The next spiritual successor entry to legendary developer From Software’s Soulsborne series comes in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Featuring a Sengoku like setting, you play as lead character Wolf, a former orphan turned Shinobi who has become disgraced after failing to look after his young lord. He now searches the land of Ashina to find the young Lord Kuro whom he was meant to protect and keep safe.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 2019 action RPG game, it is developed by From Software and published by Activision. It is currently available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Editor’s Note: A review copy of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was provided by Activision in support of this review. Near complete to complete spoilers for this title may be present. An Amazon Affiliates link will be present within this review.

The Wolf will stop at nothing to find his lost cub.

Since retiring Dark Souls three years ago with the release of it’s third entry fans of From Software’s work have been itching for another experience like it and the acclaimed Bloodborne. FromSoft would answer these hopes and prayers with the release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Like the aforementioned Bloodborne, Sekiro takes the shape and form of From Software’s Souls series, but uses it in a way that often helps distance itself as a completely new experience while still maintaining that epic Souls magic. Challenging bosses, open environments, and death a plenty.

Sekiro’s tough but rewarding challenge provides a true sense of accomplishment.

THE GOOD: As Soulsborne veterans introduce themselves to Sekiro they will initially find themselves with the typical insane and hair pulling levels of difficulty often associated with From Software’s action RPG titles. However, the world of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice goes so much deeper than the Soulsborne franchise to the point of completely evolving it. Unlike previous entries, Sekiro puts a much heavier focus on exploration and travel. The previous games give players the option to explore their massive world maps, but Sekiro absolutely makes it a point with the use of it’s grappling hook as well as the potential to unlock several optional bosses within a single given area,

Explore a beautifully crafted fictional Sengoku world in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

You play as Wolf, a Shinobi who has been given orders by his father Owl to watch over a young lord named Kuro; a child cursed with immortal who has become the target of several rival Shinobi and clans for Wolf and Owl. Having lost Kuro to a man named Genichiro (whom took his arm in the first place), Wolf is granted the same power of immortality through resurrecting upon death in battle. This is limited depending on how deep the players have explored the world map with the resurrection count being increased through certain actions and storylines within the game. In addition to a count, you can also only resurrect another time via performing death blows. You’ll also need to kill enemies to refill your other resurrection meters. In addition to resurrecting, Sekiro also has a number of weapons known as Prosthetic Tools which fit his prosthetic arm and can be upgraded for more power and a higher advantage in battle. These range from standard shiruken, to a flamethrower, to firecrackers & more, and each tool provides specific aide against bosses. Such as the firecrackers working best against animal type enemies.

Sekiro won’t always adapt to your play style, especially if you’re coming off from a Dark Souls or Bloodborne run. That’s why learning the mechanics and unlearning what the aforementioned taught you is so important to advance.

Voice acting performances were stellar where it counted (I played with Japanese audio). If you’re an anime viewer then you’ll probably notice some cheesy dialogue here and there, but it’s to be expected with these titles at this point. Speaking in regards to the English audio, it’s not as bad as you’d think it would be and there’s even instances where it was much stronger than the Japanese audio track. The background music is complimented by a well blended soundtrack provided by Yuka Kitamura which often changes in tone in response to the world surrounding Sekiro and whether or not he’s in danger or in battle.

Everything that Sekiro offers at your disposal is key to victory.

THE BAD: Sekiro as good as it is, is not without some serious design issues. For example, the camera can often get you killed more than your opponents on the battle field. When targeting enemies there’s random occurrences where the camera just refuses to work and wigs out in uncontrollable fashion, and when you don’t have control of the battle in Sekiro this basically means death. There’s also times, especially during boss fights when death just feels cheap. Naturally it’s more often than not the player’s fault for dying, but when the game places enemies right in front of a Sculptor Idol that’s just plain old troll level shit. I also had issues where command inputs just didn’t register such as side-stepping, blocking/deflecting, etc. I’m aware that enemies have moves that are unblockable, but these instances were something else entirely.

Not learning to deflect isn’t the only punishing element of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, some of which are just unfair and out of the player’s control.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is From Software’s next big game and the wait was oh so worth it. Packed with challenges that often make it’s predecessors look ashamed and a learning curve that does get easier to grasp over time, anyone can pick up and play it & get it’s mechanics down probably easier than the previous titles in the Soulsborneverse. With an expansive world and bosses around every corner, along with plenty of tools to play with Sekiro will have you feeling powerful and accomplished with any and all triumphs over a tough opponent who was giving you trouble.