No More Heroes 3

My first impression of No More Heroes 3 on PC was that Grasshopper Manufacture finally had the hardware to match its ambitions, and for the combat specifically, that holds up. The beam katana slicing, the Death Glove's four special moves (a dropkick, a slow-time effect, an AOE turret blast, and a force-push), the Slash Reel slot machine that fires off mid-combo rewards including a mech suit summon, the wildly creative alien boss roster. All of it clicks. The combat is the cleanest the series has ever been, pulling snappiness from the first game, weapon feel from the second, and the Death Glove depth introduced in Travis Strikes Again. When the action is cooking, very little on PC can match it for sheer chaotic personality. The structure holding all that combat together is where things get messy. The dedicated level design of the earlier games, those corridor runs that built up each assassin before the boss payoff, is almost entirely gone. In its place sits a loop of three "designated matches," which are short arena brawls against repeating enemy types, followed by an entry fee payment, and then the boss portal. PC lets you see the seams more clearly now that framerate stops masking them. The open world areas feel thin, more like staging grounds for minigames and money-grind side jobs (yes, lawn mowing is back) than actual spaces that breathe life into Santa Destroy. Fan-favorite side characters like Shinobu and Henry feel underused, and the story, while gleefully unhinged and structured like an episodic Netflix show complete with title cards and recap countdowns, demands you have played Travis Strikes Again or accept large chunks of context missing entirely. The PC port itself is better than what the series' earlier PC releases delivered, with support for high framerates and controller or keyboard-and-mouse input. The open world is still poorly optimised and will punish weaker rigs, and the game does not support 16:10 aspect ratios, which is a genuine annoyance. Pre-rendered cutscenes caused problems on Steam Deck at launch, though this is less of a concern on standard PC setups. Visually the upgrade from Switch is real, with smoother particle effects and a solid 60fps in combat areas, even if some reviewers found the overall fidelity still underwhelming for a current-gen release. The meta-humour, fourth-wall breaks, and pop culture references land with varying success depending entirely on how much tolerance you have built up across prior entries. If NMH3 is your entry point to the series, the story will confuse and the comedy may grate before the credits hit. If you have been with Travis since Santa Destroy, the alien boss fights alone, each one a genre-bending mini-event, are worth the time. The Galactic Superhero Rankings framing gives each chapter a distinct villain with their own mechanical gimmick, and those fights genuinely elevate the whole package. Just be honest with yourself about how much arena grinding between them you are willing to tolerate.

Alex · Scout Team

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