- Primary Subject: Nioh 3
- Key Update: Team Ninja confirmed Lies of P was a major influence on Nioh 3’s combat rhythm and boss design philosophy.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: February 9, 2026
- Quick Answer: Nioh 3 draws inspiration from Lies of P’s boss clarity and timing-focused combat, pushing Team Ninja beyond traditional Soulslike design toward more expressive encounters.
Team Ninja evolved Nioh 3 beyond the standard Soulslike blueprint by drawing from a wider range of modern action RPGs.
Team Ninja’s approach to Nioh 3 shows a conscious push away from familiar Soulslike conventions in favor of ideas drawn from both its own work and other modern action RPGs.
Instead of leaning entirely on its past work, the studio looked to recent projects and notable genre releases to sharpen its approach to combat and boss design.
According to director Masaki Fujita, development involved a careful breakdown of what made previous Team Ninja titles work, while also acknowledging where other studios had pushed the genre forward in more interesting ways.
This process shaped Nioh 3 into a more exploratory and mechanically expressive sequel, one that builds on the series’ foundations without feeling bound to them.
What Lessons Did Team Ninja Take From Its Own Previous Games?
Team Ninja’s recent internal experiments heavily shaped Nioh 3, with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty reinforcing that loot only works when paired with deep, skill-based combat, and Rise of the Ronin guiding the game’s open-field design and pacing.
Responses to those games led the developers to prioritize more substantial exploration and optional content over constant combat.
According to Fujita, Rise of the Ronin helped reinforce the importance of restraint, as reducing excessive fantasy elements allowed the world to feel more believable and unified.
Why Did Lies of P Become a Key Inspiration for Nioh 3?
However, the most striking influence came from outside Koei Tecmo’s own catalog.
Fujita has openly acknowledged that Lies of P became a major point of reference during development, especially when it came to combat rhythm and boss design.
He was most impressed by how the encounters hinge on precise timing, with players needing to carefully manage defense, movement, and offense. More importantly, the bosses themselves stood out for how clearly their attacks reflected their identities. Every enemy’s movement, animations, and attack behavior were shaped by their visual design, avoiding the genre’s usual Soulslike shortcuts.
How Did Lies of P Influence Nioh 3’s Boss Design Philosophy?
This influence is evident in how Nioh 3 aims to make its bosses feel distinct not just mechanically, but visually and thematically.
Fujita has described Lies of P’s boss encounters as “stimulating” because their attacks fully utilized each character’s defining traits, creating fights that felt expressive rather than purely punishing.
Team Ninja sought to mirror that philosophy by designing yokai whose movements, silhouettes, and behaviors communicate their nature in combat, making encounters feel readable yet demanding.
The goal wasn’t to copy Lies of P’s style outright, but to adopt its approach to marrying animation, identity, and gameplay into a cohesive whole.
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