Original Publication Date: 19/04/2019

Re-published 19/06/2022

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Back when I first got an Xbox 360, I picked up Dark Souls as one of my first games – that game, due to its wonderful sense of challenge, incredible bosses and unparallel world design, ended up probably becoming my favourite game of that gaming generation, at the very least one of them. I’ve followed From Software, the developers, ever since with some games that I’ve loved (Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne) and some I was a little more lukewarm (Dark Souls 2…). And now, I’ve finally tackled Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a new iteration on their action formula that legitimately may be the most ‘me-targeted’ game I’ve ever sat down and played.
I’ll preface this article with the fact that I technically haven’t finished Sekiro yet – I’m currently locked in combat with the game’s final boss, but I feel I’ve seen the vast majority of what the game has to offer, at least enough to write this. I was pretty much obligated to pick up Sekiro – not only am I a huge fan of From Software’s Souls series, Sekiro iterates on its wonderful combat and blending it with the world of Japan’s Warring States period, giving us what might be the best samurai simulator in a long time. As someone who loves reading about Japanese history, this game was like a gift from above

Objectively, the most important part of Sekiro is the basic, moment-to-moment combat. And honestly, I think it’s probably the best combat From Software have ever done. It’s a lot narrower in scope, as you’re restricted to just using Sekiro’s katana, alongside his various tools, but having that narrow scope let them do a lot with one weapon. The actual combat Is exhilarating. There is nothing I’ve played in a game recently that is more terrifying or exciting then being in one on one combat with a powerful opponent; deflecting strikes and jumping above sweeps is wonderful and finding the moment to break through their defences is practically endorphin-inducing. It’s so satisfying, it’s addictive. I have to say though, I don’t feel the resurrection mechanic adds that much to the game overall – it’s a fun way to continue the fight, and there are some stealth usages for it, but overall I don’t think it’s as fleshed out as I hoped it would. The massive amount of skills the game slowly provides you with provide you with a lot of nice passive upgrades, but the combat moves you can unlock can change the way you fight pretty drastically, giving you new ways to approach the most untouchable of foes. It’s a nice system, but it does create a situation that wasn’t a problem in the old Souls games – since there is a finite amount of skill upgrades, you can’t out level content if you’re getting kicked to the curb over and over again – there is, in the endgame, a skill that can trade skill points for attack power, but the jump isn’t that huge and it won’t help you against the most powerful foes the game has to offer. It’s not a good or a bad thing, but it’s just something to be aware of when playing Sekiro.
For me, the most important part of a Souls-esque game is the boss fights, both in the sense of actual mechanics and design. And for the most part, I think this might have the strongest line-up of bosses, at least on average, across all the games. Since there are a slew of mini-bosses in the early hours of the game, I was getting a little concerned about the overall quality, but upon encountering Genjobyu and Lady Butterfly, all those worries were gone. Of all the main bosses in the game, that I’ve fought, I don’t think there has been a single bad one in the bunch; the only one I felt that fell into the ‘below average’ bracket would be one particular ape that was just a clone of a previous, more interesting ape. As per the standard of the series, the very best fights are the one where you’re simply fighting another samurai or shinobi, very much like yourself, and those are far and away amazing across the board – in particular, my favourite boss fight is the battle with Genichiro Ashina atop the castle. It’s a perfectly set battle that marks among my very favourite fights in gaming. If there is one thing in this game that it’s worth playing for, beyond the base gameplay, it’s the simply astounding bosses.

Though, on that note, I’m not feeling as soft on the mini-bosses; whilst there are some very, very strong mini-boss fights, chief among them the fights with the Snake-Eyes, Armoured Warrior and O’Rin, being very unique affairs requiring you to fight in a very different manner to the vast majority of the others, many of the mini-bosses are really forgettable. Whilst they sometimes serve as fun diversions from the mooks that make up the normal enemies, many of them are just frustrating to deal with, especially ones that require you to clear the entire area out to deal with. When I close my eyes, I see Seven Spears laughing at me, representing everything wrong with the mini-boss design in the games.

