I have never played a From Soft title before. Because of this, I feel that entering this game gives me a very different experience compared to From Soft veterans. I do not regret getting into this game first however.
When I used to live with a roommate, he encouraged me to play Sekiro while he watched so he could laugh at how much I struggled with the game. He wasn't particularly good at it, and he hadn't even gotten past the Guardian Ape. Still, it was that sense of competition that made me want to pick up and complete this game. I am thankful that he put that driving force in me.
The gameplay is relatively simple. You perform one of three actions. Attack, parry, or dodge. Of course there are nuances within these parameters but this is the core essence of the game. These three actions feel so fine-tuned for the game that I cannot fathom a good version of this game without them. Each option requires a good amount of understanding how enemies and bosses will proceed with their own set of moves.
Attacking recklessly will result in being overwhelmed with enemies that seem to not care about your steel stick.
Parrying has a fairly precise window that if done haphazardly, will result in a much less rewarding (both in gameplay and in sound) block. The block is handy for select situations, but it will not let you overwhelm bosses in the same that parrying can. There is no shortcut to parrying, you must sit down and spend time to learn the timings for each boss.
Dodging allows for swift maneuvers around the enemy, sometimes circumventing the need to parry at all. But not always. One thing that I hear most from those who've played other From Soft titles is that dodging does not function the same way as it does in those games. Sekiro does not give you any invulnerability during a dodge. Dodging has to be meaningful, with positioning in mind. The tradeoff is that you can place yourself in a position of power. One of my favorite features of dodging is jumping. After a jump, you can essentially jump from the enemy, dealing a lot of posture damage for enemies that like to play close to the ground.
These three actions in tandem make for a super fluid gameplay experience that I haven't witness the likes of before.
This review has dragged on very long but I'll make one last comment on one mechanic that I absolutely adore. The Posture system. Posture is a very different form of damage from regular health damage. Posture is not something that can be attacked directly (for the most part). Posture replenishes with inactivity, encouraging the player to keep laying it on thick so that the enemy doesn't undo all of your hardwork. A posture broken enemy can be dealt a deathblow, culling whatever remaining health they had. The importance of posture is that it provides a direct and very tantalizing reward for good parries. Parrying doesn't just prevent damage, nor just leave you in a better position to attack, it actively chips away at the enemy, getting you closer and closer to dealing an ever so gratifying deathblow. But just because you work perpetually towards chipping away damage, doesn't mean that's it. You have to continue to break their Posture repeatedly and with urgency. It also helps in a sense of accomplishment when compared to the much more daunting task of whittling down a boss's health bar that you seem to only be able to remove pixels at a time.
Of course you have your own posture to worry about, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere near detrimental for you as it for your enemies.
I know I left out the prosthetic tools and combat arts but personally I didn't find myself using them all that much (save for the feather on the final boss). Overall, this game is one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences I've played. I haven't covered as much as I liked to but this review is really dragging on so I'll leave it at that. 9/10 game.
When I used to live with a roommate, he encouraged me to play Sekiro while he watched so he could laugh at how much I struggled with the game. He wasn't particularly good at it, and he hadn't even gotten past the Guardian Ape. Still, it was that sense of competition that made me want to pick up and complete this game. I am thankful that he put that driving force in me.
The gameplay is relatively simple. You perform one of three actions. Attack, parry, or dodge. Of course there are nuances within these parameters but this is the core essence of the game. These three actions feel so fine-tuned for the game that I cannot fathom a good version of this game without them. Each option requires a good amount of understanding how enemies and bosses will proceed with their own set of moves.
Attacking recklessly will result in being overwhelmed with enemies that seem to not care about your steel stick.
Parrying has a fairly precise window that if done haphazardly, will result in a much less rewarding (both in gameplay and in sound) block. The block is handy for select situations, but it will not let you overwhelm bosses in the same that parrying can. There is no shortcut to parrying, you must sit down and spend time to learn the timings for each boss.
Dodging allows for swift maneuvers around the enemy, sometimes circumventing the need to parry at all. But not always. One thing that I hear most from those who've played other From Soft titles is that dodging does not function the same way as it does in those games. Sekiro does not give you any invulnerability during a dodge. Dodging has to be meaningful, with positioning in mind. The tradeoff is that you can place yourself in a position of power. One of my favorite features of dodging is jumping. After a jump, you can essentially jump from the enemy, dealing a lot of posture damage for enemies that like to play close to the ground.
These three actions in tandem make for a super fluid gameplay experience that I haven't witness the likes of before.
This review has dragged on very long but I'll make one last comment on one mechanic that I absolutely adore. The Posture system. Posture is a very different form of damage from regular health damage. Posture is not something that can be attacked directly (for the most part). Posture replenishes with inactivity, encouraging the player to keep laying it on thick so that the enemy doesn't undo all of your hardwork. A posture broken enemy can be dealt a deathblow, culling whatever remaining health they had. The importance of posture is that it provides a direct and very tantalizing reward for good parries. Parrying doesn't just prevent damage, nor just leave you in a better position to attack, it actively chips away at the enemy, getting you closer and closer to dealing an ever so gratifying deathblow. But just because you work perpetually towards chipping away damage, doesn't mean that's it. You have to continue to break their Posture repeatedly and with urgency. It also helps in a sense of accomplishment when compared to the much more daunting task of whittling down a boss's health bar that you seem to only be able to remove pixels at a time.
Of course you have your own posture to worry about, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere near detrimental for you as it for your enemies.
I know I left out the prosthetic tools and combat arts but personally I didn't find myself using them all that much (save for the feather on the final boss). Overall, this game is one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences I've played. I haven't covered as much as I liked to but this review is really dragging on so I'll leave it at that. 9/10 game.