Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Review (PS4)
Introduction
This is an action adventure game developed by FromSoftware. Although this game has several Souls-inspired elements, this game has much less emphasis on RPG but more focus on story, exploration, stealth, and most of all, combat.
Story
This game takes place in the land of Ashina. An orphan who is adopted and trained with shinobi arts by his adoptive father. Few decades later, the orphan, now named as Wolf, is tasked to serve under the Divine Heir Kuro. Wolf however, loses his left arm during a fight, preventing him from escaping Ashina with his master. He will return to Ashina castle again, with his brand new prosthetic arm that can use shinobi tools. He will also gain another nickname, which is Sekiro.
The game's story is decent. It is pretty much more direct storytelling compared to the Dark Souls games, but it still has the mysterious hints that make you speculate, such as Wolf's amnesia. However, many lore stuff in this game are not explained properly, and you need to read items' descriptions to have better understanding some of the lore. Characters are pretty decent. They have nice designs and personalities, but they do not particularly make the story a better experience as their backgrounds' are not explained clearly to players.
Gameplay
To progress in the story, you need to explore areas and fight story bosses. As you progress, you will unlock new areas to explore and fight the story bosses. In most cases, you will be tasked to retrieve items from certain areas. However, to find your way to specific locations, you need to talk to some NPCs for proper directions. As the objectives may be unclear to you on the first glance, you can always talk to Kuro on where you need to go next.
Many areas are interconnected in this game, so you need to explore areas pretty thoroughly to find next story location that you need to go. As you progress, you may find idols where Wolf can pray to. The idols allow you to fast travel to another idol location, learn new skills, and respawn enemies. It is highly recommended that you find them as soon as possible once you have enter a new location. Sekiro also has traversal skills that allow him to reach different areas, such as long jumps, grappling hook, and swimming.
You may also upgrade Sekiro's attack power and health. Attack Power can be increased by using certain Memories at the idols, which are gained by defeating powerful bosses. Health can be upgraded by finding and using prayer beads at the idols. You may also choose to upgrade Prosthetic Tools as well, by spending money and materials. Sekiro also can acquire new Skills by spending Skill Points, which are gained by acquiring enough experience points. Experience points are obtained by defeating enemies, where tougher enemies reward more experience points. Skill Points are separated to different tress, with a variety of combat and passive skills.
Combat is simple. Sekiro can attack enemies with his katana in a combo attack, use Prosthetic Tools for offense, as well as block attacks in a blocking stance. Sekiro may also dodge attack by rolling or jumping. Sekiro also can kill enemies stealthily, which may reduce some nuisance of fighting multiple enemies at the same time.
This game uses the Posture Gauge system, where you can deplete an enemy's Posture by attacking them, and filling up the enemy's Posture Gauge fully allows you to kill a weak enemy instantly with a Deathblow move. Likewise, Sekiro also has his own health and Posture gauge. If enemies causes Sekiro's Posture gauge to be full by attacking him while he is blocking, his guard will be broken, and Sekiro is open to massive damage by enemies, which may kill him instantly.
Each enemy has their own attack patterns, weaknesses, as well as their own health and Posture gauges. Due to this, you have to approach enemies more carefully. Defeating them will reward you money, experience points, and occasionally items. As certain enemies and especially bosses have high health, filling up their Posture Gauge by attacking them or deflecting their attacks are much more preferable. Also, Sekiro can also parry enemy attacks to increase enemies' Posture Gauge much faster, which is another better option. Blocking their attacks also increases their Posture Gauge, but at slower rate. Posture Gauge will be reduced if the enemy or Sekiro are not being attacked, but lower health will deplete the Posture Gauge much slower, so be aware of that.
Bosses are mostly unique, where usually they have their own attack patterns, designs, as well as weaknesses. However, most of the bosses have more than one health bars, meaning you need to deplete either their Health or Posture Gauges to zero twice to kill them permanently. As most bosses have a lot of health, filling up their Posture Gauge by attacking them or deflecting their attacks are much more preferable.
Death system is a bit similar to Dark Souls series' Death system, but with some key differences. Sekiro can revive in a battle upon dying if certain conditions are met. Death will cause you to respawn at the last idol that you rested, but your money and experience points will be reduced by half. There is no way to recover your lost experience points and money other than regain your lost money and experience points by fighting enemies.
Overall, great gameplay. Outside of occasional vague hints, camera issues when fighting large-sized bosses, and unrelenting difficulty, this is a great game especially for players who like fast-paced combat with challenging dfifficulty.
Graphics
This game has amazing graphics. Strong artstyle that translates to memorable character designs as well as beautiful environment designs. Pretty good framerate throughout playing the game, and no bugs or gliches encountered so far.
Sound
This game has pretty good soundtrack. Fitting themes most of the time, and the boss themes are the highlights. This game also has both Japanese and English voice options.
Replay Value
This game has good replay value. You may opt to play the game again in New Game Plus mode, where it gets more and more difficult with higher enemy stats. You may also choose to unlock different endings in new playthroughs, fight the optional bosses, upgrade all Prosthetic Tools, explore optional areas, and etc.
