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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action adventure game released in 2019. It is also one of the most recent games released by notorious development studio FromSoftware. FromSoftware is known for making incredible games that are also insanely difficult. Some of these games being Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and of course, the Dark Souls franchise. Sekiro keeps with this trend by being an extraordinary game, and by also being immensely difficult. The game follows a Shinobi named Wolf as he looks to save his young master and bring peace to the land of Ashina. I had a very interesting journey with this game, that actually didn’t start with me playing it. I was first exposed to this game on youtube as I watched many of my favorite content creators play through the title. It wasn’t until last August that I decided I wanted to try the game for myself. I’m now writing this review the night after beating the final boss. A whole eight plus months later. I played the first third or so of the game right when I got it, and then I took a long break. I only got back into really grinding through the game again over the last 3 months. It’s been over these last 3 months that I’ve slowly chipped away at it. I absolutely love this game, and I had an amazing time playing it. I would also like to preface this review by saying that I did undoubtedly have an easier time than those who went in blind because I had seen many playthroughs beforehand. This meant I knew the location of certain items, a few tricks, and I had been exposed to the move sets of several bosses. But despite this I still consider beating the game a great accomplishment. This was my first FromSoftware game, and while I recognized certain boss attacks and knew certain weaknesses ahead of time; having an idea of what to do, and actually being able to execute those ideas are two very different things. I just say this because as a result, I’m sure my own experience is very different from many others.
One thing that immediately stuck out to me was the game’s soundtrack. It’s essential in immersing the player into this world, and it fits perfectly. The music is phenomenal and feels fully authentic to the setting. The score during boss fights is appropriately epic to fit the insane battles taking place, and the music for the different locations also works well and adds great atmosphere and ambiance. The game has a beautiful look to it as well. While the graphics aren’t the most polished I’ve seen, especially for a 2019 game, they never took away from my experience. This game still looks stunning, and they are by no means bad. If anything they fit the art style and aesthetic the game goes for. Each area, building, enemy, and landscape feels lovingly crafted and fully establishes this fictional setting within Japan’s Sengoku period. Sekiro contains many different locations that all share a connective tissue but also manage to feel unique and different. All the way from Hirata Estate to Fountainhead Palace, each location is full of unique enemies, bosses, challenges, and treasures.
These areas are a fantastic blend of open world and linear paths. These maps are by no means sprawling, but they offer many different paths and routes, and are sometimes very expansive. But despite this they still feel finite enough to offer a sense of comfort. For a game that is very reliant on finding certain items, the game world never feels too overbearing. Rarely ever did I feel like I was missing something, and I felt like I was able to thoroughly cover each location. My only issue was with trying to find certain paths to progress the story. There are a select few important routes you need to take that are very tucked away. At one point after hours of going in circles I finally had to break down and look up how to find the right path I needed. But this was the only time I had to relent and consult the internet to find the right path. The game does have a map, but it is by no means detailed. It’s also kind of tucked away, so it’s entirely possible you might not even know it exists. This does mean you occasionally may have to stop for a second and look around to try and get your bearings. But again I only got truly lost a handful of times. Checkpoints are also placed generously throughout the maps. Very rarely did I find myself having to tediously play through long sections filled with enemies because of a long distance between Sculptor’s Idols. The vast majority of the time they were right where I needed them to be.
Items and tools are also handled really well in the game. There are a plethora of items and consumables that can be acquired from all over the gameworld, and I thought these were implemented beautifully. I heard some people say that there were way too many items to keep up with, but I never had an issue with them. The items are categorized well, and they give you a good variety to experiment with. It’s great to have different options when in a fight to turn the tide in your favor. This game also uses the rarity of items perfectly. Many times in a game similar to this I would fearfully hoard all my rare and powerful items until the end of the game and end up with an absurd amount. But in Sekiro rare items are truly rare. After a full playthrough there were certain key items I had only obtained a small handful of. Using them feels much more consequential, but also strangely satisfying. This feeling of consequence makes them matter much more. I will say my only complaint is that the game does not really explain how consuming these items works. Some items refill once you rest, while others are gone for good once you use them. I have a feeling this is just a FromSoftware thing that threw me for a loop at first as a new player, but it was pretty devastating when I finally realized all the Ako’s Sugar I had been using didn’t refill upon resting like some of my other items. Additionally items can also be purchased from vendors across the game with in-game currency. This also feels very well balanced. Nothing feels overly expensive, and you never need to grind that much to build up a decent amount of Sen.
