Nioh, far, wherever you are. I've probably made that bad pun before, but seriously, I hope our guides writer Jeremy's not close to any desks right now. Nioh 3, that game that pushed the poor bloke to the point of violence against the contents of his home, is getting its first major DLC next month. The expansion's dubbed Hell Rising, and kicks off a two-part story with a trip to a decimated version of Japanese capital Edo during the Keian era.
Arriving on August 19th, Hell Rising is the first of two major DLCs included in Nioh 3's season pass, with the second having been dubbed Bloody Insurrection. Across both, devs Koei Tecmo will be telling a single story, so Hell Rising's tasked with getting that ball rolling in an apocalyptically decimated version of Edo - the former name of Tokyo - during the Keian era, which ran from 1648 to 1652.
"Our protagonist and appointed shogun, Takechiyo, journeys through time and is led to Edo in the future by an unknown yokai they met in their dreams," reads the plot setup. "There, following the death of the future Takechiyo, the era of peace has ended, and Edo has been retaken by the Crucible. With the cooperation of a one-eyed swordsman, Yagyu Jubei, and a Spanish envoy, Rodrigo, Takechiyo faces yet another plot revolving around Spirit Stones and an enemy with a strong resentment towards the shogunate."
To combat the tough threats roaming Edo, the DLC dishes out a new weapon combo, the hoko and shield, which can be used in both samurai and ninja styles. Koei Tecmo say they're good for everything from "basic attacks like defending with the shield while attacking with the short spear, to tactical moves like flinging the shield at the enemy" and can be paired with some new outfits inspired by Hell Rising's Spanish alchemists.
The DLC also brings a new "high-risk, high-reward" difficulty option, The Enlightened One's Journey, which randomly assigns certain enemies curse buffs which make them a lot harder to beat, but also ensure they'll drop powerful items of divine rarity. If the regular flow of battle's still not life-threatening enough or you want a chance to practice, Hell Rising adds the Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scrolls, bits of paper which allow you to set up custom fights and take them on either alone or with mates via multiplayer.
Jeremy dug Nioh 3 at release, despite running into some performance issues. "It's not as elegant and practiced as FromSoftware's efforts, and I daresay that the creativity present in recent Chinese soulslikes like Black Myth: Wukong isn't matched here either," he wrote in his review. "But it still warrants a Bestest Best, because what this game does do is deftly borrow from modern titles in a variety of genres, mingling their flavours into one delicate Miso soup."
One thing I'll add, having looked through the various promo shots of Hell Rising in action, is the Nioh 3's unquestionably up there in terms of games that can produce a visually stimulating screenshot. Look at the one above. Phwoar.
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