Sekiro Shadows Die Twice - PlayStation 4

I have been playing Souls Games since Demon's Souls first released 10 years ago. I love them to death and have platinum trophied all of them. When I started Sekiro, I was very skeptical. To be honest, I wasn't even that excited about it, and I only barely remembered to preorder it. I heard it was much harder than Dark Souls, and when I first started playing it, I felt like that was true. Where Dark Souls is all about rolling and shielding, Sekiro is all about stealth and parrying. It was punishing in the beginning, and it took me a while to understand how combat worked. But boy, let me tell you, once you really nail down how it works this is one of the most satisfying games you'll ever play in your life. I'm about halfway through the game now, and I think I may very well love this more than any Souls game that came before it. Combat So, to the reviews complaining that this is more difficult than Souls in an "unfair" way. I understand why it might feel that way at first, but I would urge you to keep in mind that this is a battle system that we haven't seen before. Souls was really well suited for fighting large monsters, but Sekiro was built for one-on-one sword duels. The parrying system is brilliant. Instead of whittling down your opponent's health, you're trying to wear down their posture so you can take down an entire bar of health at once. Posture is a new mechanic that allows you to land a killing or critical hit when it goes down. You and your enemies both have posture, and it will restore itself over time. This means that you can't really fun and hide- you have to keep up the pressure and strike any chance you get. Even if your opponent blocks your attack, it still wears away their posture damage. Exploration Sekiro is a very open game. If you enjoyed the exploration aspect of Dark Souls, you'll find that in spades here. Having a character that can jump and grapple all over the place really opens things up, and I was finding so many new, diverging pathways to go down at various points of the game that if I ever got stuck on a boss or mini boss, I could easily take a break from it and try something new. Another big win for the exploration is that you can now kill EVERY enemy (save bosses and minibosses) in one hit using stealth. This is HUGE. No longer do you need to run through crowds of enemies o avoid the tedium of fighting them all. Even big monster enemies can go down in one hit if you sneak up behind them. And if you're bad at stealth, don't worry. You can stay hidden very easily in Sekiro. Leveling Up In Souls games, if you ever got stuck, you could always grind to get more powerful and try again. That's not really the case in Sekrio. In this game, all of your skill points can only be applied to new combat techniques or passive skills that increase your battle capability. If you want more health, you have to kill 4 minibosses. If you want more attack power, you have to kill a boss. This may sound like a negative at first, but I found it to be a positive. This system FORCES you to learn the combat system, because, honestly, your attack power and health are almost irrelevant compared to how good you are at combat. So long as you can block and parry your opponents (which does get easier, I promise), you'll barely notice how much health you have left. I found myself learning enemy attack patterns and anticipating their moves in ways I never did in Souls games. Every move I made felt like a true counter to their last attack. The Story I love the story telling method of Dark Souls, and since Sekiro is more straightforward, I was worried it would lose a lot of that "story without telling a story" that made Souls lore so much fun. I'm very glad that this was not the case. Sekiro does have a more straightforward story, and it's pretty enjoyable. This is due in part because they combined the Souls style of storytelling with classic storytelling. I know what's going on in the world of Sekiro, but there are plenty of clues about the world I can piece together on my own based on the npc dialogue, environment, and item descriptions. Creativity Just a small note here. Not all of the boss battles in Sekiro are "battles" I've had a couple bosses now where I had to win through untraditional means, like sneaking through a valley while being hunted by a giant snake, or figuring out how to kill kimono-wearing monkeys in a world of illusion. They add nice variety to the regular combat. Don't worry though, there are still plenty of traitional challening boss fights. Final Word Sekiro is very punishing in the beginning. You start with very little health and almost no healing items. But that's not so bad. As you keep going through the game, you'll find it gets easier and easier- not because the difficulty has gone down, but because YOU'VE gotten so much better. If you like Souls games, definitely pick this up and DON'T put it back down just because it doesn't feel like Souls at first. It's not Souls, this is true, but it's every bit as satisfying to master what this game has to offer.

