Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice Review

Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice Review

In Sekrio two highy trained warriors meet on the battle field, these two professional killers face each other in a duel to the death, where only one man can be victorious. Sword clashes against sword as sparks fly, each strike deftly deflected trough perfect training, until one warrior overextends and is struck down.
Sekrio is a game about a shinobi, a highly trained warrior and infiltration expert that refuse to die, due to plot reasons. Unlike Dark Souls, the combat is purely about timed blocking, deflecting and striking when there is an opening. So an enemy attacks five times in flurry, I have to either hold the block button down or tap when the attack is about to hit. Which is the main mechanic, perfect deflection through timed blocking builds up a poise meter, when it is full a death blow can be performed. This finisher will take down the enemy, regardless of how much vitality that is left. Most minibosses have to be struck down like this twice. Many of them can be cut down once from behind, when sneaking up on them, before the duel start in earnest. The only exception are certain grab attacks, which has to be dodged and the red kanji symbol which requires almost perfect block timing. Conveniently enough, any name enemy drops a prayer bead and four of these will upgrade the health bar.

To make murdering easier, there is a lot of skills to be unlocked and various awesome tools, such as a way to light enemies on fire or tossing shurikens. In order to unlock these skills some I have to find and then unlock through skill points, gained through killing enough enemies. The progress bar progress is cut in half along with the valet, but a gained skill point remains. The other penalty for death is that friendly npcs starts to get sick and thus cant be conversed properly with, due to their excessive coughing. This can eventually be cured indeed, but that requires a rare item, which can be quite hard to come by. Which is a bit annoying I have to admit, the only item that can be bought at any checkpoint statue, is the tags needed to use abilities. Every other item comes in limited quantities, can be looted from enemies or found all over the place. As the title implies, Sekiro can indeed die twice, first time an enemy kills me I can revive and continue to fight, or get in a sneak attack, the second time can be refilled through killing and can only be triggered a set time after the first death. Though if I die once, I’m not likely to succeed in living that long anyway. Attack power can be eventually be boosted by beating bosses and completing a mask made of three parts, and by consuming an item. Unfortunately the time on consumables is a bit on the short side.

However I think it looks really, really good graphically and runs very smoothly and it has yet to crash once, which I'm very happy about, not to mention short loading times.
The game is not without flaws though, every time an item is picked up a screen covering explanation appears and yes I can not turn it of, an intrusive tutorial popup will also come out of no where when a new status effect or game mechanic is encountered. The camera can be quite useful and behaves okay most of the time, however it’s a nightmare in small enclosed spaces when locked on, or if the enemy is running in circles. Sekiro also comes with a huge, terms of service you have to slowly scroll through when starting up the game for the first time. At least on Steam that is, which is the version I’m playing.

The music ranges from fantastic to ear grating, depending on the fight and how frustrated I’m at the time. Seriously, one of the sound tracks have elements of my cellphone tune, so I had to eventually turn it of. It’s also quite a lot of grinding to get the skill points needed to unlock techniques or to farm the material needed to upgrade the prosthetic tool skills.
Yes it is a fun and punishingly difficult game, that punishes poor timing and not taking the time to learn an enemy pattern or exploit. Many fights can be ignored or taken at another time. I had and have a great time with it, but I can’t recommend it for people who are impatient, can’t handle split timing button prompts and children. It’s a little bit bloody and some enemies are wonderfully grotesque. Replay-ability comes through several endings and new game plus and steam achievement hunting.

Zaceron