Team Ninja has released a Steam demo for its upcoming action RPG, Nioh 3, giving players their first hands-on look at the game ahead of launch. For a studio with a long history of uneven PC ports, the demo comes with low expectations. Surprisingly, though, it’s shaping up as one of Team Ninja’s smoothest PC showings in years.
That matters because Team Ninja’s track record on PC has been rough. Rise of the Ronin launched with stuttering, crashes, and inconsistent frame rates. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty struggled with performance at release. Even Nioh 2 faced optimization complaints, leaving many PC players wary of each new release.
Against that backdrop, early impressions of the Nioh 3 demo feel different.
Performance testing suggests the game runs reliably on mid-range systems. One early tester using an RTX 3060 6GB, Ryzen 5 5600H, and 16GB of RAM reported mostly smooth 60 frames per second at 1080p on very low settings without frame generation. In open-world areas, performance dipped to the mid-40s, but enabling AMD FSR 3 frame generation allowed higher “low” or “standard” presets while maintaining roughly 55 to 60 fps.
This suggests the studio may finally be prioritizing optimization earlier in development, rather than treating PC as a secondary platform.
But there are trade-offs. Frame generation can introduce input latency, which matters in a game built around precision combat. Testers, however, report minimal added lag with FSR 3 enabled, keeping the experience responsive enough for the series’ demanding timing and counter systems.
At the same time, not every platform benefits equally. Handheld devices like the Steam Deck OLED struggle to maintain stable performance, reinforcing that Nioh 3 is best experienced on a full PC setup rather than portable hardware.
Beyond performance, the demo also offers a clear look at what kind of game Nioh 3 wants to be. It opens with a lengthy tutorial that reintroduces the series’ core mechanics, including dual-wielding, stance switching, and Ki management. Once players enter the open world, they’re free to explore interconnected environments, face roaming enemies, and take on challenging boss encounters.
Early gameplay impressions suggest Nioh 3 retains the punishing difficulty and layered combat systems the series is known for, while feeling more polished and modern in its presentation and flow. It also marks Team Ninja’s first pre-release demo for a major PC release, allowing fans to test performance and gameplay mechanics before the full launch.
Takeaway
Nioh 3’s Steam demo doesn’t just show off the game. It suggests Team Ninja may finally be taking PC players seriously. If the performance seen in the demo carries through to launch, Nioh 3 could become one of the studio’s strongest PC releases yet, offering both the brutal combat fans expect and a level of technical polish that has often been missing in the past.
Emmanuel Umahi
