Nioh 3 Review: Team Ninja on top form with one of its best ‘masocore’ games yet

With Nioh 3, Team Ninja has made a ‘masocore’ game entirely its own. I can understand why Nioh 3 producer Fumihiko Yasuda and the team refer to Nioh and their other tough-as-nails titles as ‘masocore’, after all, they might be heavily inspired by FromSoftware’s slate of monolithic action games, but they strive to give each game a unique atmosphere and feel, along with mechanics that set them apart from the pack. So far, the results have been mixed. While I can’t complain about the core gameplay mechanics in Rise of the Ronin or Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the former took too much inspiration from vast open worlds that didn’t suit its gameplay, and the latter have level design that took a nosedive past a certain point. Those games now feel like ambitious experiments, and Nioh 3 has taken those lessons to make something that feels entirely unique. Read More...

Feb 4, 2026 - 22:12

Nioh 3 Review: Team Ninja on top form with one of its best ‘masocore’ games yet

With Nioh 3, Team Ninja has made a ‘masocore’ game entirely its own.

I can understand why Nioh 3 producer Fumihiko Yasuda and the team refer to Nioh and their other tough-as-nails titles as ‘masocore’, after all, they might be heavily inspired by FromSoftware’s slate of monolithic action games, but they strive to give each game a unique atmosphere and feel, along with mechanics that set them apart from the pack. So far, the results have been mixed.

While I can’t complain about the core gameplay mechanics in Rise of the Ronin or Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the former took too much inspiration from vast open worlds that didn’t suit its gameplay, and the latter have level design that took a nosedive past a certain point. Those games now feel like ambitious experiments, and Nioh 3 has taken those lessons to make something that feels entirely unique.

Read More...

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Nioh 3 review: "Brutal samurai and ninja clashes across wide maps avoid retreadi...

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