Nioh 3: Hell Rising DLC Review - Only For The Hardcore Fans

The quality of Nioh 3: Hell Rising will come down to the individual player with a single question: “do you want to play more Nioh 3?” If your answer to this is yes, then Hell Rising is a great excuse to dive back into the game.  If, however, you wanted more from the base game in terms of narrative and variety, you’re out of luck here, since the DLC continues to deliver the same experience. While the new zone itself is quite fantastic, and there’s plenty of fun to be had with the Hoko & Shield once you get used to its high-risk-high-reward gameplay style, the fact that new Yokai bosses are still lacking, and many of the bosses here are just more humanoids is certainly a disappointment. Hell Rising, with its 5 to 8 hour runtime, simply doesn’t feel like it adds enough to Nioh 3 to make it worth the price of admission from anyone aside from die-hard fans of the base game. For everyone else, waiting until the second DLC actually completes the story might be a better option.