Nioh 3 hides essential settings deep in the menu, and here's what you should change first

Like the first two games in the series, Nioh 3 feels somewhat clunky with default settings – but transforms easily once you dig into the options. Many genuinely useful features are buried so deep that most players risk missing them entirely. Here's what you should change if you're just starting your playthrough.

On the first page of the controls section, you'll find "configure controls" with several templates. Option A is active by default, but it's worth trying option B – martial arts and combo extenders get tied to the left trigger (guard), which makes them significantly easier to use. The only trade-off is that spirit skill activation moves to the D-pad, which takes some getting used to. And yes, playing with a controller is better.

Even more strongly recommended is checking out the game settings section. On page six, you'll find options for auto-disposal of items with the ability to choose which rarity categories to dispose of – common, uncommon, and so on. You shouldn't enable this feature right at the start, especially if you haven't gotten comfortable with the loot system yet or you're deliberately farming an armor set bonus. But sooner or later, common and uncommon junk will start clogging your inventory, and auto-disposal will become a lifesaver.

Nioh literally showers you with loot, which is precisely why page five of game settings includes auto-pickup. The feature works exactly as it sounds: your character picks up everything you walk over without any additional button presses. Over the entire playthrough, this saves countless actions, and there's something oddly satisfying about shiny items jumping into your pockets when you open a chest.

Another valuable setting for late-game stages is found on page two of the menu section. Here you can increase the number of available item shortcut sets – the D-pad menu in the bottom-left corner of the screen where you use elixirs and spells. By default, you get two sets for eight slots, but you can expand this to three or four. When your arsenal accumulates numerous items and spells, additional slots prove extremely useful.

A good technique is placing the elixir in the top slot of each set so healing always remains at hand without needing to scroll through the menu, leaving the other nine slots for everything else. However, the optimal layout depends on your specific build.

On page three of settings, you can adjust the behavior of exclamation marks that flag new entries in your inventory, achievements, and story progress. Nioh 3 generates numerous small updates with every item found or task completed, and if those pesky icons annoy you, the settings let you quickly clear all notifications at once.

If something else about Nioh 3 causes discomfort – check the settings. Chances are good the option you need already exists, just hidden a bit deeper than you'd like.