\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nWhile I have a clear preference for the flexibility and speed of Ninja Stance, developer Team Ninja has done a great job of balancing the two stances to make them both worth swapping between regularly. Samurai Mode feels a little weaker at a base level, but is balanced by being much better defensively \u2013 it also has an additional mechanic called Arts Proficiency that rewards you with a powered up special or heavy attack if you\u2019re able to fill up a meter by landing attacks and successfully blocking without taking hits. Meanwhile, Ninja Mode feels like Team Ninja finally taking off whatever limiters they might have placed on the combat in previous games in the service of balancing stamina management, lifting up their hands and saying, \u201cyou know what, just go wild.\u201d <\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest departure from previous Nioh games is the shift from a mission structure to a series of open worlds. Over the course of Nioh 3\u2019s 40+ hour campaign, you\u2019ll be time traveling around from the Edo Period, to the Heian Era, to the Bakumatsu Era, and even to antiquity. Every period that you travel to comes with its own enormous battlefield to explore, with tons of points of interest all over the map, featuring optional bosses, challenging combat encounters, and worthwhile rewards. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nThat last bit is important because one of the few complaints I\u2019ve historically had about the Nioh series has been a lack of satisfying rewards due to the random nature of loot drops. The loot is mostly still random in Nioh 3, but there are now other meaningful rewards for you to seek out. Clearing out Lesser Crucibles will power up your Guardian Spirits, granting you access to new Spirit Skills; defeating Masters will unlock new nodes on specific weapon skill trees; finding Jizo Statues will allow you to select from a variety of bonuses that will aid you when you\u2019re inside a Crucible; sniping the weasel-like Chijinko demons out of the sky will get you elemental variations of techniques in your skill tree; you\u2019ll find equippable skills in the many chests strewn all throughout the world; and all of this on top of the already existing Kodama and Scampus collectibles that existed in past Nioh games.<\/p>\n
Doing these open world activities also adds to an Area Exploration rating, which itself comes with rewards, from stat bonuses, to skill points, to more areas of interest becoming pinpointed on the map. Rarely was I ever surprised while exploring any of the Nioh 3 open zones, but I at least was well rewarded for my time, which counts for a lot in a game where you need every advantage you can get. <\/p>\n
The open landscapes are impressive, but feel like they are missing a unique identity.
\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nBut while exploration is well incentivized and the environmental design of these huge open landscapes is impressive, Nioh 3\u2019s open worlds feel like they are missing a unique identity. Part of the problem stems from the fact that you\u2019ll fight the same enemies in just about every zone. This was an issue with the previous Nioh games as well, and it is felt even more so when you\u2019re wandering through visually distinct open worlds that all still feel the same. There are almost no enemies that feel unique to a time period. The cyclopes that appear in the Warring States Era are the same ones that appear in the icy Heian period, except instead of rocks, they throw snowballs. <\/p>\n
There is at least a fairly wide assortment of enemies to face overall, and a large number of them are completely new to the series, but it is a little disappointing that the returning enemies don\u2019t have any new tricks or attacks to keep me on my toes. <\/p>\n