Sekiro

I’ve talked about all three Dark Souls games up until now. I’ve praised all of them for being extremely fun and artistic games, and that I believe every gamer should at least try them out.

But the developers “From Software” don’t just stop at Dark Souls. No no, they’ve caught lightning many, many times.

One of the other games Fromsoft has made is Sekiro. A game with similarities to their other IP’s, but no real connection or ties. Sekiro stands out, and was revealed to mixed opinions. People were used to the classic Dark Souls formula, so certain choices to Sekiro made people feel uneasy on whether the game could carry the torch of its predecessors.

In the end, everything was fine. Fromsoft knew what they were doing.

The main difference between Sekiro and the Dark Souls games were the lack of RPG elements and no online play. It was a purely singleplayer game, and many of the features such as leveling up, finding weapons and armor and magic were gone. There is a certain level of customization and some character upgrades, but it’s in no way in the same league as the other games.

Sekiros gameplay is also slightly different. There’s still a huge emphasize on stamina management and dodging, but the main focus now comes in the shape of parrying your enemies attacks. Parrying is something that’s been a part of all the Souls games, but it has always been very optional to learn and more relevant to PvP.

You can’t play Sekiro without parrying. Sure, you can try, but this game is also probably the most difficult out of all their games. Parrying is essential, and unlike the other games, it’s something you can and need to do in boss fights.

It took me a while when playing Sekiro for the game to “click”. I enjoyed it from the start, even though I did miss some of the features from their older games. But it wasn’t until I reached Lady Butterfly – a boss that managed to kick my ass to oblivion – that the game really opened my eyes. I hadn’t learnt how important parrying was yet, but that fight forced me to learn, and once it did I got hooked and addicted like no other Souls game has managed to do.

The flow and skill of the combat is scarily good, and I am confident that I’ve not played any other game with as good swordplay as Sekiro.

As always, Fromsoft also manages to nail the artistic aspects of the game. The music is very ambient, but sets the tone perfectly. The visuals and landscape of the game are profound, and some of the areas have become my favorites in gaming – especially the zone with the scary fish.

There’s this running theme in all of Fromsofts games about “not giving up”. A sort of meta-gameplay where the game itself tells you; “Don’t you dare go hollow”. It’s not until you decide to give up and put the game down for good that you actually “lose”, and the theme of constantly reawakening – that is both apparent in Sekiro and the Souls games – carries this metaphor forward. It’s a powerful message, and one that I believe has doubtlessly inspired many people. But whilst Dark Souls might have taught us not to give up, Sekiro instead pushes us to go beyond our limits. To learn, adapt and overcome. 10/10!

And so Isshin tells us…