Review (2025 December)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (as "Sekiro" afterwards) is an action-adventure game developed by FromSoftware and released in 2019. I spent around 200 hours arounds on Sekiro in 2022–2023, completing every ending and achievement, as well as Mortal Journey Charmless with Demon Bell. Comparing to Dark Souls: Remastered – the only Dark Souls game that I have played – I believe that I had a much enjoyable time with Sekiro.

Set in ancient Japan, Sekiro has a very different art style and ambiance than the Dark Souls series. Personally, I think overall Sekiro offers a more immersive experience. The detailed movements and animations are remarkable, you could take a screenshot whenever and wherever you are and you would likely get something great.

The music in Sekiro had a weak or minimal impact on me, which I assume is similar to other games developed by FromSoftware. Usually, there are only very few astounding soundtracks in each of their games. However, for a formal and purposeful action-adventure game like Sekiro, a highly melodic background soundtrack is not always the best option.

Sekiro also taught me an important lesson about the difference between action-focused games (as "ACTs" afterwards) and role-playing games (as "RPGs" afterwards). Although both have many great titles, which type suits better a player depends on the tastes. I have realised that I am not a true fan of RPGs:

• As a 100% completionist player, I am often too obsessed with collectibles.

• Meanwhile, the wide range of strategies in RPGs is not a selling point to me. I prefer to find the optimal strategy quickly, stick to it, and only make small modifications.

• Additionally, it is not unusual in RPGs for a tough fight to become a joke once you have an optimal build – suddenly it becomes too easy to be considered a challenge.

That said, Sekiro suits me much better:

• Instead of being too bland, there are still collectibles. But they are not so plentiful that I have to use a spreadsheet to record my progress every 10 minutes like a jerk ;(.

• Though the main weapon is fixed, there are optional supportive tools to help for fights. You do not have to learn every single one, and you can finish the whole game without using any of them. However, some are extremely effective against specific BOSSes, providing the "small modifications" I mentioned earlier.

• Most importantly, even if you find the optimal strategy, the BOSSes in Sekiro remain challenging. Your brain knows what you need to do, but your eyes or hands cannot always catch up! To those who prefer RPGs, this might be a downside. To me, this is the moment when the real practice kicks in – training your reactions and muscle memory! It can be tiring, but it is never tedious – all you need is a proper training plan.

Now, let’s talk about the key aspect of every hardcore game – difficulty. Sekiro is arguably a very tough game that many players cannot even complete. Considering how lenient and generous modern games have become – often catering to "spoiled" players – I salute to FromSoftware for keeping Sekiro on its level. As someone who has experienced several hardcore titles, Sekiro is a great pick because it is tough in a good way. From the moment I started until I completed Mortal Journey, I was constantly tasting bitterness and learning something new. The difficulty is reasonable most of the time and well worth the pain.

There are 4 endings in total. Without "cheating" by using save backups, I completed 4 separate playthroughs with gradually increasing difficulty:

• First Playthrough (Vanilla): X Red Deaths (Not counted)

• Second Playthrough (Vanilla): 29 Red Deaths

• Third Playthrough (Charmless): 23 Red Deaths

• Fourth Playthrough (Charmless with Demon Bell): 15 Red Deaths

As expected, the first playthrough was rough. I had to learn the system from scratch. Since I was already familiar with "roll and dodge" mechanics from other games, I had an easier time with certain fights, but I suffered terribly during those meant to teach parry and mikiri. Instead of treating those moments as a waste of time, I forced myself to master the mechanics I struggled with early on.

• I still remember the Shinobi Hunter called Enshin! My real foe or perhaps soulmate instead?! He is only a mini BOSS designed to teach players mikiri, but it took me almost 2 hours to beat him the first time. I was a stubborn player, unwilling to do what the developers intended, choosing the hard way instead. On the bright side, Shinobi Hunters never posed a threat to me for the rest of my experience with Sekiro.

• Another example is the Lone Shadow that appears early in the game as an optional enemy. He is not even a BOSS, but he has fancy moves! Since he respawns after being killed, I used him as a training dummy to practice my dodge and parry. I spent more than 2 hours "dating" him, something normal players would never ever consider doing.

