sufflaminandus 7

Pre-release promotion material and official change of genre somehow enwrapped me into believing that Sekiro might indeed be something Pre-release promotion material and official change of genre somehow enwrapped me into believing that Sekiro might indeed be something different from Souls series. Thankfully it was an illusion: like predecessors, Sekiro is all about combat and exploration. Though not in classical ratio.



The genre is ‘action-adventure’ now but there are some important remnants of RPGs. ‘Souls’ are now experience and money. Half of the both exp and money is irreversibly lost upon death. Exp goes into skill points needed to buy abilities: passive, conditional and active. Money is needed to trade and to upgrade prosthetic arm. Prosthetic arm is fitted with multiple tools that have numerous upgrades costing randomly dropped materials, so we can label prosthetic arm as a loose imitation of equipment progression. Character development simplified into two stats: vitalily, upgradeable by Prayer Beads found in the world, and attack power, increased upon defeating bosses. The last part is ‘healing gourd’ aka estus flask, serving and upgradeable in absolutely same manner as in DS2 and DS3. As you can see, aside from lacking of character builds, Sekiro is as RPG as DSs were RPGs (can DSs be called RPGs is another question), especially given the fact that Sekiro is still about that “think up the story yourself”, weird oddities and hidden pseudo quests.



The problem is that the journey of taciturn shinobi Wolf in service of young lord Kuro, whose blood can bestow immortality, is plainly *less* that of any soulsborne game. It comes from two objective factors. First, and more crucial one, is limitation of the setting. It is totally understandable but still regrettable that feudal Japan, XVI age, cannot provide the same grandiose and contrast locations that purely fictional world can. I mean, typical Japanese castle filled with typical japanese houses? Snowy mountains leading to them? Grass fields? Sakuras? Too *plain*, especially compared to DS1. The only two locations that surprised me were Sunken Valley and Ashina Depths. And not because it was something unseen before, but because it was unexpected. The second factor is above mention lack of material gain in exploration. Prayer beads, gourd seeds, 8-9 tools and occasional story item is comprehensive list of worth finds. How much shorter is it compared to predecessors? (Well, note for the new players - it’s still better than countless generic text/audio logs or coins/vases/masks/ships/cups/..., which is somehow predominant gameplay device nowadays). But still, the world is seamless, big and beautiful, all in good old traditions. The ability to fall from high heights and hook oneself to distant cliffs is breathtaking. From Software was afraid to fail vertical level design but they managed it well. So is it worth exploring? Yes. Is it good? Yes. Is it the best? Not at all.



Now for the funny part: combat. Let’s lay bare few bitter truths first: combat arts are useless, prosthetic tools are useless, stealth is a joke. By useless I mean low percentage of useful tools/arts, and complete unnecessity to use them. Stealth is helpful (especially as a first strike to mini-bosses) but secondary: if they removed it, no one would have noticed. It all comes down to deflections. You and your opponent have posture bars that is filled upon taking damage, guarding (blocking) or when your opponent timely guard your attack aka deflect. When enemy’s bar fills up shinobi is allowed to execute deathblow which instantly decacipate opponent (bosses requires several deathblows). When shinobi’s bar fills up he is stunned briefly. You still have your dodges but they will do you much less good than in DSs. Well, actually dodges is essential part of hit’n’run tactics to kill things (which is, by the way, the only path to success on higher difficulties) but my point is that deflections are the bliss. Miyazaki stated his intention was to capture the feel of "swords clashing" and it’s right here, just as he said. You attack and you deflect. Yes, it’s reflexes, yes, it’s QTE, like many player already drew comparison, but damn it’s beautiful. The feel is here and it's awesome. The mobility of Sekiro is awesome too. The great three (attack, deflect, dodge) creates a real martial flow.



And yet we cannot toss this sad fact about Sekiro aside: most of the bosses are a reflex trainers. There are no strategic approaches, no use of head brains (unless you’re a hit'n’runner). From Software clearly intended to create a “difficult” game and wasn’t really creative about it. Some bosses are pumped with ridiculously high amount of posture/health and design of some of the others is outrightly horrible (hello, Long-arm Centipede Giraffe). The percent of useless mechanics in the game is unbecoming.



Sekiro is “git gud” game. Exploration is still fun but locked behind reflex combat. Don’t try to be a Shadow unless it is exactly what you are looking for. … Expand