Koei Tecmo Archives

AppWizard

June 5, 2025

Nioh 3 stars the first Tokugawa Shogun, and it’s coming in 2026—for PlayStation, at least

Koei Tecmo announced Nioh 3 during Sony's State of Play showcase, set in feudal Japan and featuring Tokugawa Ieyasu as the main character. The game introduces new gameplay elements, including weapon stances, randomized loot, and specialization skill trees. Players can switch between samurai and ninja combat styles. Nioh 3 will be available on PC and PS5 from day one, with a launch scheduled for early 2026. An announcement trailer is available for viewing.

AppWizard

March 24, 2025

Atelier Yumia runs better than the previous Atelier games, but has ridiculously high CPU requirements

KOEI Tecmo has released Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, following the mixed reception of its predecessor, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. GUST Studios has made improvements in performance, resolving framepacing issues and enhancing mouse camera movement. The game supports various graphics settings and uncapped framerates but lacks NVIDIA DLSS or AMD FSR, using Intel XeSS instead. Performance testing on a high-end setup showed over 140FPS at Native 4K/Ultra Settings, but the game is CPU-bound, requiring modern CPUs with 10-14 cores/threads for optimal performance. Locking the framerate to 60FPS provided stability but still needed 10-12 cores/threads. Visually, the game resembles PS3-era graphics, and while it has improved from previous titles, its demanding hardware requirements indicate room for further optimization.

AppWizard

March 17, 2025

Rise of the Ronin’s PC troubles continue as players report disappearing saves on Steam

Players of Rise of the Ronin have reported lost save data following its release on Steam, compounding existing performance issues. Koei Tecmo acknowledged the problem and is investigating the save data issues, suggesting potential remedies such as resolving conflicts with third-party file sharing services, restoring from backup save data, and ensuring Steam Cloud is activated. Players have experienced significant losses of progress due to an error code that appears when closing the game, affecting both local and cloud saves. Koei Tecmo plans to release a patch to improve PC performance and recommends capping the frame rate at 60 FPS, which has disappointed some players expecting higher performance. Players are advised to save frequently and check their Steam Cloud backups to avoid losing progress.

AppWizard

March 14, 2025

Rise of the Ronin review

Rise of the Ronin, an action RPG set in the Edo period developed by Team Ninja, is now available on PC for £40 after its successful launch on PS5. Players have reported performance issues such as fluctuating frame rates and slow-motion movement, particularly in crowded areas, which detracts from the gameplay experience. The game features layered combat mechanics and a narrative focused on the final days of the Shogunate, where players rid villages of bandits and develop connections with NPCs. Despite initial smooth gameplay, performance deteriorated during missions, leading to inconsistent experiences. While some players have enjoyed smooth gameplay, many have faced optimization issues, raising concerns about the game's overall quality and the effectiveness of an upcoming patch from Koei Tecmo to address these problems.

AppWizard

March 13, 2025

“There was no such thing as a game industry back then.” Koei’s founder on how his solo passion project sold 10,000 copies at the dawn of PC gaming in Japan

Yoichi Erikawa, the founder of Koei Tecmo, created his first game, Kawanakajima no Kassen, a historical war simulator set in the Sengoku Period, which was released in 1981 and sold 10,000 copies. The game involved managing various aspects of feudal lord responsibilities and was initially a personal project driven by Erikawa's interest in history and programming. After placing an advertisement in a computer magazine, they received an overwhelming response, leading Erikawa and his wife to manually produce and ship the game. The success of Kawanakajima no Kassen prompted Erikawa to develop more games, including Nobunaga’s Ambition in 1983, which became a franchise with over 40 titles. Kawanakajima no Kassen is currently available on PC via Steam, but only in Japanese.

AppWizard

March 13, 2025

Rise of the Ronin is another crappy PC port, performance patch coming ‘soon’

Rise of the Ronin was released on Steam a year after its PlayStation 5 launch, but players are experiencing significant performance issues, including stuttering, low frame rates, crashes, and input delays. Koei Tecmo is investigating these problems and developing a patch. The game has received a "mixed" rating on Steam, with only 44% of user reviews being positive. Many users express disappointment with the game's graphical quality, and while some report satisfactory experiences, frustrations are prevalent. Koei Tecmo acknowledged issues with FPS drops and model rendering when using the Ultra graphics preset and suggested lowering the graphics settings and FPS limit as a temporary solution.

AppWizard

March 7, 2025

Rise of the Ronin PC review: an engrossing action-RPG plagued by technical issues

Rise of the Ronin has transitioned from a PS5-exclusive title to a PC release, featuring enhanced frame rates, support for DLSS, XeSS, FSR upscaling, ray tracing, and ultra-wide support. However, it struggles with optimization on PC, leading to inconsistent performance, frame rate drops, stuttering, and muddled textures. Koei Tecmo plans to release a day-one patch to address these issues. Performance problems are linked to heavy VRAM usage, even on powerful graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 4070 Super. The core gameplay includes a combat system focused on parrying and stamina management, with engaging encounters and exploration. The game features impressive draw distances and a dynamic day-night cycle but suffers from visual shortcomings, such as less polished character models and animations. Its file size is 143 GB, which may deter some players. The game is available at a discounted price of .99 on PC, appealing to those interested in the Souls-like formula and Japanese culture. Players prioritizing performance and visual fidelity may want to wait for optimizations.

AppWizard

February 14, 2025

Koei Tecmo’s new CEO is Hisashi Koinuma

Koei Tecmo has appointed Hisashi Koinuma as its new chief executive officer, effective April 1st, 2025. The company is undergoing a strategic restructuring, dividing into two entities: Koei Tecmo Games and Koei Tecmo Corporate Finance. This transition aims to streamline operations and enhance focus on core competencies, with the goal of becoming the world’s leading digital entertainment company. The new management structure will take effect in the fiscal year 2025.