SUMMARY Sekiro is a third-person action game with a large focus on a difficult (but rewarding) combat system. Explore a fictional conflict set during a fantasy version of the feudal Japan era in history. While not entirely open-world, the game has large areas to explore, with many branching paths and hidden areas. Progression in the game is done by defeating challenging bosses and mini-bosses, and comes in the form of directly increase your health, damage, or unlocking new abilities. There are multiple endings and hidden bosses, most of which will require multiple playthroughs either fresh or with new game plus. Sekiro is a great game, but should you buy it? This is NOT a game that aims to apply to everyone, and as such I have written two different sections based on if you have experience with FromSoft's other titles. NEVER PLAYED SOULS So you've never played Demon Souls, Bloodborne, or any of the Dark Souls games. Sekiro may not be the best starting point for someone brand new to mechanics of these games, but it can be done if the setting interests you and you are willing to learn and accept you will die hundreds (literally hundreds) of times. Imagine you have been playing for a couple hours, doing great and saved up lots of gold and experience points. Then imagine you walk into an area and suddenly you are sealed in with an enemy that you have never seen or fought before. You can't retreat, and the boss kills you, causing you to lose half of your experience and gold. Then imagine throwing yourself at this same boss for between 30-60 minutes, dying over and over and over, until you somehow barely beat the boss. You now have zero experience points, zero gold, and probably used up all your health items. Now imagine that in the next hour or so, you will do it all over again with a different boss. If this scenario above does not sound like something you will enjoy, then BEWARE! This is what these games are all about. You will need to overcome challenges with no training wheels, no easy way out, and nobody to help you but yourself. Once it clicks, you will be untouchable and tearing through the same enemies like butter, but it can be a long road to get there. SOULS VETERANS So you've played a lot of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Demon Souls. Maybe you've heard people say that Sekiro is not a souls game? Well, they're wrong. Sekiro absolutely is a souls game in every sense, but there are differences that require you to change they way you think. Many of your skills will transfer over, as most of the typical mechanics are in place. Enemies reset when resting, items are cleverly hidden, and all the typical items are back with new names (Estus Flask, Souls, etc). The biggest change to the formula is the way combat is done, which now punishes you for dodging and rolling, and expects you to perform perfect parries on nearly every attack your enemies will make. My biggest struggle was learning to stop rolling, and learning to parry instead. Also, many of the bosses are really hard... even by souls standard. The final boss encounter may be the hardest one yet, even compared to Midir or Orphan of Kos. Last thing I want to mention to returning players is that the game setting may look pretty tame when compared to previous games. Thankfully it does get pretty crazy in the later half, and leans heavily on fantasy and even some horror elements. CONCLUSION I love this game, but it's not for everyone. No matter your background or experience, Sekiro will be a gamble if you choose to purchase it. It may click for you, or it may steamroll you. Just be prepared in either case.

I played all the DarkSouls / BloodBorne games. This is a refreshing turn from the developers. It's similar but different than the previous FromSoftware games. There is really no multiplayer so no one can help you on the bosses. You can jump and grapple across buildings. The games just came out so some of the critics reactions are negative because the learning curve. You need to unlearn how you played previously. The fighting is more based on reaction time, rock/scissor/paper, being more aggressive pays off. It's fast paced fighting and making mistakes will hurt you. There isn't the cheap deaths like the other prior games, falling down a pit won't kill you and no really one shot kills. The game forces you to focus, remember enemy move sets and chose the right button. No senseless button smashing like the previous games. After the learning curve sets in then the game plays fluidly and beautifully, that is until you reach a boss and get beat up. Every fight is fun and exihilarating. Landing a deathblow feels soooo good and that is primary goal each battle, getting that death blow. It's definitely not a game for kids, it more for gaming adults. The story is simple and easy to follow, more direct than FromSoftware prior games. As you can see the ratings are love it or hate it. Giving a 1 because of difficulty isnt a fair rating. Music, graphic, controls, story and amount of gameplay is top notch. You should be prepared you die. Is it difficult as the previous Dark Souls/ bloodborne? I'd say most people figured out how to play the Souls game so the difficulty wasnt as apparent, players adapted. For this game, the game fighting mechanics are new and people are still to figuring it out so the ratings will improve. The game is difficult but fair, you will need to practice to get better. It is incredibly satisfying as you progress, something rare in most of the nowadays. Plenty of people have beat the game Would I recommend the game to my casual gamer? Probably not. However, I would still tell that casual gamer that this game is a masterpiece and if they have time then you will be in for unforgettable experience.

