As a part of the PlayStation State of Play, we bought handled to the shock reveal of the subsequent sport within the Nioh motion RPG sequence. It’s merely titled Nioh 3, and it’s going to be altering a lot of what we find out about Nioh.
Nioh 2 is ready for launch in early 2026.
First, the sport is just not a timed PlayStation-exclusive, which is nice to see (and a primary for Nioh). It is going to be accessible on PC and PS5 concurrently when it arrives subsequent yr. The much more stunning information is that there’s a demo accessible proper now, although sadly solely on PS5.
That is the alpha demo, which suggests there’s going to be not less than yet one more demo – beta – previous to launch, if Group Ninja’s historical past with Nioh is something to go by. The demo is offered solely till Wednesday, June 18
Nioh 3 takes place in Japan’s Sengoku interval, and stars a brand new protagonist; a younger warrior (Tokugawa) set to be the subsequent Shogun. Clearly Yokai are within the combine right here proper alongside human enemies.
Nioh 3 is described as an “open discipline” sport, which is a significant change for the sequence. It’s attention-grabbing that Group Ninja didn’t name it outright open world, although maybe the destructive criticisms Rise of the Ronin drew for its open-world construction could have had a hand in that.
Regardless, gameplay areas look to be extra open than previous Nioh video games, even when the trailer doesn’t present a lot of that.
Maybe essentially the most attention-grabbing element was made on this PlayStation Blog post, the place Nioh 3 common producer Fumihiko Yasuda revealed that fight has two principal kinds: Samurai, and Ninja.
Each kinds will be switched between on the fly. The Samurai type is described as essentially the most just like different Nioh video games, although stances weren’t talked about within the breakdown. The Samurai type additionally comes with new additions, so it’s not solely related.The publish mentions Arts Proficiency, which boosts the ability of martial arts – an space that’s sometimes been uncared for in Nioh video games. There’s additionally Deflect, which is successfully a parry system.
Then there’s the Ninja type, which has sooner actions, and unlocks a number of aerial actions. That is the place the Ninjitsu methods now sit, and a number of the talents mentioned embrace abandoning a clone after attacking.
Nioh 3 seems to be an enormous step ahead for the sequence, so we’ll have to attend till we get our palms on it to seek out out whether or not Group Ninja has been profitable at evolving its formulation this time round.