I feel somewhat bound by how I rate games here, ironically similar to the code by which Wolf is bound that incites the entire journey in question. On one hand, Sekiro is a well-crafted game with an incredible combat system. On the other... I didn't enjoy playing this game. At best, I was on enough sleep and stimulants to almost reach the flow-state it tried to create. Mostly, I struggled to get through even the most basic of tasks in Sekiro. That grueling struggle (and skill issue) isn't one I can ever hope to enjoy, or even finish, without gaming eclipsing my education or personal life.
I bought this bad boy after loving Elden Ring... and cheesing a decent bit of it, too. I wanted to git gud, and I got Sekiro for that reason. Nobody needs me to harp on how this game does that to a player. Precise, creative melee combat with zero room for error forces you to learn every possible scenario and react to it in the blink of an eye. It's as much a twitchy puzzle game as it is a combat saga, and that problem-solving element begs players to return again and again to confront challenges.
The problem is... I'm in grad school, gearing up for a career in a field with no respect for my time and effort. I do problem-solving full-time, and video games are my haven to unwind from those stresses and find enjoyable worlds to escape in. Challenging games are fun for me, up to where they begin to disrespect the sanctity of my time with them. Sekiro is so unflinching in its premise that it becomes excruciating to play; that, combined with the addictive Soulslikes formula dragging me back hoping for the high of a victory with just "one more try tonight" (it's not gambling, right?), left me a little infuriated and very, very defeated while playing this game. Sekiro demands you play a single way to beat it, and it turns out I kinda hated playing that way. Don't get me wrong, the zen you achieve when eventually memorizing every possible attack pattern, reading (guessing?) what comes next in an instant, and responding perfectly for like 8 minutes straight can feel thrilling! But I didn't find it fun.
After finally getting through a full cycle of that process and beating Genichiro, I'm content to put this one away. Some of the other elements didn't land for me, too; for instance, after even my worst Elden Ring moments, I always found the story/lore/world compelling enough to press on. I didn't feel that pull with Sekiro. The world-building is fine, but not a reason to stay. Oh also, the everyone-gets-sick-when-you-die thing is basically like kicking a puppy, given that I (the puppy) am trash and died regularly while traversing the world and like 70 times to a single boss. Nobody needed to trip my guilt by making me incite an epidemic when I was already sad from my repeated personal failures lmao.
You get the gist. I don't think I have a single, like, objective criticism to level at this game. It is very good. Sadly, I am not gud, and I really loathed playing this thing. It was punishment to play, and the few positive elements amounted more to an adrenaline rush than enjoyment. I have to remain true to this being my rating of Sekiro, and I just didn't have fun. I'll let the sea of other positive reviews outweigh my outlier negative experience. This alleged masterpiece isn’t for me and I have to respect that. Humbling.
I bought this bad boy after loving Elden Ring... and cheesing a decent bit of it, too. I wanted to git gud, and I got Sekiro for that reason. Nobody needs me to harp on how this game does that to a player. Precise, creative melee combat with zero room for error forces you to learn every possible scenario and react to it in the blink of an eye. It's as much a twitchy puzzle game as it is a combat saga, and that problem-solving element begs players to return again and again to confront challenges.
The problem is... I'm in grad school, gearing up for a career in a field with no respect for my time and effort. I do problem-solving full-time, and video games are my haven to unwind from those stresses and find enjoyable worlds to escape in. Challenging games are fun for me, up to where they begin to disrespect the sanctity of my time with them. Sekiro is so unflinching in its premise that it becomes excruciating to play; that, combined with the addictive Soulslikes formula dragging me back hoping for the high of a victory with just "one more try tonight" (it's not gambling, right?), left me a little infuriated and very, very defeated while playing this game. Sekiro demands you play a single way to beat it, and it turns out I kinda hated playing that way. Don't get me wrong, the zen you achieve when eventually memorizing every possible attack pattern, reading (guessing?) what comes next in an instant, and responding perfectly for like 8 minutes straight can feel thrilling! But I didn't find it fun.
After finally getting through a full cycle of that process and beating Genichiro, I'm content to put this one away. Some of the other elements didn't land for me, too; for instance, after even my worst Elden Ring moments, I always found the story/lore/world compelling enough to press on. I didn't feel that pull with Sekiro. The world-building is fine, but not a reason to stay. Oh also, the everyone-gets-sick-when-you-die thing is basically like kicking a puppy, given that I (the puppy) am trash and died regularly while traversing the world and like 70 times to a single boss. Nobody needed to trip my guilt by making me incite an epidemic when I was already sad from my repeated personal failures lmao.
You get the gist. I don't think I have a single, like, objective criticism to level at this game. It is very good. Sadly, I am not gud, and I really loathed playing this thing. It was punishment to play, and the few positive elements amounted more to an adrenaline rush than enjoyment. I have to remain true to this being my rating of Sekiro, and I just didn't have fun. I'll let the sea of other positive reviews outweigh my outlier negative experience. This alleged masterpiece isn’t for me and I have to respect that. Humbling.