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Just as the original Nioh was one of the first games to emulate Dark Souls to great success, Nioh 3 is among the first major Soulslikes to use an open-world blueprint post-Elden Ring. However, Team Ninja has always excelled at applying its own sensibilities to a now well-worn blueprint, and Nioh 3\u2019s rewarding approach to open-world design is a shining example. Tack on a thrilling new Ninja gameplay style, and this third entry asserts itself as the pinnacle of its series.<\/p>\n
The newcomer-friendly plot sees the customizable 17th-century hero Tokugawa Takechiyo on the verge of being christened Japan\u2019s next Shogun. Your ascension enrages your jealous older brother, who reasonably responds by surrendering his soul to evil yokai and plunging the land into demonic chaos. This darkness transcends time and space, so stopping him means time-hopping across historical eras, from early antiquity to the 19th century, to remove its influence on corrupted historical figures all vying for the same power. Though the plot becomes repetitive \u2013 visit an era, cleanse the corrupted soul of someone who really wants to be shogun, repeat \u2013 it is ridiculous fun (as all the best time-travel stories are) with a nice bit of emotional weight in the theme of discovering what it truly means to be a leader.<\/p>\n