Nioh 3 Boss Fights Took Inspiration from a Beloved 2023 Soulslike

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A Team Ninja leader revealed that Lies of P heavily inspired the boss battles in Nioh 3. This shows the studio’s practical approach to development, which influenced everything in Nioh 3, not just the bosses.

Launched on February 6th, Nioh 3 quickly became one of the best-received games of 2026. Although its scores – an average of 85 on OpenCritic and a 93% recommendation rate – are similar to Nioh 2, this installment takes the series in a new direction. Instead of the mission-based levels of previous games, Nioh 3 features open-world areas, though they are separate and distinct. The game also revamped how stamina (Ki) works and made significant changes to combat, including adjustments to fighting styles and parrying. The updated combat system encourages players to quickly switch between styles, and many boss battles are specifically designed to test this skill.

How Lies of P Bosses Influenced Nioh 3’s Yokai Movesets

Masaki Fujita, the director of Nioh 3, recently told PC Gamer that Lies of P was a significant inspiration for the game’s boss battles. He specifically praised Lies of P‘s skillful combat system, which demands players become proficient in both dodging and blocking. Fujita, a long-time industry professional, enjoyed the challenges presented by Lies of P’s bosses and used that experience to help shape Nioh 3. He was particularly impressed with how Lies of P’s boss designs were integrated into their attacks, and this approach heavily influenced the unique movesets of the Yokai enemies in Nioh 3.

What Nioh 3 Learned from Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

When talking about Lies of P, the director, Fujita-san, mentioned we learned a lot from our own games while making Nioh 3. Specifically, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty taught us that having too much loot and complicated item systems can actually hurt the experience. We realized players didn’t want to spend all their time managing menus, so we aimed for frequent rewards but kept the inventory nice and simple in Nioh 3. We also listened to feedback on Wo Long‘s story. Some players felt the connection between the main character and the Blindfolded Boy wasn’t strong enough, so we really focused on making the relationships between key characters feel more developed and meaningful in Nioh 3.

The boss battles in Lies of P were designed so creatively that they really inspired me when I was developing the enemy actions for Nioh.

Fujita explained that developing Rise of the Ronin helped Team Ninja improve the open-world design of Nioh 3. Players wanted more to do while exploring and more side quests, and Rise of the Ronin allowed the team to learn how to better distribute optional content throughout the game’s maps, making exploration feel more rewarding. He also noted that Rise of the Ronin demonstrated the benefits of reducing fantastical elements, a lesson they applied to Nioh 3 to strike a balance between its supernatural themes and a more realistic setting.

Currently, Nioh 3 is only playable on PlayStation 5 and PC. However, it likely won’t stay that way. Koei Tecmo recently announced that the game will be exclusive to PlayStation 5 for just six months, meaning an Xbox version could be released as soon as August 2026. To give you an idea, Rise of the Ronin was a PlayStation 5 exclusive for almost a year, but that game had a unique situation because Sony helped fund its creation.

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2026-02-09 03:05