Hey. So, I’m new to this blog thing but I’m sure you’ll enjoy this. To start off, I thought it’d be best to talk about a hobby of mine: Gaming. Specifically, ‘souls-like games’. While not my favourite game by FromSoftware, I’d certainly put Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice up there next to Bloodborne (a blog post for another day) as one of my favourite games. The latter also being another one of the Souls-like Games.
Put simply, I’m a sucker for feudal Japan. I love the aesthetic and the history of the period thanks to the books I’ve read on the subject (special thanks to John Man’s book Samurai). Sekiro has that for the setting, but its combat and lore pull me back in. More on that later. For now, I’ll give an overview for the people who don’t know about the game.
You play as Wolf, a shinobi (proper word for ninja) in the Sengoku era of Japan. More specifically in the fictional province of Ashina. You’re trying to rescue and protect the young lord (named Kuro) you’re in service of. In practice this means contending with a samurai lord by the name of Genichiro Ashina (yes, that’s an actual samurai clan). Long story short, you get your arm cut off in a fight with him, your lord is kidnapped and it’s up to you to go find him. Only now, after a cutscene, you’ve a prosthetic arm (a gift from an old, one-armed sculptor) and the power to resurrect (a gift from your young lord).
Now, go kill stuff (as is traditional with FromSoftware games… or most games in general).
What I liked about the game is simple: the combat makes you feel skilled for getting the parry timings right – you only have one weapon, so the combat’s very streamlined compared to the weapons and types of magic you’d find in Dark Souls or Bloodborne. Dark Souls being the inspiration for the Souls-like Games. It’s stylish and lets you feel powerful while still throwing in encounters that can curb-stomp you (looking at you, headless ghosts!).
That and the story has some good background details and character interaction, though the latter is sparse. Let’s look at the sculptor. Turns out, if you give him booze, he’ll talk to you about his past. He was a shinobi, like you, only he favoured an axe (which you can find in a flashback section) and adopted a child on the battlefield. Her name’s Emma, and she’s another character you meet. The sculptor knew that the life of a shinobi wasn’t the best for her, so he sent her to live with a doctor in the Ashina clan. This is just one of the stories in Sekiro, and it’s not even his full story! You’ll find a few more in the game – it benefits from having a small cast, thus focussing in on them.
Now onto the dislikes. Difficulty can be a barrier to enjoyment sometimes, especially if you’re starting out or you’re on the later bosses. Then again, I’ve played these games to the point where I’m used to it. Take from that what you will.
I’d buy it again. In fact, I plan to. I got the PS4 version, and I’d like to try out some cosmetic mods on PC.
To round it off, I’ll head to Google and answer some questions from there: Is it too hard? No, but again, this is coming from someone that’s played the other games. Just practice and you’ll get there.
Is it better than Ghost of Tsushima? I’d say they do different things well. In Ghost I’m playing for the exploration more than combat.
Is it worth playing? Emphatically, yes, as if me saying so already wasn’t enough to convince you.
Is it like Dark Souls? Yep. Same people that made that series, so you’d think so. Well, you can’t make a custom appearance for your character, so that’s a bit naff. Then again, Wolf is an actual character, in that he can talk to and react to the people around him, as opposed to a silent protagonist.
Here’s hoping this helped some of you in deciding whether to pick the game up, or to give it another go. Make sure to watch this space for more discussion soon! Comment below and let me know.