Just as the original Nioh owes some of its vision to Dark Souls, Nioh 3 took cues from Elden Ring as it charted a transition to open-world exploration. However, Nioh 3 producer Kohei Shibata says the series has developed its own "Nioh series-like" appeal and direction, and on the list of priorities this comfortably ranks above influences from FromSoftware or other developers or games.
Speaking with GamesRadar+, Shibata reflects on how the Soulslike label has been applied to Nioh. The samurai action RPG series was one of the earliest good examples of the FromSoftware formula being integrated elsewhere, and with Nioh 3 – to some fans, with Nioh 2 – the series has well and truly joined the ranks of Lies of P as one of the best in the Soulslike genre.
"When we were working on Nioh, the first game and the foundation of the series, we were greatly influenced by Dark Souls, so I think the Soulslike label is correct," Shibata says via translator. "At the same time, when developing Nioh 3 we were very conscious of the Nioh series-like action and controls, as well as the hack and slash elements, so we'd be thrilled if players enjoyed those aspects as well."
I've said before that the best Souls players never get hit by bosses, but the best Nioh players barely let bosses attack in the first place. This reflects a difference in aim and pacing with their combat, and Nioh 3 is likewise distinct in its approach to open-world design, serving up multiple maps with level-like sub-areas where Elden Ring went all-out with one massive world.
Ever since Nioh's release, Team Ninja's games have often been evaluated in conversation with the evolution of the Soulslike genre. Amusingly, Ninja Gaiden 4 developers said last year that Soulslikes had "taken center stage" in action games, so they were actually going against the grain there.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, with its parry-powered combat, is often gauged against FromSoft's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Likewise, Nioh 3's open-field design drew parallels to Elden Ring and its open world. However, it's not as though Team Ninja or Koei Tecmo saw Elden Ring and decided, yep, we have to make one of those.
"Elden Ring is one of the titles we took inspiration from," Shibata affirms. "When incorporating the open field in Nioh 3 as an evolution of the series, we referenced Elden Ring so we have respect for it, but we don't think of Nioh 3 as our response to or interpretation of Elden Ring."
As we said in our Nioh 3 review, a great balance of risk and reward give the game's classical open-world styling a meaningful edge, and the core combat has only gotten better over time.
I've been interviewing devs for 13 years, and it's rare to hear someone say this about their own critically acclaimed RPG weeks after release: "Nioh 3 is a great game but it's not perfect."
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