Mario Bautista
Update: Added info on PC release, which is coming “early 2026” alongside the PS5 version.
At Sony’s State of Play showcase today, Koei Tecmo announced Nioh 3, its third Soulslike set in a feudal Japan suffering from as many hostile spirits as it is competing warlords. And in Nioh 3, we’ll be playing as one of the biggest possible figures from the Warring States period: Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that reigned in Japan for more than two centuries.
If you’re only familiar with FromSoft soulslike fare, Nioh adds a fair amount of complexity through weapon stances, randomized Diablo-esque loot, and specialization skill trees. In Nioh 3, there’ll be yet another layer in the mix, as Tokugawa will be able to shift between samurai and ninja combat styles.
As the figure who closed Japan’s Warring States period by consolidating power under his declared shogunate, Tokugawa—declaring himself with his original given name, Takechiyo, at the end of the trailer—is an interesting protagonist choice for the Nioh threequel. If you saw his fictionalized analogue, Toranaga, in FX’s Shogun, you’ll know that Tokugawa is often portrayed as a ruthless strategist, whose schemes often skew underhanded, if not outright treacherous.
By offering a ninja combat style, which unsurprisingly seems to focus more on sneaking and assassination-style strikes than toe-to-toe combat, Nioh 3 seems like it’s acknowledging that Tokugawa’s ascension as shogun wasn’t exactly above board. You know how it is with conquering warlords.
Nioh’s been pretty willing to do some creative storytelling with Japanese history in the past—splitting another Japanese unifier, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, into a pair of dual protagonists, for example—so I’m interested to see how Nioh 3 will extend Tokugawa’s characterization beyond game mechanics.
Hopefully they won’t make me wait until the end of the game to see his tanuki guardian spirit again, though. Little guy’s adorable.
Nioh 3 will also be the first game in the series to get a PC release on day one, alongside the PS5 version. The release date is slated for “early 2026”.