I should start this by saying I don’t typically like super hard games, I've also never tried Dark Souls, but I am a huge fan of the ninja genre and most of the hard games I’ve beaten involved sword fighting so I felt like it was worth just trying this out. Having now beaten the game, I can say that I’ve loved almost every minute of it. I say almost because the bosses in this game can be a pain at times (three bosses in particular gave me a lot of grief), but I never felt like any were insurmountable, they all have patterns which you eventually learn. The best part is there are always so many ways to approach them, just look online and no two guides will give you the same advice (in fact, I found most guides useless, too many people appear to be playing the game different than intended, but if you throw yourself into the parry mechanic, you'll find it very rewarding). Moving on from this though, I am just in love with the world that FromSoftware has created. This is the first of their games that I’ve tried mainly cause it’s the first one that looked appealing to me and it has not disappointed in that regard. The stealth combat is fun and addicting, as are the tough bosses. In fact, it was addicting enough, it's one of the first games in a long time that I started a NG+ on just to experience the world again. It’s rare that a game sucks me in this much and causes me to play for hours on end, but this one has done it with its challenge and addicting gameplay. I can’t recommend this enough, but this is definitely a game made for a certain audience. Thankfully I must be part of that audience cause I love it. If you are up for a challenge and want to find your inner ninja, I say check it out.

I was apprehensive about getting this game. I had played one other game by the developer (Bloodborne) and thought it was terrible because it was designed to be hard, but punished your failures by wasting several minutes of your time with a long walk back to a boss every time you died. I had heard several people complain that the game is impossibly hard and didn't want to waste my time or money on such a game. Ultimately, I decided to give it a try because it seemed so interesting. I'm very glad I did. Sekiro is hard, but it's not impossible. Watch the enemy and be ready to deflect when they swing or use the appropriate method of evasion/countering when you see the obvious warning that an unlockable attack is coming. It takes practice and some getting used to, but fighting bosses is incredibly satisfying once you get the hang of it, even when you make enough stupid mistakes to lose. This game is the pinnacle of sword combat, and I hope its combat system inspires every game to come after it. The absurd time wasting punishments from bloodborne are gone entirely as well. Every boss is close to a save point, so the game lets you immediately get back in the action rather than waste several minutes of your time between attempts. Death is still punished, but it's mostly a non-issue. You lose half of your exp towards the next skill point and half of your money when you die, but this can be avoided by grinding out the next skill point before trying something dangerous and spending your money on coin purses which essentially act as a banking mechanism. Npcs will also get sick if you die a lot, but this merely prevents you from advancing side quests until you use a rare item to heal everyone. If you save these items until you're able to advance a quest you'll never need to worry about running out. In short, Sekiro is not impossibly or unfairly hard or punishing. Instead it presents a combat system that shines above other action games.

Update (19/04/24): I attained the platinum for the game a little over a week ago and have revisited the game in NG+ two times now. I've definitely grown as a player with a bit of patience and practice. As I retire the game after beating NG+++, I can say that it has been a rewarding experience. I would give it an overall rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, but unfortunately cannot give out half stars. There are some new complaints that I would like to mention after playing the game for some time. First is the occasional hiccups I get with the framerate on a PS4 Pro. It does not happen all the time, but near the end game the framerate issues happened more often. Additionally, I started getting some odd camera issues when fighting in certain areas, mostly boss areas. I didn't notice them in my earlier playthroughs, probably because I was overly careful. Playing more aggressively (with deflections and the like) often was punishing due to wonky camera angles, even when locked onto an enemy or boss. Hopefully, FromSoftware releases a patch that fixes that. ---- Update (19/04/05): I've changed my score to 4 stars from 3 stars after nearing the end of the game. The game definitely is designed to punish the player, but success feels very rewarding. Once again, I've encountered a truly difficult boss, but am learning the mechanics to fight against him properly. The game spends some time teaching you the mechanics, only to throw you into a fight that challenges what you've just learned. Recommended if you enjoy challenges. Not recommended for 30% of SoulsBorne fans. I do have some complaints that make the game seem unfair at times. First and foremost is the generous hit boxes enemies have against you. The worse offenders are the bosses, specifically a optional "ogre" boss and an optional "ninja" boss. The former has a foot stop that seems to hit you, even if you are not within range of his feet. He also has a few attacks that go beyond their intended reach and it makes the fight frustrating. The latter boss has a long sword that seems to extend its reach whenever you feel like you have an advantage. More frustrating is the fact that he, along with all other enemies, can hit you through barriers and structures. I've been shot with an arrow a few times through a wall or a door just based on where the enemy was firing from. If the player attacks cannot clip through the walls, neither should the enemies. ---- A warning to anyone thinking they can just pick this game up like the SoulsBorne games and immediately find an enjoyable, yet challenging game. You won't. Yes, this game is enjoyable, but not in a similar sense to previous FromSoft games. There is no leveling mechanic that you could always fall back on with previous games. There isn't stronger armor or weapons to find or craft. There isn't an online coop mode to help carry you through more difficult stages. This game is 90% skill and 10% luck (RNG) based. In the 50 hours I have spent with it, I have died more times than I care to admit. I've improved since I started, but I'm beginning to think this game is beyond my skill level. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed it quite a bit and the few mini-bosses and bosses I've beaten have given me a sense of accomplishment that most games have not. Still, this isn't for everyone and you can see from previous lower reviews that this is the case. I'm going to keep playing and hopefully I can find my way through it. Good luck!

