From Software has become my favorite gaming studio, and there are many reasons why. Elden Ring was a masterpiece, but even with how much I loved that game, there is a game that I think it better in so many ways.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice came out in 2019 and it won the coveted Game of the Year title back then. It is a brutally hard game that rewards players for their effort they put in. It isn't a game that you can just expect to win by farming souls to level up and become overpowered like on Elden Ring.
The combat in Sekiro is where this game shines above anything else. This game is all about fast paced combat. But you also can't just run in swinging your sword. You need to time your attacks perfectly when there is an opening.
In Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series, your main way to avoid damage when fighting is to roll away, but in Sekiro, you need to unlearn the roll and focus on parrying. It is a pretty big learning curve, but once it clicks, your combat really takes off and you can begin to have a ton of fun.
Perfectly timed parries and deflects build up your enemies posture bar, allowing you to do deathblows, which will either kill the enemy or take one of their life bars away. Trading blows back and forth really is not the way to be successful in this game.
The story in Sekiro is really interesting. It takes place in Japan during the time of the Samurai and Shinobi. Your character is the protector of a kid that is referred to as the Diving Heir. The Divine Heir has been kidnapped and you are on a journey to rescue him from his captors.
The first boss you come across is Gyoubu Oniwa, which is a massive Samurai on a horse. I came across him pretty early in the game and I was still getting used to the way the combat work, so he was pretty tough.
Lady Butterfly was the next main boss that I faced, and she gave me a pretty hard time. But by the time I completed this fight, I had a stronger grasp on the combat system, and things really began to click for me.
The graphics in this game are amazing and From Software did an amazing job with creating a cool world. I think the world building in From Software is some of the best I have ever seen in gaming. Sekiro isn't as big as Elden Ring, but the locations are super cool and interesting.
Some of the locations can get downright creepy, like Mibu Village. This place is super dark and has such an eerie feeling when you are there. The villagers are basically undead monsters that spend all day digging in the dirt for slugs.
There is a crazy priest that gives the villagers sake, which makes them have an unquenchable thirst, so they drink water from the river, but the river water turns them into these mindless zombies. I found this dude hiding in a house wearing a basket on his head. He tells you all about how the water and sake are changing people into monsters and tells you about the priest and where to find him.
Right now, I am at the point where I am trying to get the Divine Heir back from the guy that chops your arm off at the beginning.
The Divine Heir has dragon's blood running through his veins, and that is what is making it so that your character can resurrect. It is a pretty cool concept in a game, but resurrecting too many times actually causes the people in the world to become sick with a disease called Dragonrot. Luckily you can cleanse the rot from everyone, but it is a really cool concept that makes your many deaths affect the whole world, and trust me, you die a lot in this game. Way more than just twice like the title says.
I have no idea how far into the game I am and how much longer I have to go, but one thing I do know is that I am having a blast playing this one. From Software has some of the most rewarding story telling in games. They meticulously craft these amazing worlds that suck you in.
I can't wait to see where this story goes. There is supposedly many different endings and once I finish the game, I will most likely be playing through several more times to experience everything this amazing game has to offer.
In a few weeks, the whole Playstation Plus program is getting an overhaul, and so many new games are going to be added to the library. One game I am looking forward to is Demon Souls, which is really the game that got From Software on the map. I have been eyeballing that game for a while and I can't wait to try it out once I am done with this one.
