Should Japanese game devs focus on a Japanese style? Nioh 3 leads say it's "one of our strengths," but blindly "sticking with that Japanese style isn't good" on its own

Nioh 3 female warriors.

Nioh 3, a samurai action RPG about fighting demons in fantasy Japan, is one of the most Japanese games you'll ever play – a bag of historical fiction steeped in folklore and expressed through art styles spanning centuries. (It's also quite good, per our Nioh 3 review.) Two of its lead creators, producer Kohei Shibata and Team Ninja studio head Fumihiko Yasuda, examine its Japanese DNA in an interview with GamesRadar+, and tackle a question that more game developers working in Japan have publicly confronted recently: should Japanese games double down on what makes them unique, or more strongly pursue global appeal and trends?

I asked Shibata and Yasuda what, in their eyes, distinguishes games made in Japan, what defines Nioh, and how they feel Japanese developers should balance domestic and global influences. Our heroic interpreter had a lot to relay.