On August 19, 2026, the first major DLC for Team Ninja's action game Nioh 3, titled Keian Hell Transformation, was officially released. However, this expansion pack, hailed by foreign media outlet TechRadar as "one of Team Ninja's best DLCs to date," faced a wave of negative reviews from players in the Chinese Steam region.
As of press time, the DLC holds a "Mixed" overall rating on Steam, with the positive review rate in the Chinese region once plummeting to 16%. Player outrage centers on several core issues: numerous reskinned monsters, harsh visual lighting, padded content, and optimization problems.
Many players pointed out in their reviews that the new monsters and bosses in the DLC severely lack creativity. One player直言, "Shibata Kohei is truly lazy; just changing the attributes and color makes it a new monster, shrinking a boss makes it a new boss, and tweaking Naotaka Magari creates a new boss." Another review sarcastically remarked, "The cold hard $98 turned into warm reskinned monsters and familiar faces from previous games. It feels like meeting old friends. Team Ninja is so thoughtful."
What further angered players was that bosses from previous games were simply shrunk down and reused as regular enemies. One player bluntly stated, "Shrinking old bosses and using them as minions really made me laugh out of anger."
Visual presentation was another major point of criticism. Many players complained that the DLC's lighting effects were extremely harsh, severely impacting the gaming experience. One review wrote, "They casually adjusted the lighting, designed the maps and progression haphazardly, and stuffed it with reskinned monsters. Making DLC is that simple. Damn, my eyes nearly went blind after playing." Another comment was even more direct: "You damn well didn't fix the lighting? Do we need to bring spare eyes to play your game so we don't get blinded by your damn light effects?"
Beyond the reskinned assets and lighting issues, players also criticized the DLC for its lack of content and uninspired boss battles. One review summarized: "The DLC only has two new bosses, one hell dungeon, and a bunch of reskinned minions, with no new martial arts techniques—just recycled ones." Another player commented, "Not only are the boss fights increasingly lackluster, but Maria is also thrown in for a pointless cameo. What's her purpose? Just to milk the nostalgia from veteran players?"
What do you think? Have you played this DLC yet? Feel free to join the discussion in the comments section.