I will be truthful: if you grabbed me by the lapels and demanded I tell you when Nioh 3 came out, I would answer something along the lines of 'the late 1980s'. The fact that the third Nioh—a rather good game, per our 90% Nioh 3 review—only released in February of this year feels like a weft in the tapestry of space-time.
But so it was, and so it is that Nioh 3 will, on August 19, get its first DLC in the form of Hell Rising: "Our protagonist and appointed shogun, Takechiyo, journeys through time and is led to Edo in the future by an unknown yokai he met in his dreams," goes the blurb.
"Edo in the future" is the year 1651, by the by. Things aren't looking great. "The large castle town that was once proof of the shogunate’s authority has transformed into a hellish wasteland plagued by the gales of the Crucible," rumbles the DLC description.
"Yokai, human rebels, and alchemists from foreign lands have descended on Edo, creating a battlefield fraught with chaos." I knew a guy in uni who called himself an alchemist from foreign lands, but he was just a Latvian guy who sold cannabis.
The new DLC brings new gear with it. Hell Rising brings the hoko and shield and ninja hoko and shield. Obviously, you know what a hoko is already, but I will write that it is a short spear out of my fanatical dedication to journalistic thoroughness. They "have a great many uses in battle, ranging from basic attacks like defending with the shield while attacking with the short spear, to tactical moves like flinging the shield at the enemy."
There's also a new difficulty mode, called The Enlightened One's Journey. It's even tougher than the already-tough Shogun's Journey and "offers more possibilities for growth, including stronger equipment, additional Soul Cores, higher level caps, and higher +value caps through Soul Matching." You'll have to beat Shogun's Journey to unlock it, mind you, so hop to it.
