- First post, but also some Nioh 3 thoughts!

It's been a month or thereabouts since I left my full time job over at the wonderful Nintendo Life, and I've decided it's probably time to put my exquisitely crafted Mario bong down and start sticking some bits and pieces of mine up on my own little newsletter of sorts. So welcome to The Gutter, I guess.

Why bother? Well, I mean, I haven't stopped playing games all of a sudden, I'm still absolutely committed to the cause, and writing about them is very important therapy for my heavily melted brain. So, I'm afraid, I'm gonna be quite incapable of stymying the flow of rancid takes and gutter-like opinions out of my husk-like form for now. Ah, so that's why I've called it The Gutter. Well, sort of.

Now we've got all that explaining out of the way, and in order to move on quickly so I don't have to talk about myself any further than necessary, I've decided to get started with a review of a game that I've been wanting to push on every sentient creature I've spent time with lately. Yes, my dog (hi Marin!) is now sick and fucking tired of hearing about Nioh 3.

You've broken the rumble crotch!

I've been a huge fan of Team Ninja ever since I first got down and dirty with the excellent Dead or Alive series back in the 1990s, but I became utterly obsessed with their output when they revived the Ninja Gaiden franchise in 2004. These are games I still hold up as some of the very best of the action genre. Games that don't really age quite as badly as others, because their wonderful core is forever imminently playable. And so, as a huge FromSoftware fan these days, I was incredibly excited to see what these wizards of the scene would conjure up in response to the rise of the Soulslike genre.

2017's Nioh was that response, and it's a game that I've always felt hasn't been given all the credit it deserves. Not that it didn't review well (it's sat on 88 or something like that on that Metawank), but because it doesn't seem to linger in gamer chats about the genre (or action games in general) quite as much as I think it should.

Nioh wasn't a perfect execution, I won't argue that. I had issues with how it served its world up in broken sections when I was starting out, it felt a little old-hat, even in 2017. It also takes too long to get going, and its controls and weapons systems can be A LOT to ingest when you just get started - it's the sort of action game that launched alongside lots of articles in the vein of "ten things I wish I'd fucking known all the way through reviewing this hard as nails shit".

The core combat is of such quality, though, that it sees you through any and all slight rough spots of this nature. Even when you're tearing holes out of your best gaming trousers over a tough boss fight. You've broken the rumble crotch!

Yes, that's right, Nioh is also absolutely, unapologetically brutal. Like, I mean it doesn't give a fuck about killing you repeatedly as soon as you dig in sort of brutal. I should also note, for health and safety, that if you've never had an issue with yokai before, this is where you get your starter kit. You're gonna shit your pants and you're gonna love the feeling. It's warm and it's satisfying, once you get used to it. As is the game.

Delicious yokai gravy

The Nioh universe melds real-life aspects and characters with lots of fantastically mad shit, you see, and as a result it creates a properly off-kilter, often unsettling and weird-ass vibe. William Adams, the first game's protagonist, is based off a real dude of the same name who (according to these heavily stained notes) was the first Englishman to reach Japan, in 1600 or something like that. They made him a samurai and everything. I'd love to know how they verified that stat about him being first, though. I hope he was being legit. I would put money on some drunk guy having done it before him without even knowing. Fell asleep in the dock sort of caper. I think I'm having a flashback.

Anyway. Besides having a real guy as the lead, the game was also dotted with real places dripping in intricately detailed references to the culture, historical figures and folklore of the time...all that good stuff. And, as it turns out, superimposing fantastical, often shitifying, yokai all over this kinda thing makes for a stylistically unique and wonderfully absorbing thing to settle into.

The second game gave us the opportunity to create our own character from scratch (something I was glad to see as William was a bit of a drip to be honest), but it kept the general ebb and flow of its predecessor intact whilst tightening things up, as sequels tend to do, embiggening set pieces and refining the combat. A better game overall, yes, but I have to say the first one still stuck with me more, as it was the one that hit home with that original vision. 2 sort of just felt like more gravy. Mmmmm. Delicious yokai gravy.

Let's move on to Nioh 3 now as that's the point of me having even started typing this. FFS.

I was sort of lukewarm upon this game's announcement, even though I loved part 2, because I felt like enough was enough. These are games I'd already easily spent 100+ hours playing. I couldn't see 3 grabbing me in such a way that I'd be willing to ditch other games I'm currently engaged with in order to trudge through more of roughly the same thing.

Everything I say is dead wrong

However, and as usual, I was dead fucking wrong in everything I was thinking. Because Team Ninja has knocked it out of the park here. So much so I've used a curse word. Nioh 3 has blown me away. I'm as excited about this game as you were about Elden Ring, mate. This is my Elden Ring.

Actually, I might not even be exaggerating. As much as FromSoftware's first proper open world adventure is undoubtedly a god-tier creation, there are things about it that left me cold and made for a game I had to embrace several times over to finally see it through to the end.

Nioh 3 gives me a world that feels open enough. It's not a fully open thing, to be clear, but the areas are generously proportioned in comparison to those found in parts 1 and 2, and enough so that comparisons are obvious with ER.

For me personally, I'm still not 100% convinced that having an open world, having infinite things to distract a player in a huge play space, really needs to be the route forward every single time out - it gets a little tiring, lads. So, this side of things being reigned in with Team Ninja's series makes me love it all the more, as it makes for a much more approachable, actually completable, but no less epic-feeling blast of S-tier combat action.

I reckon, if you're in any way of the same mind currently; preferring the more "directed" nature that Nioh brings in comparison to the do-as-you-please sprawl of Elden Ring, you're in for a big old treat with one. The core combat, combat that was already fantastic first time out, is now in its third iteration, and finessed to perfection. It absolutely sings, and it's the only Soulslike that I'll 100% say matches ER in how good it feels.

For part 3, the biggest change is that we now have dual playstyles to switch between, letting you flip instantly betwixt Samurai and Ninja modes, and this was almost more of a worry for me than treading old ground was in the run up to release. Two playstyles, Team Ninja? Why not just make a game with one and get everything perfected and down pat before making things even more complicated for yourselves?

Of course, as we all know by now, everything I say is dead wrong, and once again this has proven to be the case. The two play style system here is combined with a combat setup that's way more fluid and easy to parse overall. Bosses are fantastically well-judged across the board, with ramp-ups in difficulty happening exactly where needed to ensure you're au fait with the moves and techniques you require going forward. The "open field" areas you explore are also plenty varied, and full of surprises, shortcuts and fantastic loot.

There's been a smart focus, too, on getting you into the action and understanding everything way faster in this 3rd iteration, a focus that's properly noticeable and appreciated for a returning franchise fan. Both of this game's predecessors got off to slightly baggy starts. Too much time was spent introducing weapons and skills early doors, and it all felt a little overbearing - maybe even a little overly complex - starting out as a result.

Here you're right into the mix and further to that, for newcomers especially, you really don't need any past experience with the series, you don't need to be steeped in lore or have a handle on the fiction to get stuck in and enjoy things this time out.

Anyway, that got long. I'm not finished the game yet, so maybe it turns into a howling load of shit full of Batmobile platforming sections for the last third. Too late to take anything back now. If you're on the fence though, this is the best one, and it's the most accessible, and I'm really having a great time with it.

Namaste 🙏