What is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice?
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is unlike any of FromSoftware's previous titles. Although Sekiro looks similar, don't let it fool you because the last thing you want to do is go into this game expecting Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
Here in the late 1500s Sengoku Japan, you play as the One-Armed Wolf, a man with talents in swordplay, assassination, and prosthetic arm badassery.
Sekiro is more open world, the combat is more dynamic, you can revive yourself after death, and you can customize your fighting style. There's so many new things that I've created a top ten for people who already enjoy FromSoftware games and those who are interested in making this their first.
10) The Skill Trees
The leveling system from Dark Souls has been hit hard with an ominous "You Died" death screen. Sekiro has a revamped leveling system that revolves around a skill tree.
There are three trees the player can spec into, and those trees are samurai, shinobi, and prosthetic. Players upgrade their tree with experience points.
Experience points are acquired through slaying enemies and bosses, and the player uses them at the shrines to level up whichever skill tree they desire. Choosing one tree doesn't mean a player is locked out of another tree, so they're allowed to allocate points to each tree, creating a more dynamic build.
9) Samurai Skill Tree
For those of us who want face to face combat, there is the samurai skill tree, and long with combat upgrades, it could upgrade the healing gourd.
Putting points into the samurai tree will give you special attacks, which are used by pressing L1+R1. An example of a special attack would be the cross slash which players had in the latest demo.
This will benefit players when fighting a duel with a boss or mini boss. FromSoftware is known for having one or two irregular boss fights in their games, like High Lord Wolnir or Yhorm the Giant (Dark Souls 3 bosses), but in straightforward duels the Samurai tree will be beneficial.
8) Shinobi Skill Tree
If you want to play this game like a Metal Gear Solid game, then you should invest in the shinobi skill tree, but don’t expect to use a silenced pistol to put your enemies down. Shinobi focuses on defeating enemies with stealth.
A passive upgrade in the shinobi tree might be to decrease your aggro range or increase your damage on stealth critical strikes. This tree also allows you to navigate the world differently, and an example of this would be the wall jump active ability, which allows you to jump from wall to wall.
7) Prosthetic Skill Tree
Sekiro’s prosthetic arm is the part of his design that stood out most to me when I first saw him at E3, and it has surprised me with the crazy things it can do. With a skill called Flame Vent, you can set your sword on fire and deal extra damage to enemies, but that’s one of the many things it can do like unsheathing an axe that can destroy enemy shields.
A passive ability in this tree might let you throw extra shurikens from your arm or increase the duration that your sword will stay aflame, and an active ability would be allowing you to follow up with a slash after throwing shuriken. This is the skill tree that has me the most excited.
6) The Grappling Hook
If a Ninja samurai with a prosthetic arm that has a grappling hook, allowing you to swing around like spiderman, doesn’t sell you on this game then I don’t think anything will.
The exploration of this game doesn’t function the same as the soulsborne games. Instead of running around on the ground while enemies slash at you with swords and daggers, Sekiro encourages players to explore with the grappling hook, and find different pathways to deal with or avoid enemies. But it can also be used in combat, and one ability allows you to grapple on an enemy and thrust you toward them to attack.
5) Open Exploration
Something else that might shock you about this game is that it’s more open than Dark Souls or Bloodborne. No longer are we forced to only choose two paths, and yes I’m looking at you Dark Souls.
Environments are more free, allowing players to determine their best approach to any number of situations, and we can also explore the past through memories. Another noteworthy detail is that you can swim.
4) No Multiplayer
Unfortunately there will not be an online element in this game, so the co-op player vs environment and player vs player that Dark Souls was known for won’t be present.
NPCs will still join you in battle though, but it won’t be through summonings. They will be in the world, and you will get their aid through interaction with them, and this is much like how Siegward’s quest was handled in Dark Souls 3.
On a positive note though, Sekiro will have a pause button, so don’t worry about having to defeat a boss before you relieve your bladder.
3) No Customization
We also won’t be able to customize Sekiro, so say goodbye to the days of wearing a long dress with an onion knight helmet. This is made up for by allowing players to make Sekiro their own through the skill tree.
On another note, you will not be able to change the difficulty, so be ready to spend hours on a single area or boss.
2) Resurrection Mechanic
Shadows really do die twice in this game because you can resurrect yourself upon death. In the demo at expos, you were allowed to resurrect more than two times.
The resurrection mechanic in the demo was gained and regained through doing a certain amount of attacks to an enemy. FromSoftware has stated that they’re still tweaking the mechanic, so it may be different upon release, but either way it’s something to look forward to.
1) Combat System
The combat in Sekiro is much more fluid than its predecessors. You now have five hit combos instead of your standard two hit combos, and two different dodges.
One of the dodges is a dash to the side or forward, and the other is a jump. Some attacks such as a slash requires you to jump over, while others like thrust attacks can be dashed into a counter.
The new posture system affects how you defend and attack your enemies. Your posture bar has no color until you’re hit with an attack, or you poorly deflect an attack, and if it’s too high then the enemy’s next attack is unblockable.
Enemies also have their own posture bar which promotes offensive gameplay for players, so don’t let up and be smart.
I hope this has given you a good idea of what Sekiro Shadows Die Twice has in store for you upon its release on March 22, 2019.
You may also enjoy these articles:
