Sekiro Shadows Die Twice - Review

FromSoftware is a developer that I admire and at the same time, loath, the games they make are challenging and if you put the time into them, can be rewarding, but try as I might, I have never found them to be appealing. With the announcement of Sekiro, I had hoped that things would change, but did it?

The story of Sekiro takes place towards the end of the Sengoku period of Japanese history, a time known for its brutality to both the people and the land, here you play as Wolf, who is found on a battlefield and ready to die. After being trained up, he is assigned a new master in the form of a young lord, who is heir to a family that possess a very powerful blood ability, to resurrect someone after they have died. As the game starts out, your lord is taken by a force, led by a former general of the lord and it is up to you, to rescue the lord, no matter the cost to yourself, as you soon lose your arm attempting to stop the abduction.

The loss of the arm is not just symbolic as it also doubles down as your method of transport, once it is replaced by a prosthetic one, that comes equipped with a grapple. Zipping around the world is as fun as you might imagine, but also opens up a world of gameplay options, given you can use it to escape combat, should things become dicey for you. The other function of the arm is to allow you to use various ninja tools, like shuriken, but also a giant axe, but there is a cost with these items, as you need to have Spirit Emblems to use them, and while you can collect them when you defeat any enemy, they are very easy to burn through. Using a combination of tools is what sets Sekiro apart from the Souls type games that came before it, though if you ignore those tools, the game is more Souls like than anything else

Combat is a big part of the game and running into any fight, even with the first enemies, will see you get your butt whopped and you left dead and where Dark Souls was about the weapons, Sekiro focuses more on stance and attacks than anything else, much like For Honor does. A lot of the combat comes down to you learning and remembering the attack stances that you can parry, or the ones you need to dodge, learning those is crucial to surviving, but the game gives you a chance to make things a little easier thanks to the stealth gameplay that it employs. As you can crouch down and sneak through the world, as long as you are hidden in the tall grass, and should you be able to sneak up on any enemy, you can deal a death blow, with the benefit that if they are a low level enemy it is a one hit kill sort of thing.

That is of course only for those guys, the main bosses and sub-bosses that are around, require multiple Death Blows to take down and getting there is not easy. As you attack, you will slowly fill up a meter that hovers above your targets head, just as you have one, once if fills up the enemy stance is broken, leaving them open for a Death Blow. These blows take out massive amounts of health and if the enemy has a few red lights above their health bar, it will take out a single one of those as well. While the system works for you defeating enemies, you are also open to the same one, so as enemies attack you, if you remain blocking the entire time, the bar will fill up and leave you open to a Death Blow. Dodging attacks, but more importantly parrying them, is what you have to do, if you want to not only survive by emerge victorious.

The system though has issues, while the larger enemies have attacks that can’t be parried, you can only dodge them, you never earn a similar skill and while the ones you unlock are great, they are not the same as the enemy ones. The other issue is that combat is still unforgiving and this is the issue I have with the Souls games as well, and while some people will claim it is on me to get good, the problem stems from the fact that most enemies have windows where they can be damaged after a big attack, but you can be. Deal a Death Blow to a general or something and while he recovers from it, he is immune to more attacks, however when the opposite occurs, you are able to take punishing and even lethal amounts of damage, even after you resurrect.

Resurrection is a big part of the game, it doubles as not only a gameplay mechanic, but a story one as each time you die, completely at least and resurrect, a plague spreads more and more across the land. In terms of gameplay, what it allows for, is a second chance in combat, should you fall, but there is a cost, a resurrection can only be used once, before it needs to recharge. If you rest at a statue, it is recharged right away, but that also respawns all the basic enemies, so waiting for the recharge to occur is your best option. The problem with resurrection is that it is instant, meaning that if you are killed by anyone and resurrect, they will notice and begin attacking you again, you have no window of grace before you can take damage. If you want to wait until the enemy is out of range, or at least a little distance has come between you, you are out of luck as there is a finite time that you have in order to resurrect and if you don’t you die and then spread more Dragonrot.

The other issues that I have with the game, is that when you die, you lose half of your loose gold and half of your current level progress, meaning you can lose a lot of progress. Gold is not a huge deal as you can earn a lot pretty quickly, especially when a statue for resting at is nearby, but the levelling experience loss is hard to take. Because as you level, you can unlock new moves and options, giving abilities like parrying or dodging in the air or the best one, the super attack that lets you spin around in a massive arc, dealing lots of damage, perfect for being surrounded. The game does nothing to even acknowledge your lack of skills, it does not offer any sort of incentive to keep trying, it just keeps punishing you and while some people might enjoy that, after a while, even that is bound to lose its appeal. The other issue is the enemy AI is wonky, which is the best way to describe it is that sometimes they are oblivious and other times, they are like trained hunting dogs and even the dogs in the game are impacted. I was able to sneak up on enemies pretty early on with ease and assumed I was just good at it, but there were times when I would do the same actions, only to have the enemy I was after, spot me and raise the alarm. The other issue with the AI comes from the archers and riflemen, they love to shoot at you, even if you run around a corner, where they can’t possibly have seen what you did next, but they lock on as if they have low jacked and stepping out from where you are, has them fire right at you.

When you take a look at the presentation, there are two levels to it, first is that if you have had any exposure to the Souls series, most of the menus and Hud elements will seem very familiar to you. The characters themselves look really good, with a lot of attention paid to how characters stand, especially in combat and while Wolf might not be the most expressive person, he is someone that looks amazing in action. Zipping across a few roofs, dropping to the ground and then sneaking through some flowers, to then stealth kill an enemy looks as amazing as you might imagine, especially when you get to some of the taller locales. The other characters, that you don’t fight, don’t fare that well though, as they tend to be more static in how they appear, the ones that you fight though are a mix and it’s not perfect.

Your regular foot soldier enemies are quite repeated in their look, but that is offset by just how amazing the main bosses are, some of them stand out more than others, but each are easy to admire, before they start to destroy you. Sadly, a lot of the mini bosses, the ones that are just roaming the world, are not the best, thanks to some re-used assets and while they are not a common thing, you will notice some trends pretty quickly.

Taking a listen to the audio side of things the game presents a world that is ripe of subtle touches that help immerse you into the game, as long as you leave the game set to Japanese dialogue. The game offers English audio and subtitles, but you need to play the game with the Japanese as the option, because things just sound so much better, not only does the language fit the setting, it works. The English audio is done very well, but there is something about it that does not match what we are seeing on the screen, much like a bad English dub of a Hong Kong film, it works but the natural language is better. The music again pulls from a number of Japanese instruments and works with the setting in mind, there are times when I would just stand atop a building and watch and listen, everything just works so well.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a game that is hard to recommend, if you like the Souls series, Bloodborne or Nioh, then you will enjoy this without too much hassle, for anyone who does not like those games, the choice is harder. While the game is far more approachable, with its stealth elements and new items like the grapple, the combat is still unforgiving and uneven and with how it punishes you for dying, the odds of you sticking through are slim. If you stay and play the game for as long as you can, you will find some solid fun, but it is a matter of weighing up that balance of frustration over fun.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Activision

The Pros

+Launching yourself across rooftops or sneaking through the grass changes up the entire way the game feels and is a perfect escape from the punishing combat

+Taking the time to understand how enemies will attack is crucial and does provide a sense of acheivement once you understand and defeat any strong enemy...

The Cons

-...however when you fail and you will the game punishes you by taking half of your gold and level you were working towards, even resting respawns all enemies, making you fight them again

-Resurecting is key to surviving but due to the small window in which you can use it, there is never any time to get away from whoever killed you, before you have to engage in a fight again