Morra duas vezes e volta aqui
This review contains spoilers
i let out a visceral yell once i killed sword saint isshin
It's a very enjoyable game, I just... wish there was more, you know?
Not only is Sekiro much, much shorter than the Soulsborne games, it also is quite lacking in actual content if you compare it to its predecessors. The game reuses a ton of bosses, mobs and locations. The fact that you basically run through the same castle 3 separate times is a bit strange. And if you don't count repeat fights, there are legit like 7 "human" bosses in the entire game. Which sucks because the human bosses are by far the most fun part of the entire thing, and they're what it feels like the entire combat system was built around.
I also have a lot of other minor grievances, mainly that this game sometimes seems to take inspiration from DS2 when it comes to ridiculous enemy ganks, except Sekiro's combat system makes it so that dealing with ganks is even more annoying than in Dark Souls. Also, throughout the entire game the minibosses remained more difficult for me than the actual bosses - oftentimes because of really annoying, artificial difficulty mechanics, such as, again, spamming many enemies into a single small space (fuck you Juzou) or just doing the classic "boss you've already beat but now there's two of them" (you know what I'm talking about).
And the story and worldbuilding is nowhere near the level of Soulsbourne. There's a ton of potential and some flashes of brilliance (Senpou Temple and Fountainhead Palace are awesome locations) but, once again... it just feels like there is not enough. FromSoft tried to simultaneously keep their esoteric storytelling style and also do a more straightforward plot and I don't think this really works. I just kind of didn't give the story much thought when playing the game, because whenever I did actually think about it, my only conclusion was that I have no clue why the hell I should care about my supposed "objective".
I really hope they do a sequel, because the base combat loop is so incredible (and so is the idea of becoming stronger only by honing your skills as a player instead of leveling in-game stats), but this to me almost felt more like a proof of concept than a truly perfected, finalized product.
And I want some harder bosses!
Not only is Sekiro much, much shorter than the Soulsborne games, it also is quite lacking in actual content if you compare it to its predecessors. The game reuses a ton of bosses, mobs and locations. The fact that you basically run through the same castle 3 separate times is a bit strange. And if you don't count repeat fights, there are legit like 7 "human" bosses in the entire game. Which sucks because the human bosses are by far the most fun part of the entire thing, and they're what it feels like the entire combat system was built around.
I also have a lot of other minor grievances, mainly that this game sometimes seems to take inspiration from DS2 when it comes to ridiculous enemy ganks, except Sekiro's combat system makes it so that dealing with ganks is even more annoying than in Dark Souls. Also, throughout the entire game the minibosses remained more difficult for me than the actual bosses - oftentimes because of really annoying, artificial difficulty mechanics, such as, again, spamming many enemies into a single small space (fuck you Juzou) or just doing the classic "boss you've already beat but now there's two of them" (you know what I'm talking about).
And the story and worldbuilding is nowhere near the level of Soulsbourne. There's a ton of potential and some flashes of brilliance (Senpou Temple and Fountainhead Palace are awesome locations) but, once again... it just feels like there is not enough. FromSoft tried to simultaneously keep their esoteric storytelling style and also do a more straightforward plot and I don't think this really works. I just kind of didn't give the story much thought when playing the game, because whenever I did actually think about it, my only conclusion was that I have no clue why the hell I should care about my supposed "objective".
I really hope they do a sequel, because the base combat loop is so incredible (and so is the idea of becoming stronger only by honing your skills as a player instead of leveling in-game stats), but this to me almost felt more like a proof of concept than a truly perfected, finalized product.
And I want some harder bosses!
If you are a souls fan boy (like me) you will love this game.
If you are not a souls fan boy (unlike me) you will also love this game.
It seems the only people who cannot enjoy this game are game journalists (I know it's on the industry and the time restraints, not the people, but still) or people who have sticks up their bums and only think a game is enjoyable if it is littering them with achievements without having to work for it.
With that out of the way:
Sekiro is not Dark Souls. I know many people, including me, thought of it as just ninja Dark Souls in Japan haha, but no. It is it's own seperate thing and yes, while it has a lot in common with Dark Souls, it stands on it's own two feet and it is not a good game BECAUSE it is Dark Souls, but IN SPITE OF IT.
Sekiro's gameplay at its core might appear similar. Third person rpg action adventures, where you run around, kill stuff, loot stuff to kill stuff better. But while Dark Souls offers player freedom and emphasises build variety, Sekiro plays a much different tune. There is one main weapon: Kusabimaru, your Katana. Sekiro's fighting system is about learning to use your Katana offensively and most importantly defensively. Parrying is the central defense mechanic of Sekiro, where you have to time your blocks in the rhythm of the enemy's swings. You can't get around this mechanic. It might seem thereby that Sekiro's combat system is one dimensional. Attack when enemy is not attacking and parry when enemy is attacking. But that is not the case. In head to head confrontations you have to consider unparyable attacks as well as how to deal with multiple enemies. Often times it is favorable to use the environment to your advantage. As a shinobi, you have the ability to climb, sneak and grapple your way through levels. And unlike in souls, stabbing an enemy from behind (or above) will instantly kill them and effectively half the hp of any mini boss. Shinobi tools, though often overlooked because they are quite difficult to use, offer major advantages and can make life much easier, if used correctly, like for example stripping the amor of heavily armored enemies with the spear, breaking the shields of enemies with the axe or poising the Okami warrior women to leave them vulnerable. And don't even let me get started on abilities and combat arts. So you could say that Sekiro traded build variety for more freedom of expression in the way you use your comparatively small selection of tools, making every tool count and hiding nigh infinite potential behind every new tool you get. Sekiro's gameplay might seem very similar at first, but at further inspection you can clearly see that Dark Souls and Sekiro go into completely different directions.
