Nioh 3 review: bold open world, superb combat, bloated story

Nioh 3 is a risk-taker that shakes up the series by tossing out straightforward missions in favor of an open-world approach. Exploring hidden corners of Japan yields evocative battles and neat secrets, but the game’s ambition is often held back by a surprising lack of challenge and a deadweight story that overstays its welcome.

Players inhabit Tokugawa Takechiyo, who wakes to find the capital attacked by demonic yokai and is whisked back to the war-torn Sengoku period to stop a mysterious Great Evil Demon Guy. The world is split across multiple maps you can tackle in almost any order.

There is a main route for focused play, but the best rewards usually come from wandering off the beaten path — you can stumble on hidden dungeons or encounter bosses out in the wild. The freewheeling early maps give way to a more traditional endgame as the structure tightens, and the game’s Crucible areas provide its most intense challenges: a hellish red realm where taking damage temporarily removes part of your health bar until you undo the debuff.

Japan