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Sekiro is a very different game from the rest of the Souls-likes, though I suppose you could say that about every From Software game. There is only one primary weapon. There is no jolly cooperation. You have a grappling hook and climbing mechanics. You can…stealth? This is a weird game.
There are so many differences from the typical Souls-like that I almost feel bad putting it into the same genre just because it’s challenging and made by From Software. Unlike the rest, you’re not in a dying world – you’re in 16th century Japan. Unlike the rest, fashion Souls – in fact, equipment in general other than your prosthetic arm – isn’t a thing. Unlike the rest, the control scheme, abilities, and even stamina are entirely different. But as Chezni noted during one of our conversations about Demon’s Souls: each Souls-like introduces just a couple new mechanics and remixes the old ones to make the experience fresh. In this regard, Sekiro’s largest changes from its predecessors come from the flow of combat and the consequences of death.
Combat in Sekiro is almost entirely based around parrying and dodging attacks, instead of the more sword and board styles of previous games. Stamina is replaced with Posture, where you attempt to break through an enemy’s defense by countering incoming attacks and dodging heavier attacks before delivering a killing blow, rather than meting out the occasional hit between blocks and rolls to whittle down your opponent’s health. Health is still a component (and similar to Dark Souls II), but killing blows are always faster if you can break through your opponent’s defense.
During combat, when you first fall in battle, you have the chance to resurrect at half health. This mirrors elite enemies you encounter who can take multiple killing blows to down permanently. If you fall a second time, you lose half of your money and experience (with a variable chance to avoid this entirely through the grace of the gods). Also unlike previous games, there is no “kindled” or “unhollowed” state – instead, the more you die, the more NPCs in the world will contract Dragonrot as you seemingly use their essence to resurrect. I both enjoy and hate this change.
Movement and level verticality have been expanded. Your grappling hook and wall jump allow for traversal of much taller levels. To compensate for this increased verticality, your character no longer walks off ledges that would kill them. They just…stop. In fact, I’m not sure fall damage is even a thing. You can still jump off any ledge if you want to, but it doesn’t kill you unless you were thrown off. Of course, you can still walk off a ledge that will drop you in the middle of four or five enemies, but the inherent dangers of Blighttown are seemingly in the past.
These changes to combat and movement continue a trend all the way from Demon’s Souls to here. The environment in Dark Souls was more likely to kill you than most enemies, especially after your first playthrough. Combat in Demon’s Souls was far more focused on blocking and was a slow, methodical process. Dark Souls followed this trend, but Dark Souls III (and Bloodborne, as I’ve heard) really started pushing you towards rolls and hit avoidance, rather than absorption. I can’t really say if this is better or worse – partly because combat AI has improved so much over the same period of time.
Ledge climbing and stealth, seemingly borrowed from Assassin-likes, have also found their way into the moveset. But where I complained about this in Horizon: Zero Dawn, it seems to have been done in a more cohesive – if a bit boring – way here. Ledges are fairly easy to spot without being bright yellow, and wall jumping prevents two foot ledges from stopping you, usually. Usually. Even the “tall grass” makes its appearance, which is probably the low point of stealth in the game – though at least you don’t get immediately spotted when leaving it. In the end, I can’t say I truly dislike either of these mechanics (especially since the grappling hook is often involved), but at the same time they feel lackluster because of their similarity to every Assassin-like out there.
All this is to say that Sekiro is a very different game, even if the plumbing is similar. I’ve played for an hour and a half now, and I’ve only just now defeated the introductory boss (not counting a storyline boss similar to the Grey Demon of Demon’s Souls or a throwaway elite to teach you about killing blows). Part of this was due to the far longer introductory sequence, but part of this was simply my inability to defeat the enemy. I haven’t felt this bad at Souls-likes since trying to defeat the Asylum Demon with a broken sword. Again, a trend from previous games presents itself: bosses in Demon’s Souls (and many in Dark Souls) were far more puzzle-like than an actual combat challenge, but by the time you get to Dark Souls III (and here in Sekiro), they are almost exclusively about reading your enemy and finding the right counter.
With this, I’ve started in on the second-to-last “modern” From Software Souls-like: starting from Demon’s Souls and missing Bloodborne since I can’t play it on my computer. All in all, Sekiro is a challenging game – for me, perhaps more challenging than any of the other Souls-likes. I’d actually say that the challenge of these games seems to increase with each title. Demon’s Souls was almost laughably easy once I got into the swing of things. Dark Souls is still challenging, but my familiarity means that I don’t have as much trouble any more. Dark Souls III requires far more precision and reaction to enemies. And now Sekiro has taken away my shield. After all this time trying to convince Chezni to use a shield, I’m the one who has to learn how to fight without one.
So far, Sekiro has proved itself another worthy entry from From. I don’t think it will be my favorite – the style of fighting you must learn isn’t really my thing – but there were a few moments where the flow of combat took hold and I enjoyed myself. I’m slowly learning the new movement, and excited to explore a new world – even if I’m really bad at it right now. Obviously, Tier One.