I also wanna quickly mention that you are not some rotting, half dead animated corpse of an abomination with light green skin and pink hair that you made in character creation. You play as a shinobi named wolf that isshin calls Sekiro, which is Japanese for one armed wolf. I always liked this stig of the character in Dark Souls reflecting you, the player (and I certainly like looking like shrek in every cutscene), but this story is not your story. You follow the wolf on his quest. This changes things, as characters can now bond with you much better and you finally have the ability to actually utter sentences, giving the wolf a lot of character, even if the character is a single string of dismissiveness towards every other person except maybe Kuro. In the beginning at least. But especially with the sculptor you can build quite a strong bond, showing growth over the course of the journey. Only Sekiro can do this in that manner.
So to sum my rant up. Sekiro is amazing. Everybody knows that and I am not shattering no grounds. But I do want to stress that Sekiro is not Dark Souls. It's an experiment from the part of From Software to stray form what they are best known for. And they have proven to everyone, beyond any shadow (no pun intended) of a doubt that they are not one trick ponys, but that they can make every game work. That's why they are geniuses.
10/10
If you are not a souls fan boy (unlike me) you will also love this game.
It seems the only people who cannot enjoy this game are game journalists (I know it's on the industry and the time restraints, not the people, but still) or people who have sticks up their bums and only think a game is enjoyable if it is littering them with achievements without having to work for it.
With that out of the way:
Sekiro is not Dark Souls. I know many people, including me, thought of it as just ninja Dark Souls in Japan haha, but no. It is it's own seperate thing and yes, while it has a lot in common with Dark Souls, it stands on it's own two feet and it is not a good game BECAUSE it is Dark Souls, but IN SPITE OF IT.
Sekiro's gameplay at its core might appear similar. Third person rpg action adventures, where you run around, kill stuff, loot stuff to kill stuff better. But while Dark Souls offers player freedom and emphasises build variety, Sekiro plays a much different tune. There is one main weapon: Kusabimaru, your Katana. Sekiro's fighting system is about learning to use your Katana offensively and most importantly defensively. Parrying is the central defense mechanic of Sekiro, where you have to time your blocks in the rhythm of the enemy's swings. You can't get around this mechanic. It might seem thereby that Sekiro's combat system is one dimensional. Attack when enemy is not attacking and parry when enemy is attacking. But that is not the case. In head to head confrontations you have to consider unparyable attacks as well as how to deal with multiple enemies. Often times it is favorable to use the environment to your advantage. As a shinobi, you have the ability to climb, sneak and grapple your way through levels. And unlike in souls, stabbing an enemy from behind (or above) will instantly kill them and effectively half the hp of any mini boss. Shinobi tools, though often overlooked because they are quite difficult to use, offer major advantages and can make life much easier, if used correctly, like for example stripping the amor of heavily armored enemies with the spear, breaking the shields of enemies with the axe or poising the Okami warrior women to leave them vulnerable. And don't even let me get started on abilities and combat arts. So you could say that Sekiro traded build variety for more freedom of expression in the way you use your comparatively small selection of tools, making every tool count and hiding nigh infinite potential behind every new tool you get. Sekiro's gameplay might seem very similar at first, but at further inspection you can clearly see that Dark Souls and Sekiro go into completely different directions.
I also wanna quickly mention that you are not some rotting, half dead animated corpse of an abomination with light green skin and pink hair that you made in character creation. You play as a shinobi named wolf that isshin calls Sekiro, which is Japanese for one armed wolf. I always liked this stig of the character in Dark Souls reflecting you, the player (and I certainly like looking like shrek in every cutscene), but this story is not your story. You follow the wolf on his quest. This changes things, as characters can now bond with you much better and you finally have the ability to actually utter sentences, giving the wolf a lot of character, even if the character is a single string of dismissiveness towards every other person except maybe Kuro. In the beginning at least. But especially with the sculptor you can build quite a strong bond, showing growth over the course of the journey. Only Sekiro can do this in that manner.
So to sum my rant up. Sekiro is amazing. Everybody knows that and I am not shattering no grounds. But I do want to stress that Sekiro is not Dark Souls. It's an experiment from the part of From Software to stray form what they are best known for. And they have proven to everyone, beyond any shadow (no pun intended) of a doubt that they are not one trick ponys, but that they can make every game work. That's why they are geniuses.
10/10