US EditionI Almost Quit Nioh 3 After a Couple of Hours — but Now I’m Obsessed with This Delightfully Difficult Action-RPG
- Early play during the prologue nearly pushed the reviewer to quitting, despite Nioh 3 launching on PC and PS5 priced at $69.
- The reviewer says the game's start felt rocky due to overtuned enemies and clumsy menus, while a punishing tutorial boss nearly drove them away.
- Combat centers on two distinct, instantly switchable styles, Samurai and Ninja, with 17 weapon types, extensive upgrade trees, and abundant loot causing frequent leveling and inventory overload.
- The reviewer says persistence paid off, with `something clicked` after around 10 hours and eventual obsession, as open-world exploration and build optimisation help prepare players for tougher foes.
- Nioh 3 positions the series as an open-world Soulslike with distinct identity, drawing from Elden Ring but offering close to 100 hours, earning the reviewer’s call as the `first must-play game of 2026`.
34 Articles
34 Articles
Nioh 3 refines Team Ninja's formula into its most ambitious Soulslike yet
Nioh 3 features deeper, more flexible combat, a semi-open-world structure, and seamless switching between Samurai and Ninja styles, earning praise as the most complete and accessible entry in the series-and one of the stronger modern Soulslike experiences for fans of demanding action RPGs.Read Entire Article
Nioh is one of the best action RPG series in history. The refined combat and combat mechanics are unmatched. The third installment raised great expectations and concerns about whether the almost perfect system could be further improved and captivated even modern players. You can find out whether the ambitions were fulfilled in our review.
Nioh 3 review: Sharper, shrewder, shinobi-er
As a series, Nioh has developed a rather passionate cult following who lavish the first two games with praise, especially when it comes to combat.And while I certainly enjoyed Nioh 1 and 2, I can't say that I ever felt that same reverence.It's fast, it's varied, and the dearth of mechanics, skills and more make its combat deeper than most Souls-like games.That is still true of Nioh 3, and while many longtime fans may feel that Team Ninja's many …
Nioh 3 almost gives Team Ninja its Elden Ring moment
As soon as you're through Nioh 3's tutorial, Tokugawa Takechiro — the game's protagonist and soon-to-be shogun — emerges into a world with an ominous red hue across the sky and a colossal, demonic eye with descending claws, evidently the source. It's stunning, but it's clear at this moment that this is to the Nioh series what Elden Ring is to the Souls games: a bigger and bolder sequel that, for better or for worse, is a clear imitation of FromS…
I almost quit Nioh 3 after a couple of hours — but now I’m obsessed with this delightfully difficult action-RPG
Nioh 3 represents the franchise's Elden Ring moment, taking its acclaimed combat and deep upgrade system into a well-designed open-world setting. Fans of challenging experiences will be playing this engaging action-RPG for a very long time.
Nioh 3 taking the series to an open-world format works shockingly well — thanks to that and its style-switching combat, it’s become one of the best soulslikes I’ve ever played
Nioh 3’s changes to the series’ established formula make for a fresh yet familiar feeling game, and I can’t get enough of it.
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