Tweet
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is slated to be released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Since Microsoft provided the world premiere look at the game, we should see what they have to say about it.
Sekiro wears its influences on its sleeve. At times it looks and plays like the legendary Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, letting players sneak, stalk, and surprise baddies with devastating stealth attacks. Find yourself in the thick of things, however, and it requires precise timing, studious attacks, and a great deal of patience to overcome its brutally hard enemies.
Set in Japan’s Sengoku period in the 1500s, Sekiro stars a shinobi equipped with a prosthetic arm. Various tools and weapons can be attached to the arm, such as firecrackers that can damage and stun enemies from afar or a shield to deflect enemy attacks. The ninja wields a katana in his other hand and relies on a grappling hook to quickly navigate the world. Sekiro’s emphasizes verticality in its level design; smart players will safely zip across trees and clamber up ledges before diving into the fray.
The core concept, says From Software president and lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki, is to merge the intensity and tempo of Dark Souls with a ninja experience.
“We wanted to create a Japanese-inspired title and focus on the ninja as a character archetype,” he told Xbox Wire. “The player will be able to freely traverse vertical spaces, which ties in nicely to the shinobi protagonist. Being a ninja as opposed to a samurai, who perhaps fights on the ground with a single sword in his hands, the shinobi puts everything in his arsenal and must adapt to a variety of situations.”
That also means losing a few key elements from the Dark Souls line. Sekiro isn’t a traditional RPG – outside of new goodies for your prosthetic, you don’t loot loads of weapons and gear. You don’t upgrade stats. The classic Dark Souls multiplayer has also been jettisoned, as the developers want players to experience Sekiro as a single-player game all the way through.
Set in Japan’s Sengoku period in the 1500s, Sekiro stars a shinobi equipped with a prosthetic arm. Various tools and weapons can be attached to the arm, such as firecrackers that can damage and stun enemies from afar or a shield to deflect enemy attacks. The ninja wields a katana in his other hand and relies on a grappling hook to quickly navigate the world. Sekiro’s emphasizes verticality in its level design; smart players will safely zip across trees and clamber up ledges before diving into the fray.
The core concept, says From Software president and lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki, is to merge the intensity and tempo of Dark Souls with a ninja experience.
“We wanted to create a Japanese-inspired title and focus on the ninja as a character archetype,” he told Xbox Wire. “The player will be able to freely traverse vertical spaces, which ties in nicely to the shinobi protagonist. Being a ninja as opposed to a samurai, who perhaps fights on the ground with a single sword in his hands, the shinobi puts everything in his arsenal and must adapt to a variety of situations.”
That also means losing a few key elements from the Dark Souls line. Sekiro isn’t a traditional RPG – outside of new goodies for your prosthetic, you don’t loot loads of weapons and gear. You don’t upgrade stats. The classic Dark Souls multiplayer has also been jettisoned, as the developers want players to experience Sekiro as a single-player game all the way through.