Easily the best combat gameplay I’ve ever encountered, but with struggles that dampen the overall experience for a first time run. Sekiro’s combat systems are polished to an absolute sheen, so there is no doubt in my mind that it’s a blast in that regard. From parrying to breaking posture, Sekiro succeeds on fresh approaches to old mechanics. Along with that, the addition of jumping adds a new dimension to evasive maneuvers, especially against sweeping attacks. Finally, the new Mikiri counter provides a direct and satisfying way to repel against stabbing attacks.

The story impressively incorporates themes of Buddhism with the cyclical nature of the classic FromSoft design. Level design in Sekiro is a bit chaotic when paired with the enemy design, but the chaos does get mitigated due to the stealth options and ability to easily run away from most enemies. Learning the combat is also quite a challenge because the concepts aren't very well explained, so there were quite a few times where I just quit for a while just from struggling in the game because I didn't really understand how it all worked.

The best of the boss fights are incredible. They put the mechanics to the test in a sort of a Simon Says kind of reactivity mixed with Souls combat that's energized to a speed closer to that of Ninja Gaiden Black. When it comes to the best boss fights, Sekiro easily has some of the very best with Genichiro and the Sword Saint. In contrast, the worst of the boss fights are either frustrating or a slog, but I'm sure once I get good enough, I'll overlook it someday.

Sekiro is a game with incredibly high highs that allows the player to overlook the occasional lows. The highs are just that damn good.

wew.

first thing i want to point out is that god damn does this game overstay its welcome. everything from its menuing, traversal, combat and even the script feel like they've been designed, intentionally or not, to stretch out as much time as possible. without delving too much into detail, it's especially noticeable in the dream world sections, where the party gets into wacky subplots that ultimately lead nowhere and add barely anything other than some scarce lore about a background item in the real world. some might argue that all that padding out is for character development's sake, but that's not it either. the main characters barely advance or change as the game goes on. their personalities are set in stone as early as the picnic scene in the forest playground on your first day. i'd excuse such padding if at least the inbetweens had some fun moments but no, this game's attempt at humor is the equivalent of a 2014 tumblr post that ends in keysmash.

combat is a chore, and i say this as someone who enjoys turn based combat. not only menuing in combat feels clunky with its four main cracters strewn across each corner of the game's window (seriously guys, simple is best. JRPGs solved this more than 25 years ago), fights themselves aren't rewarding most of the time. the game's reliance on emotions as a "rock-paper-scissors" type mechanic is very interesting... as long as you can apply it. most mob enemies die to regular attacks in a single turn, and spending juice or items to set the enemies' moods feels wasteful outside of boss encounters, especially when those same mobs can change their own emotions anyway.

i don't even want to talk about the plot. some might really like the narrative it (tries to) build interluding its dream and real segments, but to me that final twist legit felt like dropping the entire narrative down a flight of stairs for the sake of a punchy, serious tone. i'd expect it from a short RPG maker title, but for a game that's longer than earthbound with extra levity on top, it completely undoes whatever character advancements it tried to make during its almost 20 hour runtime. graceless doesn't even begin to describe it.

honestly, either play a short-form RPG maker horror game like yume nikki or a JRPG with actual decent combat and plot instead of going for this tepid inbetween.