Nioh 3’s Lead Developers On Its First Major DLC, Responding To Player Feedback, And Offering “Much More Bite” Than The Base Game

Published Aug 18, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. It’s hard to believe that Nioh 3 only launched a little over six months ago. The latest entry in one of Team Ninja’s most beloved series released at the start of this year, bringing with it an excellent evolution of the Nioh formula. I poured over 80 brutal hours into Nioh 3, and walked away with it as my favourite of the three. For the most part, it seems like a lot of people agree with that take, as Nioh 3 saw glowing reviews and sold over a million copies in just two weeks. That being said, some of the game’s new elements, like the more welcoming open fields and Ninja stance, were a little divisive for Nioh veterans who expected more of the same from the first two games. As it turns out, Team Ninja itself was just as anxious about changing the series. “This time, we introduced several new elements the series hasn’t had before, such as the open field and ninja action, so we were honestly a little nervous about whether players would embrace them”, producer Kohei Shibata tells me. “But hearing so many people say they’re enjoying the game has made us truly happy. At the same time, we’ve also received a great deal of feedback and requests, so we plan to keep rolling out improvements and balance changes.” Hell Rising Takes Place After The Main Game So We Can Actually See Takechiyo As Shogun Perhaps the first test of whether Team Ninja has taken that fan feedback on board comes with Nioh 3’s first major expansion, Hell Rising, which launches tomorrow. Hell Rising takes place during the Keian Era in 1651, and sees Takechiyo once again time-travelling to deal with a Yokai threat that has taken over Edo. Nioh 3’s story - which is all about its protagonist being sent through different periods in time - seems like the perfect setup for a DLC that slots into any point in the original game’s timeline. Despite Nioh 3 notably having two different endings depending on your final choice, Hell Rising interestingly chooses to move the story forward by taking place after the events of the main game. Image provided by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. Game director Masaki Fujita says this was decided when Team Ninja originally settled on the game’s shogun theme, which means that it’s been part of the plan for some time. Fujita says that Takechiyo is historically the figure who established the Tokugawa shogunate’s system of governance and points out that, in the Nioh series, Tokugawa Ieyasu’s dreams of peace have been a key part of the story since the very first game. “The main game is the story of the protagonist becoming shogun, while the DLC is the story of what he does after becoming shogun”, Fujita says. “When we think of a historical figure who was actually shogun, we naturally think about what they accomplished. I felt that only by touching on what they did as shogun could we bring a story centered on the shogun to a proper conclusion.” Hoko And Shield Look Set To Be Nioh's Most Unique Weapon Image provided by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. Nioh 3’s Hell Rising expansion doesn’t just continue the base game’s story, though. It also carries over the open field design Nioh 3 introduced. If you liked what was on offer there, you’ll be happy to know that Edo-Keian will feature the same range of activities, from Scampusses and Kodama to Lesser Crucibles and Crucible Spikes. Game director Atsushi Takahashi says that, even though there are no new traversal options, Nioh Story Fragments play a big part in letting you explore the culture of Edo and give you more reason to explore the map. Takahashi also tells me that Edo-Keian features altered Yokai with unique attack patterns that should help mix up the gameplay. Perhaps the most interesting addition to Hell Rising is the new weapon type, the Hoko and Shield. Nioh has had many different armaments over the years, but the Hoko and Shield is the first defensive weapon type, easily making it one of the most unique the series has ever seen. The Hoko and Shield can even be equipped in both Ninja and Samurai stances, which goes some way to showing how central it is to the DLC. Image provided by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. “Since the DLC also features alchemists and foreign factions such as Rodrigo, we wanted a weapon type that could draw on a more Western-inspired design”, Atsushi Takahashi says. “From there, we settled on hoko and shield because it offered a gameplay experience unlike any of the existing weapon types, while still combining offence and defence.” It isn’t just a new weapon type that players will be able to mess around with in Hell Rising, though. Takahashi says that the DLC’s new Martial Arts moves don’t just add an element, but change your attack range and approach in battle. One of them, the sword’s Iai Quickdraw, can now be performed while deflecting an attack, and the Hand Axe’s Demon Uppercut has been improved to cover a wider area. New Guardian Spirit Tora Gozen Sounds Like A Dream If You Like Countering Image provided by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. As you’d expect from a Nioh expansion, Hell Rising also introduces a new Guardian Spirit, Tora Gozen, a cat-like creature who has “learned ninja techniques”. This means that Tora Gozen’s Guardian Spirit Skill is a counter that works on attacks other than Burst Attacks, letting players really focus on that type of play. I have a feeling he’ll be a quick fan-favourite. Alongside everything that’s been built upon in the DLC, Nioh 3 is also getting the Hundred Demon Realm Picture Scrolls, an evolution of the Demon Parade Picture Scroll from Nioh 2. Enemies have a chance of dropping Hundred Demon Realm Picture Scrolls, which the player can collect, bring to a shrine, and then attempt to clear its mission to unlock the scroll permanently. In essence, this is a way of majorly increasing Nioh 3’s replay value and giving players quick access to builds. “Experimenting to find the best build can feel like a hassle to some players, but it’s also part of the game’s intellectual appeal”, Fujita tells me. “We wanted players who jump into the DLC to be able to enjoy that aspect to the fullest. As with the Demon Parade Picture Scroll in the previous game, Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scroll is being added as a new equipment category, and it will have a major impact on your build. We felt that a change this big was better suited to being added later as DLC.” This time around, the Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scroll actually features procedurally generated battles instead of a set one. Fujita says that Team Ninja wanted to make picture scroll battles more “varied” since there was only around 100 possible patterns in Nioh 2’s version of the feature. The team also hopes that the “especially extreme scrolls” will be a talking point for players and help to “keep multiplayer lively”. Don't Worry, Hell Rising Aims To Significantly Increase Nioh 3's Difficulty Image provided by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. As great as everything that Hell Rising is bringing to the table sounds, I’m sure there’s one question on the minds of a lot of Nioh fans - will it be tougher than the base game? One of the main complaints from series veterans was that Nioh 3 was a little too easy since you could just do all of the open field content and run through most bosses. Fujita tells me that the team heard that feedback loud and clear, and that the Stone of Penance added in a recent update was intended as an answer. Hell Rising is taking this one step further, as Team Ninja aimed to create a place “with much more bite” than the base game. If you factor in the Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scroll, the Stone of Penance, and the Enlightened One’s Journey, an even tougher difficulty mode, then Nioh 3’s Hell Rising DLC will be “among the toughest challenges in the series”. “It is aimed at fans who want a greater challenge, but players won’t need pure action skill alone to get through it—they can also prepare by optimizing their equipment”, Fujuta tells me. “That has been one of the series’ core ideas, so we hope each player will take on the challenge in whatever way they enjoy and are best suited to.” Nioh 3 Systems Released February 6, 2026 ESRB Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Koei Tecmo Publisher(s) Koei Tecmo Genre(s) Action, RPG, Soulslike, Open-World