Semiro Shadows Die Twice is a fantastically made game that is 50 hours on the first playthrough. As you know, this is from the makers of dark souls so prepare to die a lot. Unlike darksouls though, you cannot change your katana or clothing..... Instead you get different prosthetic arms and points to use for special sword skills such as making a very fast on spin attack or even disappearing and reappearing behind an enemy. You also need specific items droped by bosses to upgrade certain abilitys. We also have the introduction to postures in which this game is all about killing blows. If an enemy breaks your posture they can one shot you, however the same applies to your enemies posture. So no more of the old habits that you doge roll to hell, the game forces you to be constantly engaged in combat it's very fast paced combat as well. Have you seen the gameplay? The enemies will break your posture in seconds if given the chance. Certain enemies tend to have certain weaknesses to prosthetic arms, like setting fire to a weak fire resistant boss or something. However all of these prosthetic arms take charges, so don't waste them. The grappling hook is the only arm that doesn't use any charges so it's usable whatever and arguably on the more important arms. See this game gives you the ability to be stealthy, you are pretty much a samurai after all. You can even eavesdrop enemy conversations to listen to a bosses weakness and insta kill enemies from stealth... Can't hide from bosses though. The grappling arm is particularly useful for running away, but also helpful for constant engagement with bosses. Whenever you die, you automatically resurrect as you are immortal.... But it is not without it's consequences. Each resurrection will have it toll on the world, you will actually cause the NCPS to be sick.... What happens when you die too many times? Do the NCPS start dying? I don't know honestly, but I'll probably test it out myself. (For the note you also lose a certain amount of XP permanently) Story is in typical souls fashion, drip fed to you but in a since this one has more of an actual plot this time with all the voice acting from even the bosses themself gives it a far more sence of personality than dark souls. It's also a lot more linear in nature, with a clearly outlined path for you. Don't forget also in "dark souls fashion" there are fantastical optional bosses like this REALLY big white snake. Honestly you might want to kill them all anyways if just for the item upgrades alone. Overal the devs have did it again and brought us yet another fantastically hard game like dark souls I highly recommend it.

If you don't like difficult games, this probably isn't for you at least not right now. FromSoftware games are notoriously hard, merciless even, but if you're looking for a game that feels like an adventure that you bested by getting stronger and smarter, this could be for you. It's harder than Bloodborne, I'll give you that, but the world is as immersive and the combat is superior for me. The enemies are fair enough and most can be avoided or killed by stealth(watch speedrun videos lol), bosses have predictable or deflectable attacks with exploitable weaknesses with enough study. But that takes time that not everybody wants to spend and I can understand that. A lot of the time I like to feel smart or strong in a game, I don't want to feel stupid or weak and die over and over... yet I also get bored feeling like I can get through a game in 4 hours on death march difficulty. In a lot of games I can choose the difficulty and speed through it after hitting a wall, I can opt out -- if I dont feel like fighting a challenging boss, maybe a god the size of a small country, all I have to hit X for easy mode and I win. The temptation is always there, and sometimes I take it and don't exactly feel like I "won" when I think about it. FromSoftware games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro) are different in that regard, there is only the hellishly hard game in front of you calling with promises of beautifully brutal worlds locked behind getting more familiar with the game via failure like old 2D Mario. When I first played Bloodborne I quit after 2 days. A year later I dusted it off again and fell in love. The feeling of defeating a boss that's frustrated you for longer than expected is unlike most games. When's the last time you joyously yelled after beating a tough foe? Call it pretentious, naive, cruel or optimistic but the game developer wants to force the player to undergo the catharsis of overcoming weakness, to feel real pride in yourself for getting better as a gamer. But that takes time and patience.