Nioh 3 Alpha Demo impressions - New combat style, open field map, and lore predictions

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja temporarily published an Alpha Demo version of Nioh 3 on the PlayStation 5 shortly after revealing the new sequel at State of Play earlier in the month. Having played the first two entries myself, I managed to check out the demo within the allotted time and managed to get a glimpse of the new game's features, such as the open field map and the new combat style.

Truth be told, though, I originally thought Team Ninja would first continue the Chinese Three Kingdoms lore coverage with a Wo Long 2, especially considering the current endpoint of the storyline. Yet here we see them going back to the Japanese Warring States era once again with a brand-new Nioh entry. Besides the obvious new additions of gameplay features with some definite carryovers from Wo Long, I'll wonder whether the studio still has any key points not covered yet in the Warring States history.

It's because I feel like the existing series has covered pretty much all of the primary highlights featuring the Three Unifiers in the period, with the lifespans of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi featured in Nioh 2, and the battles of Sekigahara and Osaka cementing Tokugawa Ieyasu's shogunate happened in the first one. Seeing the prime Takeda clan led by Shingen featured here will certainly please fans of the period, but it will also end up pumping expectations for other nearby major clans like Uesugi and Hojo.

But I'll get on my impressions for the gameplay in the Alpha demo first before I go back to the lore aspect.

While Nioh 3 still pretty much keeps the double melee and ranged weapon equipment slots, those are now technically separated by the new split between the Samurai and Ninja Styles. The more conventional war weapons like the Odachi sword and Spear stay in the Samurai Style, which plays the same way as prior Nioh entries. Other weapons like the Kusarigama chain sickle and Knuckles are now being reassigned to the Ninja Style, which offers a more evasion-based gameplay approach.

However, I felt like I could not get into the Ninja Style well, primarily because it does away with the Ki Pulse entirely, so I often ended up lacking the stamina needed to deal with enemy attacks after attacking and evading. But Team Ninja generously offers a lot of options that suit the more conservative play style I've been used to.

One is the costless skill to change the behavior of the style change button to counter bursts while retaining the style with brief presses. The other lets me perform a Ki Pulse after regular blocks. The latter also means I can stay true to my steady blocking method in the staple Samurai Style without having to worry much about pulling deflection parries, and it even helps me actually beat the more difficult bosses.

I also see Team Ninja taking notes from their time with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. The team has finally added jumping to a Nioh game, which also brings in some changes in the stage designs that let us get onto several building roofs without having to take long detours. But while the early stages and major Crucible areas still employ the semi-linear progression method, Team Ninja notably started including an open field map in this new sequel.

You can now explore the corners of the fields to find side quests or strong enemies; the latter include the aura-marked Crucible Wraiths that will unlock the yokai species' Soul Core skills on defeat. Several locations also host Bases, where you have to kill all enemies dwelling inside to unlock the reward treasure boxes. These progression approaches really remind me of Toukiden 2, which was made by Koei Tecmo's other studio, Omega Force.

One of the existing staple features affected by this is on the Revenants. Now every time you summon and beat one, they will spawn a spirit drifting away towards a specific direction. You'll eventually find out that these will converge to a specific spot that hosts a Bloodedge Demon grave. And the more Revenants you have beaten, the more powerful this demon will be when you summon it for a challenge.

In addition, the open field map includes several interaction spots with friendly creatures, including the series' de facto mascot Kodamas. The Scampuss from Nioh 2 also makes its return, but it will now challenge you to catch up with it before you can properly pet it and get a reward. I find this a welcome change, since in most of my Nioh 2 playthroughs its Anima regen buff ended up getting wasted a lot outside combat.

There is also a new flying bell thing, reminiscent of the Pokemon Chimecho, which is also basically begging "shoot me". Doing exactly that will turn it into a harmless weasel that can also be petted to get more bonus rewards.

Once I have finally defeated the boss of the Crucible stage, the town covered by it starts showing signs of revitalization. Now, since this is an alpha build and should be open for more suggestions, this is where I would like to see the team breathe some life by adding a few people working on rebuilding the town.

One of my gripes with Toukiden 2 is that there was absolutely no sense of reclaiming zones of life, even as we gradually purified the areas. So I hope Team Ninja can implement that to further improve the game's world-building. On the same aspect, I would also like to see a similar return to life in the conquered bases and major spot bosses like Mezuki, although I would also suggest leaving a symbol that lets us access rematches of the fights.

I will wrap up this impression with an observation of the story setting. However, it will inevitably contain spoiler warnings. If you want to discover the game's story and world setting entirely on your own, it would be best to call it a day right here. Otherwise, you may continue on. As a reminder, Nioh 3 will launch worldwide in early 2026 on not only PlayStation 5 but also simultaneously for PC via Steam.

The closing segments of the initial reveal trailer turned out to be a big red herring. The one declaring the name Tokugawa Takechiyo turns out to be your very own avatar protagonist. In addition to the in-game story cutscenes and conversations, the story mission descriptions also mention Tokugawa Ieyasu as the protagonist's grandfather.

After combining with the "Conquer the Crucible, Become Shogun" slogan, all of these lead to the new conclusion that the avatar character you are creating would be none other than Tokugawa Iemitsu, whose childhood name was actually Takechiyo. It would be even more amusing to see players out there create Takechiyo a.k.a. Iemitsu to look like a foreigner, as historically he was the very Shogun to enact the Sakoku isolation policy.

Aside from that point, the story of Nioh 3 will apparently have the protagonist go back in time to rescue Ieyasu from an untimely demise. The time travel aspect is absolutely nothing new in the series, though, as Team Ninja already used it in the Nioh 2 DLC expansions. So it remains to be seen how Team Ninja will distinguish this game's storytelling.