In this day of bloated loads of content in every entertainment sector, our heart often yearns for something fresh and unique, be it good or bad. I stumbled upon something like that when I found an YouTube short about an indie developer making a game's combat purely made out of notes of classical music. The core concept made me so intrigued that I still follow its updates to this day. While we are yet to see how that game pans out, I am here to talk about another game that resonated more with music for me than anything, the Game of The Year winner of the The Game Awards 2019, FromSoftware Inc's "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice". Sekiro is one such game that comes once in a lifetime and graces us with its innovation. A game so idiosyncratic and unorthodox, it puts other great games to shame. It felt the closest we can ever participate in blade combat with a controller in our hand. FromSoftware revitalized its own soulsborne combat, doubled down on the genre and kickstarted a new subgenre with Sekiro. While we are yet to find any updates on the sequel of this 4 year old game, you need to settle for an inferior substitute in the form of this review.
Swordsmanship Perfected To A Mirror Sheen
Sekiro has without a doubt one of the best combats gaming world has ever seen. FromSoftware struck gold with its swordplay. While it might be the smallest FromSoftware venture in recent years scale-wise, especially compared to the most recent AAA RPG open-worlder "Elden Ring", Sekiro more than makes up for it with its gorgeously choreographed duels, bombastic pantheon of bosses and a visually impressive sixteenth century Japan. Like other FromSoftware games, it also provides a skill ceiling you must cross to grasp the combat. Apart from that, it couldn't be any more different than those games. The introduction of posture bar encourages you to take up enemies head-on. Swordplay feels highly rhythmic once you get the hang of a particular rival's move set. It will feel like fine art unraveling right before your eyes and you will feel no less than an orchestra conductor. The game rewards you for your hardship as you get to increase your health bar and attack power by defeating hard bosses. Every battle feels like your own, nothing matches the sensation you feel after finally conquering an enemy you struggled badly to defeat before (Editor's note: I spent nearly three days trying to beat an endgame boss that wasn't even mandatory but ehh). Running away is just not an option in most fights, you either become a master of the game or you quit. Sekiro also doesn't have a traditional leveling system which makes it harder for many who still haven't apprehended the game's core mechanics as there is no easy way out for almost all the battles (Sure, cheese strats exist but we are certainly above that, ain't we?). All of this works upon a foundation of intricately polished core gameplay, frame perfect animations and similarly frame accurate hitbox. No other game that features sword duels come even close to Sekiro in terms of combat and i guess it is safe to say that even FromSoftware might struggle to outperform its predecessor in the follow-up sequel.
More than What You Expected
FromSoftware has a knack for telling their story subtly and very inexplicitly. Their story is usually unraveled through character dialogues, item descriptions and world details rather than long cutscenes and expository dialogues (I'm looking at you, Nolan). Therefore there always exists a deep lore about the fictional world our protagonist lives in. Here, Sekiro cuts no slack. Gamers often give less credit to Sekiro for its story compared to other FromSoftware projects. Sure there is a surface level plot to cater to casual gamers but it just doesn't stop there. Sekiro also has a huge lore exploring the political powerplay in Sengoku period in Japan, nuanced and complex characters having a central role in the story and a very troubled protagonist with his stygian past. Almost all of the characters has a story to tell in Sekiro. FromSoftware deliberately leaves many stones unturned for the players to figure out in his own way. The game repeatedly mixes its story with samurai culture, Japanese mythology and modern day politics. It gives many of its villains sympathetic backstory to root for and many others absolutely no redeeming quality. Sekiro transcends beyond a mature story about war and politics while still being extremely personal and rooted to the protagonist's life. Oftentimes bosses make you regret killing them off after knowing their backstory and that's the moment you know the story succeeded.
Bosses, Lots of Bosses and Many More
To quench appetite of a regular FromSoftware veteran, there are quite a lot of bosses. From fighting a huge monkey to the best swordsman of Japan, I am not even exaggerating when I say each one of them presents a new innovative obstacle to climb. Each one has a moveset unique to his own and some of them are much harder than others. But that's where the beauty of Sekiro lies. When you adapt to a boss and its move set, even the hardest of them all will dance to your tune like a puppet. Some of the bosses force the player to learn the game's core mechanics in order to truly defeat them. So, not only does Sekiro boast an impressive combat mechanics but also provide a roster of unique sets of enemies to hone our skills. Sekiro also features a prosthetic arm working as a grappling hook to traverse the world and prosthetic tools you can attach to your arm to diversify the combat with different equipments. There are also regular RPG items like healing potion, attack potion, et cetera to use mid-combat. After defeating the final boss, I felt a deafening void in my heart. The new game plus gives you access to reiteration of fan favorite bosses you are bound to spend hours on.
Heights Ascended, Benchmark Surpassed
Sekiro is far from a perfect game but it is definitely a step towards right direction. Albeit being a much difficult game (even for a soulsborne veteran like one of our Editors), I encourage you to take up this game. Because when you get past the skill curve it offers, the game gets more rewarding than ever before. I wager it will be sometime before we see another game with a combat system as fluid and polished as "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice".