Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro is the only game I can find myself coming back to as often as once a month. This review reflects my love for the fun I have.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice released in March 2019, and is the most recent game by From Software. Since this game is newer than all the other From Software games I’ve had so much hype for, I can remember a time where one of my friends would play this nonstop, right around when it was released. I remember watching him play a little bit of it, and thought it looked like a very cool and unique game. I had no idea that in only two short years, I’d have the opportunity to play the game for myself. I had no idea what to expect from the game, but I knew that I was extremely hyped to play the 2019 Game of the Year.

After playing through the game over a one month period, I looked back and thought about my experience with the game, and if it was worth the hype I had given it, and the Game of the Year award it received. And my concussion was that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is worth every bit of hype it gets, and it is absolutely deserving of the Game of the Year award. Here’s why.

Starting up the game, I knew that I shouldn’t try to play it like a Dark Souls game. I was told that trying to constantly block or dodge would only get me killed. I was told this repeatedly throughout the first two or so hours of the game, but my Dark Souls muscle memory kept having me tap the dodge button or try to jump away from things at bad times. For a long time, I would get frustrated over enemies or minibosses that I knew were simple, but my muscle memory from previous games were making them complicated. It was only when I reached the top of Ashina Castle and fought against Genichiro that the game finally clicked in my brain. I died to Genichiro once, and then on my second try I pummelled him like it was nothing. If you were watching me do it, you would have heard me freaking out over every attack, but then I would deflect and counter it without looking like I even flinched. I didn’t feel like it, but it was like the Sekiro switch in my brain turned on and the Dark Souls switch turned off. All of a sudden, I was flying through the game like a master, defeating enemies, minibosses, and obstacles like I had done it a million times before. I found Sekiro to be the easiest From Software game I’ve played, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a challenge. Even after dozens of hours of playtime, I still mess up some tougher bosses. Sekiro’s emphasis on deflecting instead of blocking or dodging messed me up in the beginning, but now I find myself struggling when I play Dark Souls, because my brain is geared in Sekiro mode.

I started having so much fun in Sekiro that I was having dreams about it. I made a drawing of the main character that I’m very proud of. Whenever I watched videos on YouTube of people playing Sekiro, I would bring my mouse away from the video and click my mouse in time with the video’s attacks and parries, pretending like I was the one playing in the video. Because I found myself with such natural skill in Sekiro, I stopped worrying about how many tries it would take to defeat bosses, and just focused on having fun. Before too long, I found myself at the halfway point of the game, and was met with a choice on how the game would continue. I chose the option that I thought would have more bosses to kill and continued that way. After that encounter, I started getting worried about locking myself out of some bosses. I was streaming my whole gameplay to my friend who had watched me play the original Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, and he told me that I can’t fight every boss in the game in just one playthrough, and I would have to go back and start another to reach some bosses. I was fine with doing that, since I was having so much fun. After I beat the first playthrough, I went back and started another to reach that choice that occurs halfway through. This time, I picked the other option and fought the other bosses that I couldn’t fight in the last run. Fighting the bosses in Sekiro is some of the most fun I’ve had in a game in a very long time. If you were watching me play without being able to hear me, I would have looked like a master, but if you were listening to me, it would be screaming for about three minutes until I stopped screaming and started breathing really hard. Sekiro always kept me on the edge of my seat, and I managed to get past every boss in less than four tries each. Every boss was super memorable, and I could tell that there was a greater focus on music in Sekiro. The other From-Soft games I had played before Sekiro, which were the first two Dark Souls games, had good music, but, during the boss fights, I was way too focused on winning to be able to hear the music. In Sekiro, even in boss fights that were extremely difficult, I would find myself noticing how good the music is, despite my lack of focus on it.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won Game of the Year for a reason. It’s challenging, it’s fun, it’s got amazing music and graphics, and the story is engaging and interesting. It’s very different from Dark Souls in its mechanics, but not in its game design philosophy. And for all these reasons, I will sing the praises of Sekiro.