Nioh 3 is already an incredibly challenging game that matches the tough peaks of the original two games, but there's actually a way to make things even harder for yourself.
You won't know about it until very later in the game, but the standard difficulty of Nioh 3 is actually the easiest, as there is an unlockable harder mode that gives bigger rewards at the expense of even tougher enemies.
How to unlock Shogun's Journey
Nioh 3's even harder difficulty is called Shogun's Journey, and it is unlocked by beating the main game once. This means clearing all three main time periods and then defeating the final boss. Once you've done that, a pop-up window will inform you that Shogun's Journey is now available.
Shogun's Journey is basically Nioh 3's equivalent of New Game Plus, and can be accessed at any time via the map screen. Once you choose it, your journey begins again. Don't worry though, you will be able to access your second save through select Heir's Journey from the map screen. Don't worry, you'll be able to skip the game's lengthy introduction and get right into it.
The standard difficulty for Nioh 3 is called Heir's Journey, but you won't know that until you've unlocked the hard mode.
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What Shogun's Journey does
Shogun's Journey increases the difficulty of each enemy you fightmaking them more resilient and deal more damage. Of course, this also comes with its own advantages, as the rarity of loot that you acquire will be much higher as well. While Exotic is the highest class on a normal playthrough, Shogun's Journey introduces divine weapons that come with a random Grace effect.
Unlocking Shogun's Journey seems to make Divine tier weapons appear in Heir's Journey as well, but the drop rate is likely much higher in Shogun.
You also gain the ability to restore parts of the world, such as Lesser Crucibles and Enemy Basesby using Sands of Recollection or Scarlet Sands of Despair. By restoring these parts of the world, you can complete them again for even greater rewards. Of course, that is if you actually can manage to do so, because Shogun's Journey makes an already tough game even tougher. Be warned!
Of course, it will be a little easier if you take over all your gear, abilities, guardian spirit and more. While it's certainly still challenging, if you have the right build and have gotten used to your moves, it might not be anywhere near as tough as your first playthrough of Nioh 3. I even managed to beat its first boss without dying.
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