Sekiro Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Review

Developers: FromSoftware
Publishers: Activision
Genres: RPG, Action, Adventure
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date:
- March 22nd 2019
Playtime: 40 hours
- Finished the game once and started NG+
Reviewed on regular PS4
I uploaded gameplay here

After coming out triumphant of forty hours of countless battles against merciless samurai and beasts, I can say with little hesitation that Sekiro Shadows Die Twice is an amazing game. However, this is also a game that makes the toughest enemies in Dark Souls and Bloodborne look like pushovers.

For starters, Sekiro is by no means another entry in the SoulsBorne series. Yes, it's from the same developer, FromSoftware, which means it is an excellent game, but the game itself has a very different approach to combat, world design and even storytelling.

In this new IP, FromSoft gave the story a first-row seat instead of spreading it over item descriptions and world design. Cutscenes are more explicit about what’s going on and characters are more talkative during interactions, even the protagonist, Wolf, speaks. On the other hand, the story itself follows a familiar trend: breaking a never-ending cycle, though initially it is about recovering Wolf’s kidnapped Master. Although storytelling takes a more traditional approach, both the items and the environment provide meaningful story bits. With no armor or weapons to collect, of course this route is not as viable of an option for storytelling as before, but it's much easier to keep up with what's going on. Even if I like to read item descriptions or come up with theories for the story, it's good to watch the story develop in conversations and cutscenes.

Combat also changed its premise. While swordplay is still highly-tactical, the focus is not stamina management. Well, you need to manage your and your opponent's posture, but at least stamina was completely removed, which means you can attack and dodge as much you want. But wait, what is posture? The more hits you and your opponent take and the more times you’re parried, your posture bar will fill up, eventually making the defender vulnerable to a deathblow. However, there's more to combat besides posture. As someone not used to parrying in Dark Souls but used to dodging, the enemies in Sekiro cleaned the floor with me at first. It took around eight hours to understand that, in Sekiro, the objective is to keep up the pressure constantly by deflecting and attacking. Dodging is exclusive to very specific moments and blocking with the sword, your only weapon, is a last resort for moments of despair. You're not supposed to kill your enemy by chipping at their health, rather, fill their posture bar and finish things with a single deathblow.

While I did say the sword is your only weapon, there's the prosthetic left arm and its tools, or as I like to call it, Wolf’s swiss knife of a prosthetic arm. To keep it brief, it lets you mix in flame-throwing, shurikens, and a couple other tools which I will keep in secret for fear of spoilers. Still on the topic of combat (I'll leave the stats debacle for later) there's resurrection, which as the name implies, lets you come back to life. By resting at bonfires, I mean Sculptor’s Idols, you get one resurrection node restored, but you can also restore it by killing enemies and even acquire more nodes as the story progresses.

To finish the triad, the world design is up next, but I'll come back to the stats before the end. The world design also suffered major changes, especially because of the vertical orientation. You see, Wolf still has one more trick under his prosthetic sleeve: a grappling hook to quickly zip to nearby tree branches or to the top of a building. Not only does this make general movement much more fun, but it also has applicability in combat, such as to sneak the sword to an enemy’s throat or, conversely, to create a chance to catch your breath during combat. Of course, I couldn't talk about world design without praising the samurai-era environment Sekiro captures so well. From the traditional pagodas to the enemy designs, without forgetting the enchanting soundtrack, I felt completely immersed in the world of Sekiro.

Before wrapping up, there's the promised stat upgrades. The “die and pick up your remnants before dying again” mechanic is no more; in fact you can't improve stats in the traditional way as there are no souls or blood echoes. Instead, there's money (sen) used to purchase items or upgrades for the prosthetic tools. Improving stats on the other hand, that's not an easy task. For one, you can only improve vitality (health) and posture or attack. The first pair can be upgraded by defeating enough mini-bosses spread in the overworld, while attack can only be upgraded after defeating a new boss. What does this mean then? At least for me, it felt like I was powerless against some enemies early on, as I could do no more than get better myself, the player. On the other hand, there is a traditional experience system which rewards skill points, used to unlock cool new moves for combat, be it passive like “recover vitality upon a deathblow” or actual combat moves to make Wolf deadlier. To summarize this part, making Wolf a better fighter is much more dependent on the player's skill than in-game stats and equipment which, when paired with the already difficult combat, will easily lead to player frustration.

Now, here are my closing thoughts on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: it is an amazing game that goes too far to make itself hard and, as a consequence, frustrates the player at the wrong times. Dark Souls is my favorite video game series, with Bloodborne up there as well, but Sekiro is not another “SoulsBorne” game. With those, it shares but the developers, FromSoftware, and as a consequence, an extremely high-level of quality as a video game. Sekiro is, by all means its own beast and it needs to be faced as such. Combat is not about blocking or dodging and slashing, no, even before combat starts you can use stealth to your advantage and, during combat, you're supposed to be pro-active and attack relentlessly, but know when to pause to parry incoming attacks and break the enemy's posture. If you love previous FromSoftware games and are prepared for a tough challenge, then I can recommend Sekiro; but if you don’t feel like being beaten to the ground over and over until you finally master the combat system, then, unfortunately, don’t bother with Sekiro.