ORIENT EXCESS

SLICE YOUR WAY THROUGH JAPAN'S PAST IN BLOODY AND BRUTAL THIRD CHAPTER OF THE NIOH FRANCHISE

- Cheryl Mullin

Nioh 3 (PEGI18) PS5, PC IT’S been nine years since the first Nioh game landed as an exclusive on the PS4.

On the surface it was another in a long line of Dark Souls wannabes that had seemingly flooded consoles in 2017.

But when you scratched beneath its Soulslike surface, a very different animal was waiting.

Set during Japan’s blood-soaked Sengoku period, its setting and deliciously brutal combat made it stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Nioh 2 arrived in 2020, acting as both a prequel and a sequel to the original.

Set in late 16th century Japan, it took everything that was great about the first game and elevated it into something truly special.

Now the third game in the series has been unleashed.

But where is there left to take an RPG that’s seemingly hitting all the right notes with players?

The answer is open-field. Gone are the linear, mission-based affairs of the first two games, and in come large open zones to explore, spanning not only different locations, but different time periods too.