I think it’s impossible to talk about Sekiro with talking about the debate raging about its level of difficulty – and for the most part, I think the debate is unfounded. The game features a pretty consistent level of difficulty, expecting a lot of the player whilst giving back a fantastic battle system with a lot of depth and ‘wow’ factor when everything goes well. That being said, I think the deck is a little stacked against Sekiro in the initial hours of the game – bosses like Juzuou The Drunkard, Lady Butterfly, and the other early bosses feel just a little too difficult for such an early part of the game – this is less to do with the actual combat itself, and the extreme lack of margin for error the game gives you. With very few healing items, lack of skills unlocked, and only a few of the prosthetic weapons available, it just feels like you have to play flawlessly in early fights, something which isn’t as prevalent in the later sections of the game.
Sekiro probably has the most amount of direct, presented story a Souls-esque game has ever had, and for the most part the plot is perfectly serviceable. I found myself super invested in assisting Kuro, The Divine Heir, and gave me at ton of motivation to see where the story goes. It’s basically just a tool to push you in the correct direction, but it does well at what it’s trying to do. The climatic story bosses are all simply fantastic, on that note. Bosses with cutscenes proceeding them all among my favourites in the game, as they set the tone and stakes for each fight fantastically and are all the ones with the most emotion riding on them. I’ve always been a fan of how From Software did stories in their older games, but Sekiro is a great example of how I’d be perfectly fine with seeing them producing more story-focussed games, since it’s clear they have the ability to tell a simple, yet very well executed storyline.

Despite its prevalence in the marketing and initial reveal for the game, I was surprised to see the Prosthetic Arm not playing a greater role in the story overall, outside for the first hour, if that. Regardless, it’s a really fun and unique addition to the Souls formula, which was growing kind of stale in the last few entries. Providing Sekiro with more then half a dozen tools to deal with a variety of situations, the Arm has a ton of capabilities. I was particularly fond of the Prosthetic Spear, allowing me to run enemies through before they could even react. Overall, though, I feel the Prosthetic Arm was a little bit of a missed opportunity. Many of the tools only have niche usages, and some just feel utterly useless. The Spear and Axe are decent, but sometimes feel like you’re just opening yourself to attacks, and you’d be better off using your sword anyway. Shuriken’s and Firecrackers feel, on the other end of the spectrum, a little over tuned, being essentially required usage to defeat your foes. Certain foes are vulnerable to certain weapons, but outside of these niche uses, it’s a little sad to see them mostly unused. There is a wonderfully intricate upgrade system that provides a ton of alternate versions of the Tools, but it never really saved the more niche ones from being, well, niche, whilst just further serving to powerup the over tuned tools. It’s a fun mechanic in the form of the arm, but it makes me sad that they could’ve done a lot more with it or incorporated into the story a little bit more.
Last thing I’ll talk about is the area design, and again, I’m pretty positive on that note. There are a lot fewer areas in this game then past From Software games, but they’re all of a much higher length and quality level then older games – gone are (for the most part – Abandoned Dungeon is barely a level) the throwaway areas that are just there to pad out playtime – they are all fully realised locales, packed with enemies, secrets, items and NPCs to interact with. A few of these levels, such as Senpou Temple, I’d probably rate among my favourite areas in recent gaming. The addition of a dedicated jump button, and the grappling hook, have opened up the areas in a much more 3D way, giving the game a lot more corners to poke your nose into, and keeping you busy for a lot longer then a normal area would normally.
I went into Sekiro with high hopes and expecting a game that was going to tear me in half – I was right on both accounts. With some of the best boss fights and the best combat this side of Devil May Cry V this year, I’m in love with this game. Knowing it has four endings, secret bosses, and so many NPC storylines I haven’t followed through, this looks like a game I’ll be trapped in the grip of for may sessions to come. It’s a tall order, difficulty wise, and some of the mini-bosses will test your patience, but Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a fantastic offering from From Software that ranks among it’s best and is a front-runner in an already stacked Game of the Year running. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go throw myself at the final boss again – maybe attempt 70 will be the lucky one!