i love this game. i hate this game.

sekiro is frustrating because it is so good and yet it suffers from poor design decisions in a lot of areas, but the good parts are so good that they outweigh these issues. the combat is great and really relies on you learning the game properly and getting better at it, moreso than any of from's other games. not a lot of cheese here, and if there is, it's usually not nearly as satisfying as learning the fights in and out.

however, the combat is bookended with enemies such as big monsters and large body swordsman that are extremely unfun to fight. they completely invalidate how the combat works and it's not fun, you just end up running around and then running up and stabbing, then running again, or spamming tools of some kind to whittle them down (also, not fun!). these aspects make the game INCREDIBLY tedious in some areas, where i often found myself saying "why the fuck would you put that in a game like this?"

but to me overall sekiro wins out over its bad parts. the highs are way way higher than the lows are lower. there are bad levels (sunken valley and fountainhead palace are some of the worst levels ive ever played in a from software game), and the bosses as i mentioned before are not all amazing. but sekiro's setting, combat, story, and presentation all immensely outweigh any flaws i can bring up with the game.

i love it. it's the worst best game, as a friend would call it.