As of today, it is St. Patrick's Day. A holiday that I typically ignore as I don't drink; kinda like Cinco de Mayo a.k.a Mexican Independence day to the less culturally informed. The reason I'm pointing out today's date is it's relevance to a certain video game title I've been looking forward to since it's original showcase at E3. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love katanas, ninjas and all other kinds of Japanese culture. Well, it's something I tend not to speak on now as not to be confused with those insufferable weebs (of course, depending on your definition, you may consider me one). Anyway, the name of the game is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, an action game and spiritual successor to the Tenchu series of which I love. The game is developed by From Software and published unfortunately by Activision.
Story (Mild Spoilers)
Instead of selecting and customizing your own character in Sekiro, all players will be stepping in the shoes of a shinobi simply referred to as the One-Armed Wolf or Sekiro. The story begins with his young master being abducted by the enemy and the Wolf losing an arm. Don't worry about failing in this game because Sekiro begins with a giant L. The Wolf has a new arm crafted for him by a man known as the Sculptor and the Wolf sets out to rescue his master from the clutches of evil. Initially, the story sounded a bit generic for my tastes but reading up a bit more on the lore of the game shows there is a lot more going on than we can see at this point. The storytelling will mostly be through NPCs and the environment accompanied with a tad more cutscenes than we're used to seeing.
Gameplay
Other than the ninjas and surface-level things that have me excited for the game, the gameplay, in general, seems to be specifically made for me. I've played a bit of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, don't get me wrong; however, It feels as though they lack some element of truly engaging combat. The fights in those games are more of a poke and dodge rather than an actual showdown determining the player's true skill level. It's not like I'm saying the game takes no skill, it's more that the option to farm and boost your stats renders most of the challenges to become much more manageable. What I like about Sekiro is the absence of stat-boosting and the focus on parrying and clashing metal with your opponent.
What do you call a ninja that can't jump? I'm not sure either but luckily the Wolf can and makes use of a grappling hook to zip to nearby cliffs and rooftops. This is another element that I feel succinctly compliments the ninja lifestyle and pushes me more towards the game. In previous From games, jumping isn't something you have access to on command and movement feels a little clunky, purposefully so I'm sure. All in all, the verticality and fluidity of movement offers the scratch to the itch I've been feeling since I completed the latest Spider-Man game.
What do you call a ninja that can't stealth? Naruto. In all seriousness, the fact that you can stealth attack virtually any enemy adds a whole other playing style and can affect how you explore the map. This also ties in nicely with the whole death is twice occurring theme. As you can use death to your advantage to bamboozle an enemy into a false sense of security. The resurrection mechanic is strangely revolutionary. I say strangely because I know other games have done something similar in the past but it still seems unique despite this. It works like this: You have two circles for resurrection. One circle is acquired from resting at one of the many statues in the game; the other is procured by defeating enemies. You do not get two resurrections back to back. Once you die, one resurrection is used and the other is blocked unless you defeat a certain number of enemies before dying again.
Environment
Sekiro's world has a lot of life to it especially in comparison to Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Being able to eavesdrop on enemies adds an element of humanity to them. There are many NPCs to interact with and the atmosphere is more varied allowing you to actually use the environment to your advantage. Whether that'll be hiding in tall grass, grappling up to trees or hanging on to cliffs to stealthily kill an unsuspecting enemy. The level design cleverly connects the world together and you're bound to find a multitude of different ways to reach the same area. Some locations are colorful and well lit. While others are more of what we're used to. There are also environmental enemies such as the giant white snake in the trailer.
Conclusion
If there's anything you can take away from this post, I hope it's that Sekiro is a game worth being hyped about (also that I'm not an insipid weeb). The mix of stealth, verticality and parry-based combat is all I've ever wanted from a game for quite a while now. From Software is great at marketing their games with a bit of mystery; it's the one thing that has me so excited as even major gaming news outlets don't know what the full game entails. There is a slim but possible chance that this game comes out and it's nothing like I expected and while that would be disappointing I still have Ghost of Tsushima coming out hopefully sometime this year. Either way, I'm looking forward to some rage sessions with this game and praying that I don't destroy my controller, my TV and/or my console. Fingers crossed!