Nioh 3 Update 2.00.02 Fixes the Hell Rising Save Bug That Blocked Spirit Veins on PS5 and Steam

Team Ninja released Nioh 3 update 2.00.02 on 21 August to repair save files that loaded Guardian Spirits incorrectly and left players unable to travel through Spirit Veins. The studio lists the patch for PlayStation 5 and Steam, and it is the first correction to update 2.00.01, which shipped three days earlier alongside the Hell Rising DLC.

What Nioh 3 update 2.00.02 fixes

The fault had a narrow trigger, which is why plenty of players never saw it. It hit save data created for The Fall of Edo Castle, or for the Battle Scrolls Basic Controls and Expanded Controls, if that save was made before update 2.00.01 was applied. Load one of those files after installing 2.00.01 and the Guardian Spirits in your possession loaded wrong.

The visible symptom was traversal. Spirit Veins became impossible to move through, which in practice walls off progress rather than merely looking odd. Installing 2.00.02 resolves it and makes Guardian Spirits load correctly on affected files. There is no separate repair step and no need to roll a new character.

The Murakumo caveat worth reading before you load

One piece of damage could not be undone cleanly. Team Ninja says the Guardian Spirit Level of Murakumo (Ninja Style) will not load correctly regardless, so the studio has changed that level to a set value for every player who loads an affected save.

That is a flat assignment, not a restoration. If you had invested heavily in Murakumo (Ninja Style) on one of those files, the level you come back to is the one Team Ninja chose, not the one you left. The studio has not published what that set level is, nor offered a compensation item alongside it.

Which platforms get the patch

The update page names two platforms: PlayStation 5 and Steam. Those are the only entries in the patch listing, so PC players outside Steam and anyone waiting on another console have nothing to install here.

Version numbering differs by platform, which trips people up when they check the download. Team Ninja labels it 2.00.02, while published reports have PlayStation 5 showing the same patch as 2.000.020 in the console's own update panel. They are the same hotfix. Team Ninja did not publish a download size, and the change list points to a small file rather than anything on the scale of the DLC patch.

How this connects to Hell Rising and update 2.00.01

Update 2.00.01 landed on 18 August as the delivery vehicle for Hell Rising, the first half of a new story that unlocks only after you finish the base game. It is gated behind buying either the Hell Rising DLC on its own or the Nioh 3 Season Pass.

That patch was substantial, which is the usual backdrop for a follow-up hotfix. Among the additions:

• The hoko and shield and ninja hoko and shield weapon types, available from "1572 CE – Warring States" onward
• Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scrolls, a rare enemy drop that unlocks challenge missions and can be traded between players in multiplayer
• Enlightened One's Journey, a new difficulty unlocked after clearing Shogun's Journey, with raised Level and Soul Matching caps
• New yokai, Soul Cores, Summoning Seals, Onmyo Magic and Guardian Spirits
• New weapons, armour, accessories, Martial Arts, Ninjutsu and skills
• New trophies, titles and play records

Update 2.00.01 also reworked Ki. Strength now contributes more Ki damage, human enemies recover Ki at an adjusted rate, and Guardian Spirit Skills and Summoning Seals deplete more max Ki than before. Several set bonuses and weapon Martial Arts were retuned in the same pass.

A familiar pattern for big console patches

A large content update breaking older saves, followed by a corrective patch within days, is becoming routine. Konami shipped Silent Hill 2 patch 1.07 on PS5 and PS5 Pro and was investigating problems with it almost immediately. Insomniac used Marvel's Spider-Man 2 update 1.005.001 to walk back a change after players pushed on it.

The lesson for anyone mid-playthrough is unglamorous: let a major version settle before loading a save you care about. If you want a quieter week on PS5, Polyphony's Gran Turismo 7 update 1.71 car list went out without this kind of follow-up, and the current PS Plus August wave 2 line-up is worth a look while you wait.