substantial, and NiOh 3 will continue that trend.

Open maps, but only to some extent

I got to play a demo of the game, and it dropped me right into a later part where my character – I made mine female – had to navigate a pleasure district during the Bakumatsu era. One of the biggest changes in NiOh 3 is how missions work. Instead of picking them from a map and then loading into a location, you just select the mission directly. Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t turning into an open-world game like Elden Ring. They were really keen to emphasize that! Each historical period will still have its own map, but they’re way bigger than anything we’ve seen in the previous NiOh games. The levels aren’t completely open, it’s more like we’re following set paths, but there are wider areas to explore. Even though it’s still a fairly linear structure, I found tons of hidden corners with chests, optional bosses, and shortcuts. Honestly, it made the maps feel much bigger and less restrictive than in the older games, which was a relief.

The game now includes enemy camps as part of exploration. When you find one, the game will tell you how many enemies you need to defeat to secure the area. Successfully clearing a camp earns you rewards like item chests or Kodama – small, green creatures that fans of the series will recognize, and which you can send to shrines. While this might seem familiar to games like those made by Ubisoft, clearing each camp actually increases your exploration level, giving you bonuses like improved stats or revealing new locations. The layout of the areas in the demo felt most similar to those found in the Dark Souls series or the castles and fortresses of Elden Ring.

Quick change

As a big fan, I think the combat in NiOh 3 is seriously impressive. The series has always stood out for feeling really fluid, even when you’re using slower, heavier weapons. What I especially love is the stance system – being able to switch between high, medium, and low stances, or even sheathe your weapon, opens up so many different attack options. But NiOh 3 really takes things to another level! They’ve added two completely new combat styles – Samurai and Ninja – which just adds so much depth and variety to every fight. It’s a really well-developed system.

Players familiar with previous installments will find the core gameplay immediately recognizable. However, the new ninja style offers a fresh experience. When playing as a ninja, your character is faster and uses less stamina (called Ki) for attacks and dodges. Backstabs also deal significantly more damage. A unique ninja ability, Mist, provides both offensive and defensive advantages. It allows for rapid movement during combat, letting you quickly flank enemies or create distance. To balance this, the powerful Pi pulse, which restores a large amount of stamina after an attack, is exclusive to the samurai style. Importantly, the ninja style doesn’t have access to stances, but instead relies on ninjutsu – techniques like shuriken throws and quick-closing maneuvers.

Both samurai and ninja share some of the same weapons, even though their attacks differ. However, only samurai can wield two-handed axes or large odachi swords, while ninja have access to kusarigamas and a new weapon unique to the NiOh series – talons, which are similar to the Falcon’s Talons from the Ninja Gaiden games. I haven’t played enough to know if you can beat the game using only one style, but it seems like successfully switching between styles and understanding each one’s strengths and weaknesses will be key to victory. This is especially true now that countering powerful attacks (marked by a red aura) is done by quickly switching styles instead of pressing specific buttons like in NiOh 2. While you can switch back to your preferred style after a counter, it’s more effective to use that opening to deal extra damage while your opponent is stunned.

Our character can now move around much more freely, as both combat styles can jump. This lets us overcome gaps and obstacles, and also opens up new attack options, like jump attacks that deal extra damage or hit previously unreachable parts of enemies. The ninja style is especially agile; with a specific skill unlocked, ninjas can even dodge while in the air.

The devil is in the bosses

Having a great combat system is important, but you also need challenging enemies to fight. I encountered three bosses in this part of the game, and if the rest are as good as these, I’ll be very happy. The bosses hit hard – they are bosses, after all – but their attacks were clearly animated, so I could learn them quickly, even on my first try. That’s great news for fans of games like Dark Souls, where boss quality can be unpredictable and unclear attacks can lead to frustrating defeats. I don’t want to give too much away, though – these fights were really fun, and I wouldn’t want to spoil them for you.

Having played it myself, I’m really impressed with NiOh 3. Team Ninja clearly put a lot of effort into evolving the series instead of just doing the bare minimum. It probably won’t change the minds of anyone who didn’t enjoy the first two NiOh games, but existing fans have a lot to look forward to.

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2025-11-24 16:03