NIOH 3 Announced At Sony State Of Play Summer 2025
Perhaps it was somewhat inevitable, but at no point had I thought to myself Nioh 3 is a dead cert. Koei Tecmo and specifically Team Ninja looked to have wrapped up the widely popular souls series with Nioh 2 in 2020, as since then we’ve seen Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and last year’s Rise of the Ronin. It looked like Nioh was over. But in a stunning move we didn’t see coming, especially with Ninja Gaiden 4 already announced for this year, Team Ninja have come out swinging with a trailer for Nioh 3 at Sony’s impressive Summer State of Play.
Nioh 2 was one of my favourite games of the last five years, so its fair to say Nioh 3 was a highlight of the State of Play, but to stand out this time around was quite a feat with Sony throwing every third party PlayStation 5 title it had at my eyes for almost a whole hour. Even with the reemergence of Pragmata, Grasshopper’s Romeo is a Dead Man, and the first look at ioi’s First Light James Bond game, Nioh 3 will probably be the one I play the most upon release.
From the Press Release:
In Nioh 3, fans take on the role of a young warrior poised to become the next Shogun during Japan’s turbulent Sengoku period. Players will be able to enjoy a unique open-field experience that combines the freedom of exploration with the tension and intensity of action characteristics that encompasses all Nioh titles. From fighting monstruous yokai and exploring villages where suspicious beings lurk, to tackling the daunting challenges of the Crucible, players will enjoy thrilling and hostile new environments as they fight to survive in this cursed kingdom.
Among other novelties, Nioh 3 introduces players to two distinct fighting styles during combat: Samurai and Ninja. While the Samurai style offers a similar gameplay experience to previous Nioh titles, it also introduces new actions such as enhancing the power of martial arts with the “Arts Proficiency” action, or the ability to block enemy attacks at the last second with the “Deflect” action.
Players will enjoy a faster gameplay experience when using the Ninja style, being able to perform aerial actions and dodges, allowing them to attack from outside of an enemy’s range. Using a variety of Ninjitsu techniques at their disposal such as “Mist”, which leaves a clone after an attack, and “Evade”, which allows them to narrowly avoid enemy strikes, players will be able to outmanoeuvre enemies and deliver devastating speed attacks from behind.
Fans will experience intense and deadly face-to-face confrontations by switching instantly and seamlessly from one combat style to another, or by choosing to continuously use only one style, depending on the enemies and the situation of the battlefield.
It sounds like a bit of a combination of Team Ninja’s best work, a bit of Rise of the Ronin, Ninja Gaiden and Nioh, with a mostly open-world scenario, and the new Ninja combat stance/style at the forefront so far. There’s also that Sekiro-like focus on parrying or Deflecting, which has become so popular in recent years. For me the most important thing about Nioh 3 isn’t in the trailer – it’s whether the little tree-spirit Kodama are back and I have to find every last one on each map, because that was a highlight personally.
Let’s also not forget that a shadow-dropped limited-time demo was available straight after the show on the PlayStation 5 store.
KOEI TECMO and Team NINJA invite all players to try out these new Samurai and Ninja gameplay styles in the Nioh 3 Alpha Demo, available exclusively on PlayStation 5 until 18th June 2025. This free demo provides an early look at the game, including an in-progress character creation system. Upon finishing the demo, players are prompted to provide feedback, including thoughts on the new battle styles and open field exploration. A survey will be provided on the game’s official website in order to help facilitate feedback upon completion.
Players who clear the demo will receive a special helmet for use in Nioh 3’s full game upon release.
Nioh 3 is currently in development and is scheduled for release early 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC via Steam. The game will include Japanese and English voices.
Source – Press Release
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