• My most memorable "first-time kill" was the Headless. Thankfully, I talked to an old classmate who had cleared the game. Otherwise, I would have tried fighting that nasty thing without Divine Confetti until I died in real life! Honestly, I do not think the Headless is a good design, as there are no clear directions of how to handle it – forcing players to look for useful information outside the game.

• Interestingly, the major BOSSes in my first playthrough turned out to be overall fine. None of them took me longer than Enshin, an evidence showing how strong that monk really is ;)!

After completing my first playthrough, I immediately started the second and only found that the jump in difficulty was surprisingly significant. FromSoftware definitely intentionally made everything easier for the first playthrough, since it is probably too forgiving: hard blocking barely damages Ookami's vitality and only causes small posture damage.

The transition from 0 to 1 is much bigger than 1 to 2, so the second playthrough was surprisingly tough as I had to rebuild my fighting plans now to be more precise. By the third and fourth runs, even going Charmless with Demon Bell, the impact was not as huge. Once you master the perfect parry, the penalty for imperfect parries means nothing – which is a crucial step in preparing for Reflections of Strength that I will discuss in a moment.

• Because of the differences between playthroughs, researching strategies online can be difficult. Most smart strategies only work for the first playthrough, which is what the majority of players focus on. This makes discussions tricky, a strategy that is genius in one context might be garbage in another.

• On the positive side, there were interesting transitions from what I experienced. Some ideas I abandoned early on as too naive actually turned out to shine in the final stages! My progress was not a straight line where a poor strategy stayed poor, it instead moved in a cycle which is inspirational! Similarly, some BOSSes drove me crazy at first but became smooth later, while others took me within 5 attempts at first but became insanely tough when going Charmless with Demon Bell later.

Overall, Sekiro is an ACT with many excellently designed BOSSes, though some terrible fights exist. The most typical bad design to me is the 1v2 fight that simply should not even exist in this game. My top 3 BOSSes are Corrupted Monk (2 times), Genichiro (3 times), and Father (2 times excluding the untolerated Owl). They can be painful, but they force you to get better in Sekiro and experience the true taste of the game. On the contrary, I do not like final BOSS at all including his Inner form – just mid designs that pretend to be epic.

As a free update, FromSoftware added Reflections of Strength for players to practice against various BOSSes. Additionally, 4 Gauntlets were designed for consecutive fights, with the last and longest being Mortal Journey. While the 3 shorter gauntlets at least provide rewards upon completion, Mortal Journey gives nothing! Why play it then? You get the point.

Gauntlets should be tough for sure, but few realise that the vitality and damage of every BOSS are modified in the whole Reflections of Strength to make the fights more challenging. That said, BOSSes from the early game receive huge buffs and can become even more lethal than later ones. One of such examples is Lady Butterfly – she was not a big threat at all before, but in Reflections Charmless with Demon Bell, she has a low attack that can remove 90%+ of Ookami’s vitality – which is also a fast that requires instant reaction. That means even a nearly full health bar is no longer safe, and remember that she is also a master of chip damage! Only those who have attempted Reflections of Strength know the real form of that granny – how scary!

Mortal Journey consists of 17 consecutive BOSS fights where one defeat ends the run. I decided to go Charmless with Demon Bell to make the challenge even realer and tastier. Considering the ridiculously low tolerance for error, I had to grind every BOSS to the limit, utilising all items and finding optimal strategies. It was like preparing for an exam: 60% is a pass, 80% makes you a top student, and 95% is a level that most cannot imagine. For some crazy BOSSes (only a few but they do exist) in this run, unfortunately, even 95% is not enough. From the long-term persepctive, you need more.

I came up with a special rraining rule: practice each BOSS separately, aiming for a net win.

• If I won the first time, I passed.

• If not, I had to win twice now since I lost.

With some insane beasts, I once had a score of 25-24 – I lost 24 times but finally secured a net win by winning 25 times. When going Charmless with Demon Bell, these fights could feel extremely long, and losing when you are seconds away from a viictory gives you that Gold Strawberry feeling in Celeste ;)!

Absolutely Spartan. While it might be too much even for serious players (and let alone the big group of entertaining players who just play for fun), it eventually paid off. I never regret setting the goal and training plan: despite those salty and painful moments of losing in some embarrassing ways, I told myself to learn some tiny bits as I can from every defeat.