Conclusion
This game is one of my favourite games in 2019. Excellent combat, interesting lore, great graphics, and decent story too. Outside of some issues, I highly recommend this game to action adventure fans. However, this game is extremely difficult, so some players may need to read up more on this game, watch some videos, and see if they like it.
Score
Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 9/10
Score: 9.0/10 or 36/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting lore.
- Decent story.
- Several memorable characters.
- Excellent combat.
- Great dynamic between Health and Posture Gauges.
- Satisfying blocking and deflecting techniques.
- Great graphics.
- Dual audio.
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Highly punishing difficulty that may not attract many players.
- Sekiro/Wolf's character is a hit or miss.
- Not enough expositions on characters' background.
- Occasional too vague hints on next story objectives or locations.
- Camera issues when fighting large-sized bosses.
- Unrewarding NPC quests.
**Screenshots are from official Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice site.
This is an action adventure game developed by FromSoftware. Although this game has several Souls-inspired elements, this game has much less emphasis on RPG but more focus on story, exploration, stealth, and most of all, combat.
Story
Meet Sekiro, a shinobi.
The game's story is decent. It is pretty much more direct storytelling compared to the Dark Souls games, but it still has the mysterious hints that make you speculate, such as Wolf's amnesia. However, many lore stuff in this game are not explained properly, and you need to read items' descriptions to have better understanding some of the lore. Characters are pretty decent. They have nice designs and personalities, but they do not particularly make the story a better experience as their backgrounds' are not explained clearly to players.
Gameplay
Explore different areas, such as poison pools, sunken palace, etc.
Many areas are interconnected in this game, so you need to explore areas pretty thoroughly to find next story location that you need to go. As you progress, you may find idols where Wolf can pray to. The idols allow you to fast travel to another idol location, learn new skills, and respawn enemies. It is highly recommended that you find them as soon as possible once you have enter a new location. Sekiro also has traversal skills that allow him to reach different areas, such as long jumps, grappling hook, and swimming.
You may also upgrade Sekiro's attack power and health. Attack Power can be increased by using certain Memories at the idols, which are gained by defeating powerful bosses. Health can be upgraded by finding and using prayer beads at the idols. You may also choose to upgrade Prosthetic Tools as well, by spending money and materials. Sekiro also can acquire new Skills by spending Skill Points, which are gained by acquiring enough experience points. Experience points are obtained by defeating enemies, where tougher enemies reward more experience points. Skill Points are separated to different tress, with a variety of combat and passive skills.
Fight a variety of enemies.
This game uses the Posture Gauge system, where you can deplete an enemy's Posture by attacking them, and filling up the enemy's Posture Gauge fully allows you to kill a weak enemy instantly with a Deathblow move. Likewise, Sekiro also has his own health and Posture gauge. If enemies causes Sekiro's Posture gauge to be full by attacking him while he is blocking, his guard will be broken, and Sekiro is open to massive damage by enemies, which may kill him instantly.
Each enemy has their own attack patterns, weaknesses, as well as their own health and Posture gauges. Due to this, you have to approach enemies more carefully. Defeating them will reward you money, experience points, and occasionally items. As certain enemies and especially bosses have high health, filling up their Posture Gauge by attacking them or deflecting their attacks are much more preferable. Also, Sekiro can also parry enemy attacks to increase enemies' Posture Gauge much faster, which is another better option. Blocking their attacks also increases their Posture Gauge, but at slower rate. Posture Gauge will be reduced if the enemy or Sekiro are not being attacked, but lower health will deplete the Posture Gauge much slower, so be aware of that.
Bosses, more often than not, will kill you relentlessly.
Death system is a bit similar to Dark Souls series' Death system, but with some key differences. Sekiro can revive in a battle upon dying if certain conditions are met. Death will cause you to respawn at the last idol that you rested, but your money and experience points will be reduced by half. There is no way to recover your lost experience points and money other than regain your lost money and experience points by fighting enemies.
Overall, great gameplay. Outside of occasional vague hints, camera issues when fighting large-sized bosses, and unrelenting difficulty, this is a great game especially for players who like fast-paced combat with challenging dfifficulty.
Graphics
Amazing graphics. Great character designs and environments.
Sound
Good soundtrack. Dual audio option is present as well.
Replay Value
Good replay value.
Conclusion
Excellent yet unrelentingly difficult game.
Score
Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 9/10
Score: 9.0/10 or 36/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting lore.
- Decent story.
- Several memorable characters.
- Excellent combat.
- Great dynamic between Health and Posture Gauges.
- Satisfying blocking and deflecting techniques.
- Great graphics.
- Dual audio.
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Highly punishing difficulty that may not attract many players.
- Sekiro/Wolf's character is a hit or miss.
- Not enough expositions on characters' background.
- Occasional too vague hints on next story objectives or locations.
- Camera issues when fighting large-sized bosses.
- Unrewarding NPC quests.
**Screenshots are from official Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice site.
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