Sekiro does also have a wide variety of skill trees and abilities that can be unlocked. The many different skill trees can be overwhelming, and unfortunately I do think these could have been executed a little better. It may have just been me but I never even used many of the offensive skills I unlocked because I could never find a use for them. I stuck with about 3 through the whole game. Most of my experience points went into latent skills which upgraded my health bar, healing items, stealth, spirit emblem count, etc. My main issue is that many of these upgrades to offensive skills aren’t very helpful. Considering that you do have to grind a good bit for many higher level skills, especially in the late game, it can be a bit disappointing to get one only to realize it isn’t that great. But this may be a purely personal issue. The prosthetic tools were also a fantastic addition to the game. There are many upgrades you can give to your prosthetic arm that have a wide variety of abilities. You can have 3 equipped at a time, and they each have their own niche. While I definitely used some much more than others I think they all add a great amount of dimension to combat encounters. Along with the different sword based skills, you can use the prosthetic tools to give you many different options during fights. However, they aren’t so crucial that you HAVE to have a specific one for certain bosses. For many bosses I didn’t use any of my tools. While there are some that will probably be pretty painful without the tools, they are still doable. I also didn’t have a very hard time finding most of them, and the game gives hints about how certain tools work better for certain enemies. So in this way the game really leaves it up to the player on whether or not they’d like to use them.
The movement and combat is by far my favorite aspect of the game. Your movement is incredibly smooth, and quick. The grappling hook adds tons of new possibilities for traversal and even combat. It also makes map exploration much easier, and more enjoyable. The combat in Sekiro is easily some of the most satisfying I have ever played, and it’s what kept me coming back to the game. Each enemy has a posture bar that gradually fills as you strike them and deflect their hits. Once this bar is full you can immediately kill them with a deathblow. Each enemy also has a health bar. Meaning depending on the enemy you may have to slowly whittle their health down, or try to break their posture. Breaking an enemy’s posture is beyond satisfying, and it means you can kill some enemies without even getting them below half health. The clanging of swords sounds so sweet and impactful, and it becomes legitimately fun to try and chip away at an enemy's posture. Deflecting has a wonderful visual cue and sound effect which makes it even more satisfying then landing a clean blow on your opponent. Landing a critical deathblow is incredibly visceral and never gets old. Aside from grabs, all of the perilous attacks your enemies throw at you have counters that are beyond satisfying to land once you master them. This is one of those great games where you can feel yourself improve, and when the combat system finally clicks it's an incredible feeling. It is important to note that Sekiro does force you to play the style it wants you to play. You have other options in the prosthetic tools and other items, but the vast majority of the time the bosses and enemies force you to deflect, parry, and above all else, be aggressive. Once I finally understood what I had to do and grasped the combat system it really felt like I had leveled up.
As far as the difficulty goes, I think it is hyped up appropriately, but it also remains fair. I had seen and heard about how many of the bosses were infuriating, difficult, and unfair, but I was surprised to discover that this wasn’t really the case for me. While I did my fair share of raging it was almost always at myself. Whenever I died I could clearly see what I did wrong. Either I jumped when I should have dodged, or I got greedy with my attacks, etc. While at first some moves from bosses did seem ridiculous and impossible to deal with; after enough trial and error I discovered that there is a viable solution for just about everything. Very rarely did I sincerely think something was truly unfair. The vast majority of the time I knew my deaths were my fault, and that drove me to improve my own gameplay, and made the game much more inviting. I was far more eager to keep trying despite all my deaths when I knew the problem was me and not some crazy unfair boss. I was confident I could improve and so I got angry less than I normally would while being stuck in a game. Learning the boss’s moves and figuring out when you can get hits in, what you can counter, and what tools you can use is a very fun feeling. I would fight a boss for a little while then take a break, and all the while replay the fights in my head. Thinking about what I could do differently, or what possible solutions there were for one of their moves. This may legitimately be the only game I have played where I had a blast while still dying to bosses. The combat is just so fun that oftentimes I didn’t even care that I was dying. I just enjoyed the rhythm and flow of the fights. I could tell with each attempt I was learning and improving so I just enjoyed the ride.
Sekiro has a great story as well. While I do think it can at times take a backseat to the gameplay it is very enjoyable. Ultimately it’s a great motivator for the player to continue their journey. I do think it would have been better if more dialogue and exposition was given outside of static NPC dialogue. But despite this the story does still hold a good bit of weight, and I was pretty moved by the end. There’s some fantastic worldbuilding throughout, and I love how the story does things like changing the settings of certain areas in the map depending on what is going on. Or how the game gives a reason as to why you are able to die and come back to life. It’s a pretty simple story, but it left me satisfied and even wanting more, which I think is great for a game like this. In the end Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a phenomenal game. Despite a few minor complaints, this is easily one of the best games I have ever played. Everything from the art direction, story, music, sound design, and combat is top tier. It also provides a very strong but still fair and satisfying challenge. Ever since I’ve beaten the game I’ve still been watching tons of Sekiro content, and I really just can’t get enough of this game. I think this is about as close as a game can get to being a masterpiece.
Objective Score:
9/10
Personal Score:
10/10
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